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El Coraz—n de Tejas Central Texas Chapter of REFORMA |
Meeting Notes
June 27, 2009
Terrazas Branch Library
Austin, Texas
Present: Don Bos, Bob C‡rdenas, Melinda Curry, Mary Donley, Silvia Reveles.
Items Discussed
¥ Election of Officers – The slate of officers for 2009-10 is as follows:
President Don Bos
Vice President Mary Donley
Treasurer Bob C‡rdenas
Secretary Melinda Curry
Bob will provide all officers with a current membership list. Silvia will contact Margo Gutierrez, and the two of them will hold the election via telephone and e-mail contact. Only paid members may vote.
We also discussed the necessity of committees or chairpersons to facilitate the work of the chapter. Positions and names mentioned were:
Programs Silvia Reveles
Membership Bob C‡rdenas
Annual Stipend Mary Donley
Website Gustavo Soto *
Book Fair Elva Garza & Maribel Garza *
Officer Elections Silvia Reveles & Margo Gutierrez
Chapter Listserv Margo Gutierrez
Immigration Diana Miranda Murillo *
YA Joanna Nigrelli *
Historian Melinda Curry
* unconfirmed
¥ Social / Business Get Togethers – The group talked about the possibility of holding more social gatherings to provide enrichment and to attract more people to the chapter. An idea is to hold every other chapter meeting at a restaurant or other non-library venue. Meeting attendees reported on having attended such gatherings through other Reforma chapters and through the Coraz—n de Tejas Chapter in previous years. Examples have been: meeting at Juan in a Million Restaurant; a breakfast meeting at GŸeroÕs Taco Bar with Ron Pollock of the University of Texas iSchool in attendance; monthly restaurant meetings with the Dallas Reforma chapter. Possible future speakers could be Professor Charles Ramirez Berg of UT Radio-Television-Film (to speak about the representation of Latinos in the media) and Jorge Ramos, news anchor for Univisi—n.
¥ End-of-Year Report – Don must submit a report to National Reforma by the end of the month. He will include all of the events that the chapter participated in and information about the Akins High School ÒsubchapterÓ that Silvia organized. Their activities this year included: a visit by state representative Eddie Rodriguez; book reviews and recommendations through GoodReads online club; student participation in the Camila Alire UT event; reading of galley copies of soon-to-be published Guillermo del Toro book.
¥ Chapter Newsletter, Membership Packets, Memorabilia – We discussed the possibility of reviving the chapter newsletter and its distribution through online sources (Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, High Five, etc.). Don believes that a student could help with this project.
Membership packets with Reforma information would be helpful, but no decision was made on how to further their creation. Bob reported that he received a membership application from a University of North Texas student who lives in Ft. Worth. Even though we are interested in attracting people who are enrolled in Texas online library school programs, our chapter would like to target individuals who live in central Texas and might be interested in getting involved with el Coraz—n de Tejas chapter.
Our chapter will work on organizing chapter memorabilia. Don has a box of items that members have accumulated since the chapterÕs establishment in 1999. Melinda and Silvia will pore through after members return from summer vacation trips.
Announcements
Gustavo SotoÕs Graduation - We congratulate chapter member Gustavo Soto on his graduation from the University of Texas iSchool!
National Reforma Newsletter - Don has written an article for the Reforma national newsletter about Camila AlireÕs visit to Austin. Mary submitted an article concerning the poor treatment of immigrants in popular fiction. Currently these newsletters come out twice a year.
Cr’ticas – This important resource is back in operation!
National Committee – Mary was appointed to the National Reforma Scholarship Committee.
Wiki – This summer Don is creating a personal Wiki. He will include information about Reforma and will be able to control its access.
Future Chapter Meetings - The date of the remaining meeting of this official fiscal year is Saturday, July 25, 2009. It will be held at the Terrazas Branch Library (1105 East CŽsar Ch‡vez St., Austin, 78702; 974-3625) at 11:00 a.m.