NOCALL
Officers & Committees
MEMBERSHIP
The Chair is appointed by the
President for a term of one year. The Chair may appoint
additional members as needed.
Membership
Application
Directory Production
New Members
Renewals
Newsletter Column Production
Mailing List Sales
MEMBERSHIP: DIRECTORY
PRODUCTION
DIRECTORY PRODUCTION—CALENDAR
Early September:
Late September:
Sept./Oct.:
-
Revise the front matter in the
directory: constitution and bylaws, list of past presidents;
list of committees and members; other information that the
Board or Membership Chair decide to include.
-
Edit geographic listing.
-
Affix return address labels to
the envelopes. (It’s good to do this tedious task in small
chucks to avoid boredom.)
October:
Mid-late October:
Mid-late October:
-
Mail directories. [The bylaws
provide that the membership list be distributed by October
1. I view this as a relic of simpler days when NOCALL had
fewer members. Given our renewal schedule and number of
members, a more realistic goal would be to have the
directory in members’ hands by early November. — Lee]
Front Matter
The front matter includes:
-
a list of the current
Executive Board (obtainable from the President)
-
a list of committee chairs and
members (in the past, the President has asked the chairs to
provide a list of their members to the Membership Chair; the
NOCALL-LIST is also a way to solicit this input.)
-
a list of NOCALL past
presidents.
-
the current Constitution and
Bylaws. The previous year’s issues of the newsletter and the
chair of the constitution and bylaws committee are sources
for amendments.
Geographic List
Production of the geographic list
involves sorting and exporting records from the database, and
then editing the resulting word processing file to achieve the
effect that the chair desires. This editing can be time
consuming, so it is best to begin the process a few weeks before
the directory is slated to go to the printer. That way the list
can be edited a little bit each day.
If, during the editing, new or
updated information is received, the geographic list can be
edited to reflect this at the same that the information is added
to the database.
Here is an outline of the process:
(a)
In the database, find the value “yes” in the field “Renewed
[current year]”. This assures that only the records of
members who have renewed are included in the directory.
(b)
Sort these records by the
following fields in this sort order:
State
City
Firm/Organization
Last Name
First
Name
[One result of this sort is
that members with no known firm/organizational affiliation
will be listed first for any given city.]
(c)
Export these records to a text file. When FileMaker asks
which fields to export, designate the following fields in
this order:
Firm/Organization
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Address Line 3
City
State
Zip
First
name
Last Name
Title
Function Code
Phone
Voice Mail
Fax
Email 1
Email 2
ILL Contact
(d)
Edit the resulting text file.
How you do this depends on the word processor you use—but in
any case, a good search and replace function is essential.
The goal is to list name and address information for each
organization and then to list all of the members employed by
that organization. Thus the editing involves:
1.
removing redundant information;
2.
formatting the listings for printing, trying to balance the
conflicting goals of making the listing readable and keeping
the number of pages (and hence the printing cost) reasonably
low.
Listing by Library Type and
Function
Producing these also involves
exporting data to text files and editing those files, but is a
much less time-consuming process than producing the geographical
list.
Here are the steps for producing a
list by function “acq” (for acquisitions); repeat them for each
of the other functions (admin, autom/comp, cat, circ, docs, ill,
oll, ref, ser, other) and for each of the library types
(academic, firm, corporate, county/state/gov’t,
vendor/publisher, and other):
(a)
In the database, find those records
with the value “yes” in the field “Renewed [current year]”
and with the value “acq” (e.g.) in the “Function” field.
(b)
Sort the resulting records by last name and first name.
(c)
Export the records to a text file. Export only the “First
Name” and “Last Name” fields (—except with the function or
library type “other” when it is useful also to export the
“Function” or “Library Type” field, as that often contains a
description of the particular function or library). Name the
text file something descriptive so that when you go to edit
it you’ll know which function (or library type) you’re
dealing with.
(d)
Edit the
text file to your taste.
Alphabetical List
This list is produced directly
from the database. Because it does not require conversion to
word processing format or editing, it can be printed a short
time before the directory goes to the printer. Here are the
steps.
(a)
In the database, find the value “yes”
in the field “Renewed [current year].”
(b)
Sort these records by the following fields in this sort
order:
Last Name
First Name
(c)
Switch to the
“Alphabetical Listing—Directory” layout.
ARTICLE I. If desired, edit
this layout to your taste.
(d)
Print
the records (being sure to select the “records being
browsed” choice).
(e)
Proof this list against the renewal and new
member forms. Make any corrections to the geographical
list, too.
MEMBERSHIP: NEW MEMBERS
NEW MEMBER
APPLICATIONS—CALENDAR
Mid/Late April:
June:
NEW MEMBER
APPLICATIONS—PROCEDURES
Potential new members tend to get
their application forms from the newsletter, or by calling the
membership chair.
Checks are mailed to the
membership chair, who then:
(a)
creates a database record for the member (the field that
indicates renewal for the current year should read “yes”);
(b)
sends the new member a welcome letter and a copy of the
directory;
(c)
files the original application.
NEW MEMBERS—4TH QUARTER
The bylaws provide that if a
member joins in the 4th quarter (March, April, or May) his/her
membership is automatically renewed. In order to avoid
accidentally sending a renewal to these members, make sure there
is a “yes/no” database field for renewal for the upcoming
fiscal year, and make sure that the content of that field is
“yes.”
There is a special welcome letter
for members who join in the 4th quarter.
Potential members who call to
inquire in late January or in February can be told about the
benefits of joining in the 4th quarter so that they can decide
whether to postpone joining until after March 1.
MEMBERSHIP: RENEWALS
RENEWALS (REGULAR
CYCLE)—CALENDAR
Early April:
Early/mid-April:
Mid/late April:
Early May:
Early/mid May:
-
Affix return labels and
postage to envelopes.
-
Print renewal forms and
mailing labels from database. It’s useful to wait as long as
possible to do this, so that the database is as up-to-date
as possible when the printing is done.
Mid May:
Mid/Late May:
PROCESSING RENEWALS
1.
Remove checks from envelopes. Note on form check number and
whether or not it is drawn on an organizational or personal
account.
2.
Note any changes to directory information
made by the renewing member.
3.
Update database:
(a)
Note that member has renewed for the current fiscal year.
(It is useful to have a “yes/no” field for this purpose.)
(b)
Note the date of renewal
(c)
Change database to reflect in changes noted by the renewing
member.
4.
On a regular basis (at least once a week), send checks to
Treasurer. Make sure the treasurer knows that the checks reflect
dues from renewing members.
5.
File the original forms in alphabetical order (by members’
names).
Note: occasionally a librarian who
has not been a member of NOCALL will get her/her predecessor’s
renewal form and will simply replace the old member’s name with
his/her name and return the form. Such folks should be treated
as new members.
RENEWAL REMINDERS
It is usually necessary to send
two reminders (a second and a final notice) in order to assure a
maximum number of renewals. In the
past this has been cost effective; we’ve always received more in
renewal dues than we’ve spent on copying, labels, and postage.
I’d recommend sending the second
notice in mid-June (with a due date in late June) and the final
notice in mid-July (with a due date in late July). This schedule
will help get the directory out on time.
For each reminder it will be
necessary to:
(a)
generate renewal reminder forms (based on the
original renewal form) from the database (a “yes/no”
database field indicating whether a member has renewed for
the current fiscal year will allow you to generate forms
only for the un-renowned members).
(b)
stuff and label envelopes.
SUSPENDED MEMBERS
The bylaws provide for suspension
of membership for members who haven’t renewed by the beginning
to the second quarter (September 1).
After September 1, I do not remove
un-renowned members from the database, because there are usually
several late renewals. Instead, when I am printing labels for
mailings (such as the newsletter) to NOCALL members, I print
them only for members whose database records show that they have
renewed for the fiscal years.
Once the directory is printed and
distributed, I then delete un-renowned members from the
database. (Before deleting these records, I export them to a
separate database file, just in case.)
MEMBERSHIP: NEWSLETTER COLUMN PRODUCTION
NEWSLETTER COLUMN
PRODUCTION—CALENDAR
Throughout
year
2 weeks before
deadline
As close to deadline as
possible
NEWSLETTER COLUMN
PRODUCTION—PROCEDURES
Exporting information on
changes/new members involves:
-
Using the “find” function to
identify records with changes.
-
Sorting the records in the
resulting set by name.
-
Exporting those records to a
text file. Fields relating to directory information (name,
title, address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address(es),
AALL membership status, NOCALL status) should be exported.
-
Editing the resulting text
file for inclusion in the column.
-
Repeating the process for new
members
-
After the column is produced,
returning to the database, finding all records that had
contained changed or new information for the newsletter, and
deleting from the appropriate field the data that indicated
changes or new information (so that the same records don’t
show up in the next newsletter, too).
MEMBERSHIP: MAILING LIST SALES
MAILING LIST SALES—CALENDAR
April-June:
MAILING LIST SALES—PROCEDURES
The process begins with a request
and check from the purchaser.
Be sure to confirm the following
with the purchaser:
-
what subset of the NOCALL
membership the purchaser wants (all members? Active members
only? Members in certain zips only? etc.)
-
how the purchaser would like
the list sorted (by name? by zip?)
-
whether the purchaser would
like a code printed on each label. [UC Extension has availed
itself of this option. Codes can be added to the label
layout.]
-
when the purchaser needs the
labels
-
that the purchaser understands
that labels are for on-time use only.
Next, generate the labels:
-
Use the “find” function to
limit the labels to (a) those members who have agreed to
have their names on the list and (b) any other subset that
the purchaser has specified.
-
Sort the resulting set
according to the purchaser’s specifications.
-
Print the labels.
Finally, send the labels:
Send the check to the treasurer
with a copy of the request for the mailing list. |
