National Speleological
Society
Operations Vice President’s Report
April 07, 2001
Table of Contents:
Operations Vice President Report
Archivist Report
Audio-Visual Committee (Slides) Report
Audio-Visual Committee (Video) Report
Cave Files Committee Report
Headquarters Facilities Committee Report
Internal Organizations Committee Report
Information Technology Committee Report
Office Automation Division (IT
Committee) Report
Market Analysis Committee Report
NSS Library Committee Report
NSS Operations Manager Report
Photo Archives Committee Report
Speleo-Museum Committee Report
NSS OVP Attachment D-1
NSS OVP Attachment D-2
Operations Vice President Report:
Scott Fee
2501 Gable Blvd
Birmingham, AL 35215
(205) 854-7487
scottfee@pipeline.com
The Department of the Operations Vice President consists of 11 committees, plus the NSS Operations Manager and the NSS headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama. In this report, I provide the name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of the chair of each committee or organization, followed by their report. The committee and sub-committee chairs have provided the information in this report, although I’ve made some spelling, formatting, and minor editorial adjustments. If necessary, my comments are provided in Italics following the committee’s report.
Plans:
There is to be a satellite library to be established at the
University of Puerto Rico. After the initial MOU was circulated
to the NSS Board, I sent a slightly modified draft copy to the
University of Puerto Rico (UPR) on February 8, 2001. As of this
writing, I have not received a response. I expect to begin
shipping books upon completion of the MOU. (Attachment
D-1)
IT Committee: Once the web site has been successfully transplanted (See Progress comments) and a new committee chairman named (See Agenda), I wish to begin the process of redesigning the NSS Web Site. I anticipate the main focus of this effort to be the initial front page that will allow a number of more focused options as well as overhauling the NSS Bookstore pages.
The AGI Booklet about Caves is expected to arrive in late March or early April. We plan to use this inexpensive item ($10.00 Retail) and mail a complimentary copy to all Commercial Caves in the US. With this booklet we will include a letter of introduction, catalogue, and wholesale pricing structure flyer. We also plan to target a number of Museums and Libraries that David McClurg has furnished us the mailing address of. (Total mailing being less than 300 pieces.)
EVP Ray Keeler has spearheaded a unique arrangement with the Carlsbad National Park Bookstore. We are providing them 1,500 copies of the special Guads Issue of the Journal on consignment. Carlsbad will, in turn, store the Journals and cut us a monthly check for the wholesale price as they are sold. We are hopeful this will open up a new market for the NSS Bookstore and demand would be high enough to warrant a reprint of that Journal within the year.
I have been corresponding with the NSF and Jeanne Gurnee specifically. We are working out the details of a grant proposal to have the many cartons of donated books, that are currently being stored at the White House, inventoried, catalogued, shelved, or sold depending on the NSS Library needs. We expect the NSF to approve a grant similar in nature to the grant that was approved for the electronic database of the current NSS Library collection.
Progress:
We reordered an additional supply of 35-Year Pins. This
allowed us to be able to distribute to all eligible members and
have enough pins remaining in inventory for the next few years.
In January, any member who had reached the 35-Year plateau (or
beyond) should have received their pin (Contact nss@caves.org if you are missing
your pin). A few members have written the office in response to
receiving their pin and I thought I would share the following:
"I’ve been caving since around 1952-53. The first
person I went caving with was Roger Brucker in Ohio… I enjoy
the NSS News a lot. Keep up the good work. Thanks again for the
pin." Roger Williams, NSS 3691.
Note: The 25 and 50 Year pin mailing is planned annually for April or May.
IT Committee: A new version of our shopping cart was procured and installed by Joshua Abdulla. Not only can you order all NSS Merchandise on-line, but you can renew your membership and submit member changes as well. After reviewing our options, we have decided to relocate the NSS Web Site to a new server company (Xeran Technologies). Tray Murphy (NSS 29211) and Patrick Merry (NSS 45550) have joined the IT committee. (I will have a motion on the agenda for an IT Committee Chairman.)
It occurred to me that the NSS Bookstore was not being properly promoted in our own internationally distributed magazine, the NSS News. Therefore, I contacted editor Dave Bunnell, and Special Pubs Chairman David McClurg. It is our intention to have a half-page ad in every issue of the NSS News that will target specific items and bring the NSS Bookstore to the forefront of the memberships mind when considering buying caving related merchandise. The February issue of the NSS News contained a half page ad featuring Cave Minerals of the World II. The March issue had spatial constraints but Dave Bunnell was still able to get us a quarter page ad featuring On Rope. The Speleo Digest series is scheduled to be featured in the April issue and we hope to have an ad promoting the Speleogensis and CMII in the next issue of the Journal. Each of these ads has been created through the talents of David McClurg.
Additionally, David has been instrumental in designing two promotional (color) flyers for use by the NSS Office. The first one is designed to promote Cave Minerals of the World II. This flyer will offer $10 off the retail membership price as long as the member renews his/her membership at the same time. The other flyer is targeted to promote multiple books that a Commercial Cave, Museum, or other Educational Facility might be interested in obtaining. (See Plans about the AGI Booklet above).
Stephanie (NSS Operations Manager) has been pretty much operating solo since December. Considering the fact that Camille Mueller was willing to stay on during such a long transition period (don’t forget that she gave notice last March/April), the NSS EC thought it would be appropriate to recognize her outstanding dedication to the job during the past six years. Therefore, I made a visit to Huntsville where I could attend a Huntsville Grotto meeting and present Camille with a small token of our "family’s" appreciation for a job well done.
Problems:
I need a clone. If any of you Science types are aware of this
process outside the USA let me know; otherwise, I suppose I will
just have to make do.
J. Reynolds Duncan, Jr.
153 Atria Drive
Toney, AL 35773-9515
(256) 852-4522
jrdandlld@aol.com
Plans: Continue with the reorganizing and filing of the Archives material to facilitate the location and retrieval of material.
Progress: Responded to requests for information; located and provided some NSS Convention material to Carol & Bill Fritz to help with the completion of a Convention Spreadsheet.
Problems: None.
Audio-Visual Committee (Slides):
Colin Gatland
1151 Crestwood Hills Drive
Vandalia, OH 45377-2714
(937) 890-0339
cgatland@core.com
Progress: Mike Hood & I are currently working on a six-projector slide show for the NSS's 60th Anniversary. This will be shown at the 2001 Convention in Mt. Vernon, KY in July. I am also keeping in touch with Avis and taking care of any problems (slide show maintenance, etc.) that may come up. So far things have been running very smoothly since my last report.
I burned copies of various NSS Slide Salon Photo CDs for Cheryl Jones and Jim & Val Werker. Cheryl is working on a project about caving with the Smithsonian and Jim & Val Werker are going to use images for various NSS displays, etc.
Avis is still sending me monthly updates on slide library usage. She has a great handle on what is happening with the slide library down in Huntsville.
Bruce Bannerman & I discussed some slides that could be shown at the "Amazing Caves" premiere at the Smithsonian. I think he will be using various slides from some of the past "Best of" shows. He also requested that I send him some other slides that might compliment what he was getting from Avis.
Plans: I am preparing myself for the annual best of slide show development and the burning of the new Photo CD's. This usually starts in May, after I am done with them they go to Bruce Bannerman for his part in the slide salon production (no easy task).
I plan on having a digital eight copy of the 60th Anniversary NSS slide salon made. This will be sent to Dave Sockey for dupes & inclusion in the next AV catalog for members to check out if they wish.
I have "re-discovered" some AV stuff that was given to me by Paul & Lee Stevens a while ago. I will go through this and add any shows to the AV Library for members to check out.
I am creating some PowerPoint slides and will have them imaged to 35mm slides. These would be available to use when caving presentations come up. In the past I have had to scrounge up some of my slides and talk from that. This would be basically support slides with nice graphics and text. Some of the slides would have images incorporated into them or some of Mike Hood's cartoons. I would also make available a PowerPoint version on a CD ROM that people could use if they had a laptop and a digital projector at their disposal (the CD ROM I would make at no cost to the AV Committee or the NSS).
These slides would be basic NSS information and basic caving information. If the person is using a slide projector they can also supplement the "created" slides with their own image slides if needed.
This would just give a bit more professionalism to a presentation. I would lean more towards some humor to get the point across rather that stiff and stodgy stuff.
I would make some duplicate copies & the CD-ROM available through Avis at the NSS Office.
Problems: Sorry to bore you all, but right now there are no problems that I know of regarding the slide portion of the AV library/AV Committee.
Audio-Visual Committee (Video):
David Socky
6572 Woodbrook Drive, SW
Roanoke, VA 24018-5402
(703) 989-7693
sockydr@home.com
Plans:
Finish the stuff in the ‘Progress’ section
Progress:
National Forest Foundation on caving ethics
At the NSS Convention, Ransom Turner (USFS, NEW MEXICO) gave away thousands of the "Leave No Traces" booklet along with an excellent video on caving ethics by the National Forest Foundation. This video is now in the AV Library.
US Forest Service and National Park Service videos
There are probably many USFS (US Forest Service) videos on caves, which would be nice to get into the library. Cheryl Jones approached Jim Miller about this, and he is checking to see if he can come up with a list of available USFS videos. I suspect that there are also NPS (National Park Service) videos, which may be good for the Library. Ron Kerbo is another contact.
Jim has been contacted, but at this time, no progress has been made.
Video about Floyd Collins
A video about collecting memorabilia about Floyd Collins based on 16-mm newsreel clips from the 20’s from Bill Halliday. The video should be about 10 to 15 minutes will be an NSS production, to be used in the AV Library and sold through the NSS bookstore.
During the NSS Convention, I interviewed Bill Halliday, Gordon Smith, and John Benton for this video project. I need to get still photos of some of the items that Gordon Smith owns. I still need to write the script and then edit the video.
Vertical history remake
This is a project to digitally re-master Peter Grant’s "History of Vertical Caving", which includes great interviews with Gibbs, Cuddington, and others. This should improve the quality of the distribution tapes by an order of magnitude.
This video is finished and presently in the NSS AV Library.
Purchase of a new Video/Computer Projector
It has been determined that for a good mix of price and features, the InFocus LP350 DLP video projector is the best way to go. A fact and history document has been submitted to Scott Fee who has provided the information with a motion to the NSS BOG. It may be decided that the purchase of a new projector be delayed for another year. It is all up to the Board now.
Rental feedback cards
Borrowers of the AV video programs are encouraged to send in a 3x5 survey card which asks about the quality of the show, whether we should keep it in the library or not, suggestions for improvement, and so forth. So far, I have received about 40 to 50 of these cards. Before the convention I will compile all the comments, and a list of suggestions. From this data, we should be able to see how the AV library is doing from the perspective of cavers, but more important, we can find ways to improve the AV Library and the administration of the Library.
No additional progress at this time.
New AV Catalog
Nothing done
Problems:
I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I
would like to do.
Richard Blenz
8070 W. Eller Road
Bloomington, IN 47403
(812) 825-2345
rblenz@indiana.edu
Plans: Continue as usual
Progress: Received the last two Speleo Digests.
Problems: None
Headquarters Facilities Committee:
Jim Hall
623 Larry Place
Madison, AL 35758-1118
(256) 772-9829
jimehall@compuserve.com
Progress: Everything as normal
Plans: Planning to Paint the White House as soon as the weather improves.
Problems: None.
Internal Organization Committee:
Evelyn Bradshaw, Co-Chariman
10826 Leavells Road
Fredericksburg, VA 22407-1261
(703) 898-9288
ebradshw@staffnet.com
Keith D Wheeland, Co-Chariman
2191 Mountain View Ave.
State College PA 16801-7214
(home) (814) 238-2057
(e-mail) kwheeland@home.com
Progress:
Keith has established a list/serv at Penn State University
that enables us to communicate by email with those that have
Internet access.
Contact has been established with the grottos and regions and we have secured the required annual reports from perhaps two-thirds of the total. Dave Taylor is handling Surveys and Bill Bussey, Sections. There are relatively few of these groups, compared to grottos, so there should be no difficulty there. I will be contacting the Affinity Groups, as the act establishing them assigned the I/O Committee the task of an annual contact to verify their mailing address.
The first annual report has been received from the Gypsy Underground Grotto. They have reported on some of their travels visiting various caving groups and events. The Stonewall Cavers (renamed at their annual meeting from Lavender Cavers) asked for and were granted a change in their status from Section to Grotto, on the grounds that their unifying focus was not a particular branch of caving but rather promoting fellowship among cavers. Another inquiry has been received but has not filed an application; it consists of business people with a common interest in speleology who see each other at a business event in Europe but live in various parts of the United States.
We have secured some useful assistance from members of the NSS Membership Committee and a few Regional officers in helping to make contact with grottos about their reports. NSS Membership Chair Bill Karpowicz welcomed this assignment because various administrative changes had left little work for his committee members.
Inquiries about starting new grottos continue to come in. The most recent grotto chartered is the New Jersey Tri-State Speleological Society (G-436) in northwestern New Jersey and spilling over in territory to adjacent states. Recent inquiries are in hand from Virginia, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.
Plans:
This is Keith Wheeland’s first year of direct
involvement in the I/O program. He anticipates some streamlining
of the program after the experiences of this year. We are in the
process of redesigning the IO information request form so that it
is in compliance with Appendix D, Page 3.D.2, Paragraph 6A. An
outline of the instructions that will accompany the form can been
seen at the end of our report (Attachment D-2)
I have had some thoughts about changing the nature of our foreign grottos. Some have been quite successful; those consisted primarily of U. S. citizens stationed in the military or with private industry in foreign countries. The current grotto in the Yucatan is primarily U. S. nationals.
Most of the inquiries from the nationals of foreign countries seldom came to fruition, that in Costa Rica being an exception. But we are aware that for cavers in other countries the cost of paying NSS dues for at least five members may be high, especially considering that their benefits are limited. Sometimes they find the NSS publications of limited interest, when their native tongue is not English. Their participation in the many regional events that stateside cavers can enjoy is also limited. The Puerto Rican group dissolved itself, explaining this action in part because of the language situation.
We are not talking about the foreign countries which also have established national federations of some kind, such as the United Kingdom, Japan, or China, and so on. But inquiries reach us from Turkey, the Philippines, and—over the years—Indonesia and Mexico and one of the countries on the northern rim of South America (I forget which right now).
We have corresponded with the Costa Rican cavers about changing their status to that of an Institutional Member. They could continue to have the name of their group and be associated with the NSS. The apparent difficult they have of getting at least five members to pay annual dues is one reason. Also communications are strained; only email is fairly quick. They would like to have some help in training for cave rescue and this need has been transmitted to NCRC.
We also suggested this to the Phillipino group and I believe they have gone that route and will sign on to the Cavers Digest and the Conservation list/serv to keep in touch.
We have mentioned this idea to Doug Soroka, the U. S. contact for the Ukrainian Grotto, and he planned to discuss this option with the Ukrainians
This is not creating any new category or major policy. But comments on presenting this option to foreign inquiries as well as that of being a "regular" grotto would be welcome.
Problems:
Communications are the main problem. Not so much what to
communicate, but how to be sure of communicating with the right
person. We keep trying new gimmicks. Having deadlines stretched
into the future for a couple of years didn’t help.
Procrastination is a human failing that afflicts most of us one
time or another.
I would like to mention my reaction to the praiseworthy plan for putting information about the NSS membership available to qualified NSS members on the Internet. It may need a little fine-tuning to fulfill the need relating to annual grotto reports.
I have looked at the list put together by Phil Winkler. He had it organized by grotto serial numbers. I pointed out that grottos also need a full alphabetical list so grottos could verify that their officers were NSS members (eligible whether or not the grotto in question was their primary I/O affiliation). Moreover, on further investigation of the list now on view, I found that in my own grotto there was listed as a member someone who had not paid dues to it in a couple of years! I also know from other studies that not everyone has provided a primary I/O affiliation to be put on his/her record in Huntsville.
It is also my feeling that the choice of primary I/O affiliation should be a personal one. Grotto leaders should not pressure their members to sign up for that grotto, when the person may prefer his/her primary affiliation to be where they first started caving (perhaps a student grotto) or with a grotto in a community where they hoped to live on retirement and wanted meanwhile to maintain contact.
This whole matter of "primary" affiliation is a new one to most of us cavers. Its main function is to make sure that when votes are allocated for the Congress of Grottos, no one is counted more than once. The NSS Policy on I/Os states that a grotto must have on its rolls at least five NSS members who consider that grotto their primary I/O affiliation. This includes Sections and Surveys as well as Grottos, as was brought up at the Congress last year.
It boils down to this: The NSS receives from the member word as to the member’s primary I/O affiliation. The grotto knows whether the member has paid dues or otherwise indicated affiliation with the grotto. (There are a couple of grottos that have no dues.) Phil’s list (that contains the needed fields in the NSS database) is not by itself the final count to enter on the annual report. It can contain names of members who are no longer on the grotto rolls. Off-hand it might be more efficient for the list of primary members to go to the grotto and for the grotto to delete those that are no longer on their rolls, than for the office to have to compare all the grotto lists against the office lists per grotto. But the mechanics of coming up with the correct count of NSS members considering each grotto his or her primary I/O affiliation can be figured out later.
From Scott: We are assuming that the NSS member is indeed a member of the "Primary Affiliation." Why does it matter? If the NSS member wants that particular organization to represent him or her, then why not?
Let’s not all start figuring how to "win" primary membership from all of our members, if they in some cases really have good reasons for a different "primary" membership. There are a number of non-NSS members in many grottos. Persuade them to join NSS. Go out and persuade other people with the right attitude toward caves and the environment.
From Evelyn herself: In closing I want to thank the officers for giving me the opportunity to correspond with so many friends and be a part of the whole caving family. I’ve never been a part of an organization that welcomed and showed more appreciation to all its members, and gave them such a chance to invest their abilities in its success.
IT Team Member:
Joseph G. "Tray" Murphy
101 Sioux Court
Summerville, SC 29483-9264
843-832-6688 (home)
843-402-5660 (work)
jgmurphy@bigfoot.com
I've spent the last two months researching Webhosting services for the NSS site. AIS has given less than satisfactory service, and after I looked at four different companies, I settled on Xeran Technologies, based in Columbia, South Carolina. I based the recommendation on conversations with their sales rep and technical support staff, and checking references I pulled off their client list. I also have 2 personal professional colleagues that use Xeran. They are very happy with their service. They host about 5,000 sites worldwide. The price for our requirements is an eUser account, $18.95/month. We have paid for a one-year contract, and the account is active. This provides us with a virtual server, running Linux as the operating system and Apache Webserver software. Microsoft FrontPage extensions are also installed. For more information about the company, go to http://www.xeran.com
Joshua Abdulla is in charge of the migration project and team. We expect to be off the AIS servers well before April 1st, when the contract runs out.
Phil Winkler
816 N. Washington Street
Wilmington, DE 19801-1510
(302) 571-1156
pwinkler@plmconsulting.com
Progress:
1. The new Office Manager has been amazingly successful in
learning the operation of the office databases. Much of this is
due to her talents as well as those of Camille in training her.
Much of it is also due to the databases conforming to our
business rules so well. <g>
2. Renewal notices are being generated and sent via email to those members with email addresses. This method has the potential of reducing mailing costs (a large part of the office budget) by 20%-35% annually.
3. A web document listing Internal Organizations and their members according to data in NSSTrak was published to the web. This has generated a flurry of correspondence as members seek to understand what it all means. The IO Committee, in particular, has many questions about the relevance of the data.
4. The wording on emailed and mailed renewal notices has been modified to ask for the full name of the IO rather than an abbreviation. DCG is for DC Grotto as well as Dogwood City Grotto, for example.
Plans:
1. Have the Office Manager come to Wilmington for two days of
training. I believe this has been budgeted for, but needs to be
accomplished as soon as possible.
2. Resolve the IO issue where members designate their IO only annually to eliminate uncertainty. This needs to be addressed by the BOG. It appears this isn't something the office can maintain with timeliness and accuracy. Perhaps it should only rest with the IO Committee via annual reports. Still, checking that someone isn't on two IO lists is somewhat difficult.
Problems: Our web server is becoming increasingly irrelevant where the Discussion Board is concerned. Consequently, other sites have been set up. This presents the problem of fragmentation of information where members might go to several sites to get their questions answered. I believe the NSS should be the main site for NSS/Caving related questions. We need new software (Ultimate BBS, approx. $150) and our own web server.
Scott A. Parvin, Chairman
8019 Riverbend Rd
Morris Al 35116-1259
(home) (205) 647-1936
(office) (205) 631-4246
(cell) (205) 563-CAVE
(e-mail) sparvin@mindspring.com
Plans: The immediate plans of this committee
are to:
1.Expand the scope of our research to involve more market
analysis data from non-caving venues.
2.Recruit members with extensive knowledge of "real-world" book promotions.
3.Continue the ongoing research into the titles currently being published or being considered for publication by the NSS.
4.Improve the Committee's lines of communication.
Progress:
The Committee was formed including members Emily Mobley, Alex
Sproul, David McClurg, Scott Fee, Scott Parvin, and Ann Bosted.
Several other requests for participation were never acknowledged.
The Committee was able to provide a truncated report to OVP Scott Fee for use at the recent EC Budget meeting. The report included ongoing market analysis for the newly revised children’s caving book by Ron Kerbo, the public-lands caving book by Ron Kerbo, and the new cave rescue book.
Problems:
The major problem the Committee has faced has been that of time
constraints. Even though we received the individual book data a
couple of weeks in advance of the budget meeting, an accurate and
complete market analysis will require much more time to collect,
compile, and present.
As Committee member Ann Bosted pointed out, if the NSS plans to pursue marketing of any titles in the mainstream book-selling market, it would most certainly require a full-time, experienced individual. This Committee will work to our greatest means to ascertain the feasibility of marketing any of our books outside the caving venue, but the actual process of those actions are currently beyond the scope of this Committee.
The only other problem faced so far has been a temporary breakdown in communication between Committee members, and the failure of some experienced individuals to participate in our analysis.
Richard Downey
380 N. 600 East
Orem, UT 84097-4843
(801) 224-6678
cavediva@uswest.net
Progress: Bill Torode has been working with those donating the Sheck Exley papers to determine what things we will keep, and those which are duplicate. Some thought has taken place as to whether it would be advantageous to set up a Satellite Cave Diver's Library (probably somewhere in Florida) as a resource for that area. This would be comprised of redundant materials. We have submitted an MOU with the University of Puerto Rico Dept. of Geology concerning the NSS Satellite Library to be housed there. Things seem to be going ahead fine. There has been some discussion with Jeanne Gurnee as to the donation of her husband Russ Gurnee's papers to the NSS. Bill and others have been exploring this valuable resource as to how best to preserve and incorporate it.
Plans: We plan to follow through on the above items in progress. The search for a western satellite library continues and is getting closer. I plan to have something more concrete by the convention in July.
Problems: Except for the usual slow turning of the wheels, there are no problems at present.
Stephanie Cothron
National Speleological Society, Inc.
2813 Cave Avenue
Huntsville, AL 35810
(256) 852-1300
manager@caves.org
Progress:
Members finally have their Membership Manuals and Avis
has stopped receiving several calls from members wanting to know
the status of the manuals. Members started receiving their
manuals in December 2000. Maureen Handler has issued a Members
Manual Schedule for 2001. I will follow her detailed schedule and
have the database information to her by the deadline of 3/10/01.
In preparation of having correct data for the manuals, the NSS
Office has mailed Life Member Correction Forms to all Life
Members. I made a request on the Life Member Form to be returned
by 3/5/01 if changes needed to be made to their member
information. We have received several corrected forms. This
process is necessary, since Life Members do not receive Renewal
Notices.
Members received their 2001 NSS Catalog in December 2000. This gave them plenty of time to place their Christmas orders. Oh boy, did the office receive a lot of book orders in November and December! We had two folders of book orders that were processed and shipped in December. Normally, we only have one folder per month. Big sellers were: ’90 Speleo Digest, Beyond Mammoth Cave (Paperback and Hardback), and On Rope. Also, the Catalog was a "fun" project! Camille was a big help in training me on how to produce an eye-catching and informational catalog. The NSS Office Staff decided this year to include a picture of the staff in the catalog. We want to make ourselves personable to the members.
Members began receiving their Annual Appeal Campaign Donation Cards in their mailboxes in late December 2000 / early January 2001. This was a big project this year because Ted Kayes decided we should send the donation cards to not only Life Members, but Regular members, also.
On 2/07/01, Bill Torode completed the Promotional Flier Mailings for "Cave Minerals of the World" (CMW) and "Speleogenesis". These mailings were sent to Groundwater Hydrologists, Library Wholesalers, and University and Science Bookstores. David McClurg provided the list for the mailings. A total of 883 mailings were made. We are confident these mailings will increase the book sales for CMW and Speleogenesis.
I have a great group of people here in Huntsville. Bill worked overtime to complete the Promotional Flier Mailings Project. Whenever I need assistance or have a question, Bill is always willing to help. Avis is a team player as well. Each month, Avis takes the mobile bookstore to the monthly Grotto meetings. Also, Avis attended the SERA Winter Business meeting on 2/24/01 and took the mobile bookstore. She doesn’t expect to be compensated for these extra hours of work. I have to mention that Mark works really hard filling book orders and he keeps the web page looking nice and organized. Bill, Mark and Avis work hard and are dedicated to the NSS!
Mark Ruocco finally has his own computer. Mark, Avis, and I all have our own computer workstations. I received a new Gateway computer and my "old" computer was given to Mark. The NSS Office is even more efficient with everyone having his or her own workstations.
Inventory Deliveries: On 10/13/00, the NSS Office received the 2nd Edition of On Rope II. On 10/17/00, we received the ’90 Speleo Digest and on 1/18/01, we received the ’92 Speleo Digest! These books are great sellers for the NSS Bookstore.
Avis, Jim, Mark and I attended TAG at Sequoah Caverns on 10/6/00 – 10/7/00. Avis and Jim went up a day early to set-up the bookstore. Camille rode with me and it was so much fun to be introduced to the different vendors.
On 10/31/00, Avis, Bill and I had Bookstore 2000 Inventory Count. We hand counted all inventory items in the bookstore and the Smith House. On 11/1/00, we did a re-count on discrepancies (Physical Count vs. Inventory System/LedgerMaster). I made a few Inventory Adjustments to correct the System.
Dave Irving visited the NSS Office on January 10th, 11th, and 12th. Dave’s knowledge of the NSS accounting is very beneficial to me. Dave did an excellent job explaining how to complete Form 1099 (Miscellaneous Income for auditors/accountants/contractors/royalty payments) and who should receive Form 1099 for payment from the NSS. Also, he explained what payments to report and not to report to the IRS.
We have accounting closed up to November 2000 (period 07/2001). We are tying up loose ends with December 2000 and we aren’t far from having it closed.
I went on my first caving trip on 1/16/01!!!! Of course, my first caving experience had to be Shelta Cave (the cave under the NSS Office). I went caving with Paul Meyers and some students from the Arts and Science School. When I got out of the cave, I was all muddy and very tired. Yes, I’m out of shape and we only caved about 1/3 of the cave! I worked muscles I didn’t know I had. I was sore for several days! We had a great time and I look forward to my next caving trip!
Plans:
I wasn’t able to attend the Vertical Training Class. Per
Paul Meyers it was canceled. Hopefully, I’ll be able to
attend this spring or summer.
I do not regularly attend the monthly Grotto Meetings. I did attend February’s meeting were Camille was honored for her years of service in the NSS, and Roger showed a film on Lechuguilla. I truly enjoyed the meeting and will be more dedicated to attending more regularly.
Prepare for the AGI Booklet mailings to all customers and commercial caverns.
Have a "Clean-Up Day" for the office. We need to clean out filing cabinets, the storage shelves, and throw away old information, and maybe, purchase a new filing cabinet. We have two boxes of book orders that have been processed and shipped in banker boxes sitting on the floor. We have no space for these boxes on the storage shelf.
Problems:
Our current server (AIS) isn’t meeting our needs. The
server is consistently down and downtime isn’t a good thing.
When we’re down, we’re unable to receive and send
emails. We must be able to communicate with our members via email
and receive book orders. We get several complaints from other
vendors who are linked to our caves.org server.
The office needs a DSL line, which would improve office efficiency. If we had a DSL line, Avis could check her email and at the same time I could check my email or we both could be on the Internet at the same time. Currently, we both can’t be on-line at the same time.
I need to take HTML classes so I can update the NSS web site. Since Mark works part-time and isn’t in the office every day, I need to master HTML by taking classes. I should be able to offer assistance and give advice to Mark regarding the web site. Currently, we don’t know "Thumbnail" and this is a skill I could learn and teach Mark if I take the HTML classes. Learning "Thumbnail" could increase the efficiency of our web site by reducing loading time.
The NSS office carpet is old and worn. (It is 20 years old!) We need to purchase new carpet to improve the look and professionalism of the office.
From Scott: Each of these items is included in the proposed budget.
Karen Kastning
PO Box 148
Radford, VA 24141-0048
(703) 639-4666
karen@skyhopper.net
This has been a busy year as I have been doing my field research and working on my thesis for a Masters Degree (in a karst area near Radford), so there has not been a lot of time for me to contribute toward this committee. Although I have not made many gains, I have tried not to lose ground either.
Plans: Long-term plans: These have not changed. My ultimate goal is to have a detailed database for research purposes. This will take many more years to accomplish, but I plan to be involved for many years to come. However, no significant progress has been made in the past few months due to time constraints.
Short-terms plans and activity: There have been some small contributions of photos, but no large collections or donations during the past few months.
The reorganization project continues. I have obtained some standard, photo-storage boxes to replace the "shoe boxes" that many collections were delivered in. I'll be purchasing additional archival storage materials after I determine the funds that are left in this year's budget. This next batch of storage materials (protective sleeves and boxes) will primarily be for 8x10 and 11x14 prints and 2x2 slides.
Progress: The two Skeets Miller films are on the way to a Pittsburgh, PA processing plant that specializes in handling motion-picture films. There, they are going to be 1) given a thorough assessment to determine the overall quality of the films - checking for tears, shrinkage, etc. [the details will be reported back to me around March 8th], 2) repairs will be made, if needed, 3) they will be cleaned, and, if the condition is good enough, 4) duped (so that we will have access to them in the future without risking the originals). This will take ~ two weeks.
If all goes well, one of the films will be shown at the 2001 convention (in the Floyd Collins part of the History Session) and the other will be shown at the 2002 convention (perhaps at a special showing, so that members of the Historical Society that donated the films can be invited).
Problems: I was out of town when the rather short call-for-budget-requests was sent out and found that I had missed the deadline by the time that I returned. Therefore, I did not get my budget request in for the scanner or digital camera that we need (or for anything else for that matter). Hopefully, the committee will not be completely broke for the coming year, as I can not produce exhibits on zero money. Next year I'll try to do it early, so that it doesn't happen again!
(Since the Museum has requested funds for a Digital Camera in their budget, the OVP sees no reason why the Photo Archives could not use it for six moths out of each year. Additionally, I have requested that Karen provide me with justification for the scanner request.)
Craig Hindman
7600 Pindell School Road
Fulton, MD 20759
(410) 792-0742
ctider@us.ibm.com
Progress:
The museum has had no activity since the last report. No new
collections have been received. No inquiries regarding the
contents.
Plans:
To start preparing material for eventual display on the NSS Web
Page - pending outcome of budget approval process. To have
several collections on display at the Kentucky Convention. -
Display cases have been set aside to house the museum items. It
will be set up on Sunday and run through Friday.
Problems:
None at this time
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
A memorandum of understanding to be agreed upon by the National Speleological Society (NSS) and the Department of Geology, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus (UPR):
The Following signed representing the University of Puerto Rico and the National Speleological Society.
Dr. Wilson Ramirez
University of Puerto Rico
Mayaguez Campus, Department of Geology
Scott Fee
NSS Operations Vice President
Outline of Instructions for Submitting the Internal Organization Annual Reports to the NSS for the Year 2001
Required:
1) Grotto Address: The official mailing address of the Grotto,
and its e-mail address (if any).
2) Executive Committee: A list of each member on the decision making body. The list should include the person's name, position held, NSS number, mailing address, and e-mail address. (NSS policy states that non-NSS members may not hold office or serve on a governing body in the organization.)
3) Grotto Meeting Information: The day of the month, time, and place where the grotto meets. (If meetings are held on an irregular basis, you may enter "Check with contact").
4) Contacts: Two persons whom other cavers can contact to find out information concerning the grotto. To include name, home address, phone number and/or e-mail address.
5) Membership Roster: A list of members that notes who is an NSS member, and whether the member claims your grotto as their primary grotto. The list may include additional information as long as the above items are included.
6) Publication: The title of any regular grotto publication, and the number of issues published during the past year. We also need to know that you have complied with the NSS publication policy which reads as follows: At least two copies and preferably four copies of each publication (if any) shall be submitted to the Society Library. At least one copy and preferably two copies shall be furnished to the Society Cave Files Committee, and it is recommended that one copy be furnished to the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC [now in Reston, VA.]
Optional:
NSS Publications: Your grotto is entitled to receive one
complimentary copy of the NSS News and one copy of the Journal of
Cave and Karst Studies. Please let us know if you want the News
and if you want the Journal.
Constitution & By-Laws: If your grotto has made a change to the Constitution or By-Laws since your last report to us, please send a copy of the new Constitution or new By-Laws to the I/O Committee at your earliest convenience. If it's a small change, you may send just the change.
Chairmen: The names, committee titles, and contact information for the chairmen of Conservation, Training/Safety/Rescue, and Membership.
Miscellaneous: The I/O Committee may ask for additional items from time to time.
Important Notes:
1) This is just the outline; it will have to be fleshed out to
provide more detail for the person trying to complete the report.
2) It may have to be changed depending upon how the BOG responds to proposed amendments.
3) The final instructions will be clearly marked as to which items are required and which are optional.
4) These are the instructions which will be sent to grottos. Keith has not seen the instructions which are sent to the other I/Os. They are usually less detailed. He will check with Evelyn and try to make sure they are structured in a similar manner.