National Speleological Society
Operations Vice
President’s Report
June 26 & 30, 2000
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
Internet Committee Report
Market Analysis Committee Report
NSS Library Committee Report
NSS Operations Manager Report
Office Automation Committee Report
Photo Archives Committee Report
Speleo-Museum Committee Report
Operations Vice President Report:
Mike Hood
23 Wells Avenue
Dayton, OH 45431-1420
(937) 252-2978
mhood@caves.org
The Department of the Operations Vice President consists of 12 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:
I will be handing over this job to a new Operations Vice
President on June 26th. I will work with the new OVP
to help him or her get up to speed as quickly as possible.
I’ve enjoyed my tenure as OVP and it was a definite learning
experience! I have great committee chairs who did a lot of hard
work and were dedicated to the goals of the Society. I know
they’ll provide outstanding support to the new OVP.
As you all know Camille Mueller is leaving us in June 2000 after five faithful years of service as Operations Manager. She has been a tremendous asset to the Society and I could always count on Camille to come through for me, no matter how difficult the task. She will be sorely missed, but she has assured me she’ll still be around to help the Society in other capacities. Her successor will be hired on June 5th and I will introduce the new Operations Manager at the summer meeting.
Progress:
There were some items tasked to the OVP by the board and I
will give the status of them here:
The OVP was directed to study the feasibility of accepting annual I/O reports via the NSS web site. Josh Abdulla and Phil Winkler are still working on this, but no clear-cut solution has been reached. They are continuing to work on this project. Evelyn Bradshaw, the Internal Organizations Committee Chairman, has several concerns about this and addresses them in her report found later in this report.
The 35-Year lapel pins have been procured and are being distributed by the office now.
Adding the member’s expiration date on the NSS News mailing label has been done and the expiration date now appears on the label.
Revising the NSS page to give a better look and feel for current member renewals. Josh Abdulla is working on this and should have it on-line by Convention.
Develop an e-mail renewal reminder system where members can be advised that their dues are due along with renewal form and a way to renew on line. Phil Winkler and Josh Abdulla are working on this and should have this on-line by Convention. Phil says NSSTrak is capable of generating this and an automated e-mail distribution list will send out the e-mail reminder.
Problems:
There is some unfinished business that will have to be
carried on by my successor. One is getting the Market Analysis
Committee back on track. This committee could be a huge benefit
to our publishing effort. Unfortunately, it lacked vision and
active leadership. The other isn’t so much a problem, but it
will need follow-through to get accomplished. This is the
satellite library to be established at the University of Puerto
Rico. Dr. Tom Miller is sending me a list of what types of books
they want and we will check the master library to see if we have
copies to send.
J. Reynolds Duncan, Jr.
153 Atria Drive
Toney, AL 35773-9515
(205) 852-4522
jrdandlld@aol.com
Plans:
Reorganize/re-file the Archives material to facilitate
the location and retrieval of material.
Progress:
Responded to information requests. Purchased six filing
cabinets to use in the filing of the Archives material currently
stored in bags and boxes.
Problems:
None.
Audio-Visual Committee (Slides):
Colin Gatland
1151 Crestwood Hills Drive
Vandalia, OH 45377-2714
(937) 890-0339
pitdropper@aol.com
Plans:
Basically continue to keep everything maintained and in
good shape for the members. If time permits I would still like to
tackle the updating of the slide show graphics.
Progress:
I have just about completed the USFS slide show for the
workshop at the 2000 Convention. I would like to transfer it to
video and send it to Dave Socky for inclusion in the Video
Library.
I am in the process of completing the "Best of" 2000 Convention Photo CDs and the "Best of" slide shows. Once this is done they will be ready for Avis to add to the AV library for members to check out. She will get them at the 2000 Convention, both the Photo CD and two copies of the "Best of" slide show.
I shot some video footage for the 2001 Convention committee's promotional video. This will be shown at the 2000 Convention in West Virginia. Mike Hood also shot some digital stills, which will be included in the 2001 Convention web site. The video and stills should give convention goers a good insight to what the 2001 NSS Kentucky Convention will have to offer.
Problems:
None as of right now. Seems that the slide show
maintenance problems have gotten under control. Avis has a good
handle on the AV slide library and is doing her usual great job
making sure folks get what slide shows they request.
Audio-Visual Committee (Video):
David Socky
6572 Woodbrook Drive, SW
Roanoke, VA 24018-5402
(703) 989-7693
sockydr@roava.net
No Report Received.
Cave Files Committee:
Richard Blenz
8070 W. Eller Road
Bloomington, IN 47403
(812) 825-2345
rblenz@indiana.edu
Plans:
To move the entire NSS cave files to our new office in
Huntsville, if and when we get one. Will continue as usual until
then.
Progress:
Files are running as usual. Mail every day. File work as
I can.
Problems:
How many turns of wire on the Ring Tosser I am making
???...OOPS, that is a Physics problem, not a Cave Files problem,
Sorry.
Headquarters Facilities Committee:
Jim Hall
623 Larry Place
Madison, AL 35758-1118
(256) 772-9829
jimehall@compuserve.com
Plans:
To repaint the Smith house as soon as we can find the
time.
Progress:
In early march the Southern Regional Radon Training
Center did Radon mitigation work at the NSS office. This was done
at almost no cost to us as they will be able to use the NSS
office as a demo site. The Radon levels went from over 60 pc/L
down to less than 2 pc/L. EPA recommends that work levels have no
more than 4pc/L. Making a four-inch hole in both the concrete
slabs and using two blowers to suck the air from under the slabs
before it can concentrate in the Office did this.
Problems:
No major problems, however the Smith house across the
street needs repainting.
Internal Organizations Committee:
Evelyn Bradshaw
10826 Leavells Road
Fredericksburg, VA 22407-1261
(703) 898-9288
ebradshw@staffnet.com
Plans:
Following through with the last report, I am working on
finalizing expansion of the I/O Committee to share my major
responsibilities with a co-chair who will probably take over
handling incoming reports from grottos and regions. The request
for a co-chair appeared in the May NSS News.
I have had some expression of interest to help with setting up a list-serv for communications among I/Os. This will facilitate up to date information on report status, any new rules affecting I/Os, and also undergird (or who knows? replace?) the role of the Congress of Grottos as a way to tell the BOG what a substantial mass of cavers feel is the way to move into the future. If the committee expansion proceeds as I envision, I should free up some time to work on cleaning out the older archives so as to move a quantity to Huntsville for storage (they will still need to be accessible when needed).
Progress:
It looks to me as though much of my time at convention
will be spent working on I/O concerns, discussing improvements in
our procedures, selecting new committee members, and holding the
I/O roundtable where hopefully some will express complaints and
suggestions for improving procedures. Since I/O has a heavy
involvement in the Congress of Grottos, I can report that Tom
Rea, COG chair this year, and I got out an announcement of an
actual advance agenda this year, including the vote allocations
(the first time in two or three years). The grotto listings for
the Members Manual were sent to Maureen Handler, editor of
that publication, in fairly timely fashion. Her cooperation was
much appreciated. The fact that five new grottos and one
reinstated (previously active 1966-1979 so in essence it is also
a new grotto) were approved in time to get them into the members
manual does indicate some cavers see positive value in
affiliation with NSS.
Problems:
The I/Os as a whole utterly fail to understand and abide
by the discipline of reporting by a set date. We believe that
this can be cured through the proposed I/O list-service and
through setting up a chain of regional people (including the
current membership committee, which has been discussed with Bill
Karpowicz) to reinforce direct pressure upon the grottos in their
respective areas. I am told that a dozen years ago or so, grottos
were more aware of the midwinter deadline and felt under pressure
to report on time. The change seems to have come more or less at
the same time as automation of the Members Manual, the
growing apathy about the Congress of Grottos, and finally the
budgetary crunch that made non-publication of the Members
Manual a possibility—all these set in and the deadline
lost its force.
Now about that idea that everyone should be able to file their reports with a form available on the NSS web page. Now it occurs to me that the proposal of developing an I/O "cyberlist" might take care of this instead of going to the NSS web page. We can certainly get some grotto reactions at the roundtable scheduled for Thursday afternoon at convention.
The reaction from my committee has been negative. We do not see the efficiency of sending information from point A to point B and onto point C, when it can go directly from A to C. Also, those who would take advantage of such a scheme are undoubtedly those who could just as easily communicate directly with point C where the same program could be available as it is from point B. A number of grottos also reported that they had problems with downloading the program from point B; why is it assumed they would find using a report form there any easier than simply picking up the program there?
Unless you have ever completed a grotto report, you may not realize that most of the time required is not keying in data but in assembling names (with addresses and telephones) of key people and numeric data on publications and membership) which must be done in advance). Much of that must still be done even under Mr. Engel’s motion.
The beauty of the grotto computer report program designed by Gary Bush cannot be underestimated. Any grotto report program can be processed in less than ten minutes and be inserted in the master file ready for the Members Manual. This includes verifying whether the members of the decision-making body are all active NSS members. Since this process as now handled does not give the responders any access to the NSS membership data base or the office any access to the grotto membership lists, it should put to rest concerns about security and the acceptance of membership lists. However, running through Point B, the office, may be another matter that should give rise to concern.
(FYI, cavers sometimes ask why the bare facts about our members (the same fact that appear in the Member Manual)) could not be available on line for anyone who wanted to check on current NSS status. In my use, I secure the primary grotto affiliation and the date membership expires. That information is not sensitive and, as a matter of fact, Tom Rea is proposing that the primary grotto affiliation be available on request to any grotto. It would expedite matters if the entire base with only selected information were available—perhaps with some password protection.) Incidentally, Gary says that the grotto report program was designed so that it could be readily adapted to include the three other smaller categories (regions, surveys, and sections).
Therefore, we fail to see any advantages in putting a questionnaire on the NSS web page, using up space that might be better used for providing space for links to grottos and other NSS-related entities.
When the grottos respond to all the questions on the current report forms, we are able to see to what extent and in what direction the grottos are fulfilling their promise when chartered to promote the same goals as appear in the NSS constitution. Computer reports can tell us statistically what grottos as a whole are doing.
Thom Engel's motion to limit grotto input only to a membership list and the items that would appear in the Members Manual does not do that and, as a matter of fact, did not secure all of the information that appears in the Members Manual. Very rarely, as a matter of fact, has anyone in submitting a report complained about the amount of information required, and at least one respondent commented on how easy using the Bush computer report form made doing the report. I have somewhere here a revised motion about the wording of the obligations of an I/O who is affiliated with NSS and it can be retooled at convention and put on the agenda for the fall BOG, so that it would be in effect in whatever shape it is adopted prior to the push for annual reports for 2000. It may be in two parts, one just fixing the misunderstanding Thom had about what goes into the Members Manual and a second rewording it so that additional information is labeled something other than optional. Why should any grotto be annoyed at being asked if they have revised their constitution or offer programs for children or have secured 501(c)(3) status with IRS?
Note: A volunteer for co-chair has been found and his confirmation is on the agenda for the summer meeting.
Internet Committee:
Joshua Abdulla
2744 Towne Drive
Carmel, IN 46032-9749
(812) 334-1294
joshua@caves.org
No Report Received.
Market Analysis Committee:
Michael Taylor
800 N. 14th Street
Arkadelphia, AR 71923-3810
(501) 246-2940
taylorm@hsu.edu
No Report Received.
NSS Library Committee:
Richard Downey
380 N. 600 East
Orem, UT 84097-4843
(801) 224-6678
cavediva@uswest.net
Plans:
I will be visiting the NSS library in the week before
convention. Also Convention time will be a good one to get in
touch with Jack Speece and perhaps even visit his operation to
see what's up there. Also the idea of the satellite library being
with the NCKRI I think is a good one. We will be able to address
this more at convention.
Progress:
Things are still moving along but slowly. I have great
hopes to be able to do a lot of good work on a one on one basis
in West Virginia. There are still possibilities in the inter
mountain region of a possible library if the above doesn't pan
out. One thing I will need from you, or your successor are some
parameters on how much of a budget the NSS is willing to give to
a Satellite library, or are they supposed to be run by volunteers
or what. I'm not looking for salaries or anything like that but
revenue to cover overhead costs for the library itself.
Problems:
At this point, there are no problems but time.
NSS Operations Manager:
Camille Mueller
National Speleological Society, Inc.
2813 Cave Avenue
Huntsville, AL 35810
(256) 852-1300
manager@caves.org
Plans:
Now that the closing of the books and the audit are
behind me, it is now time to turn my attention to hiring and
training my replacement. On June 5th, we will start our
interviews. Training will include some training at convention. My
hopes are that this person will continue to push the office into
new directions, change is excellent and the NSS does not need to
sit still.
On June 5th, I will have been employed by the NSS for 5 years. I came in with three main goals: computerize the office, install a system of checks and balances, and get us through our 1st audit. I am happy to say that I have completed those goals. Now that we are capable of being audited, we can apply for larger grants plus be eligible to be on the United Way and other employer matched campaigns. It literally opens a lot of doors for us and will allow us more funding for getting stiffer cave protection laws passed, provide scholarships, fellowship grants, and acquiring more caves and karst areas especially ones in danger of being destroyed or damaged. It is a little sad to be leaving the office but I plan to stay very much involved with the NSS. I have enjoyed working with everyone but it is time for me to start a new chapter of my life and have more time at home.
Progress:
What a whirlwind it has been around here! In the last 15
days, we have closed the 1999/2000 Fiscal year, finished our 1st
independent audit, received 1057 copies of Speleogenesis,
and 500 copies of the 1991 Speleo Digest. In addition to
this, Bill Torode shipped out 534 copies of Speleogenesis
all over the world. Someone coming by the NSS office in the last
few weeks would have found someone working from 8 am till 4 am!
Our UPS man and the Mailman are both complaining of sore backs.
Speleogenesis finally arrived in our office on May 3rd. But due to a couple of small errors, David McClurg asked us to hold it until we received his erratum sheet. Shipping started on Friday the 5th and continued on through Sunday the 14th. Bill worked 54 hours one week just to get all the books shipped out quickly. The domestic orders are pretty quick to ship out but international orders are another ballgame. They require custom forms and special wrappings in addition to the fact that they have to be taken to the Post Office. Some International orders were shipped Airmail which requires even more forms. Thank goodness, Bill handled all of this.
In the midst of all the Speleogenesis orders, we received the 1991 Speleo Digest. Great job, Scott Fee and Eileen O’Malley and all the other background people! But it was a tongue twister between Speleogenesis and Speleo Digest. Orders have continued to come in on both books.
Problems:
Our webpage is a major problem. A number of people are
having problems entering more than 1 item. I tried it myself and
it emptied the shopping cart as soon as I tried to add another
book. I have talked with Josh about this and he said we need new
software. This really needs to be done as we are losing bookstore
sales!
Josh and I have been discussing how to fix this problem. It basically comes down to money. There is better shopping cart software available, but we don’t have the funds to support it at this time.
Office Automation Committee:
Phil Winkler
816 N. Washington Street
Wilmington, DE 19801-1510
(302) 571-1156
pwinkler@plmconsulting.com
Plans:
Progress:
Development continues on emailing renewal notices and
any other recurring notifications.
Problems:
No significant problems have occurred.
Photo Archives Committee:
Karen Kastning
P.O. Box 148
Radford, VA 24141-0048
(703) 639-4666
karen@skyhopper.net
Plans:
Long term plans: These remain the same. Long-range plans
continue to be to establish a detailed database for the photo
archives (starting with recent materials and working my way
backward). Ultimately, I hope to have a very well organized photo
archives for research purposes.
Short-term plans and activity: Over the summer I plan to have the two Skeets Miller films cleaned (one at a time - I don't want something to happen and lose both of them). I'll also be reorganizing the storage of the materials (see below).
Progress:
The computer problems have finally been solved. We
recently replaced our small, slow, low-memory computer with one
that has the capability to handle the demands of the newer
software for photography.
For some time now, one of the storage problems has been that I had no place to store the large boxes of donated large-format prints—other than stacking them on the floor of our study. It made them very hard to sort through, simply because they were so big and awkward. In April I purchased a mobile storage cabinet that will be able to house photographs up to 20 x 24 inches, in addition to providing shelves for supplies, small photo boxes, and notebooks for negatives and slides. As the summer progresses, I will be purchasing additional archival storage boxes, so that the large prints can be better organized and protected.
Problems:
No sizable or urgent problems. As I stated before, time
is scarce at the moment, but I will be finishing my graduate
degree soon (December 2000?) and then will be able to devote much
more time to inventorying and cataloging of the NSS Photo
Archives' holdings. Other than time, there is a need for some
additional special funding. We still need a high-quality scanner
and a digital camera. Requests for this funding will be made in
the coming year--after I do some research.
Speleo-Museum Committee:
Craig Hindman
7600 Pindell School Road
Fulton, MD 20759
(301) 792-0742
ctiderma@ns.tssc.com
Plans
There will be a representation of the collection on
display during the Convention. They will be located in display
cases in the High School.
Progress:
There have been no donations since the last report.
Problems:
None