Attachment D

National Speleological Society
Operations Vice President’s Report

September 1, 2002

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

Following this report:

Appendix 1 Bookstore Policy Outline
Appendix 2 Disaster Recovery Policy Outline

Operations Vice President Report:

Colin Gatland
1151 Crestwood Hills Drive
Vandalia Ohio 45377-2714
937 890-0339
cgatland@core.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 chairman of each committee or organization, followed by the report. The committee and sub-committee chairmen have provided the information in this report although I’ve made some spelling, formatting, and minor editorial adjustments.

Plans:
I am attempting to come up to speed and move right into the Operations Vice President position. There are many things to learn and procedures to become familiar with. However, I believe that with the help of not only the other EC members but the members of the board as well, I can accomplish whatever is required of me.

I would like to make the NSS Bookstore a more visible presence on the NSS web site. I spent a day at the NSS Office in early August and discussed various ways we could do better to market the bookstore to our members.

I have written up basic outlines for the NSS Bookstore Policy (Appendix 1) and the NSS Office Disaster Recovery Policy (Appendix 2). When finalized I will place these in Section 9 of the Board of Governors Manual. Please refer to these at the end of this report (or as attached e-mail files).

Progress:
I have found someone that I hope to have replace me as NSS AV Committee Co-Chair/Slides--Tim White from Huntsville, Alabama. Tim is a Graphics Artist and has done many things for the NSS already. Below is a rundown of his qualifications:

Timothy C. White
2505A Toll Gate Road SE
Huntsville, AL 35801
256 508-1908
KD4GOC@BIGFOOT.COM

-Currently Production Manager at Slaton Press, Inc. (commercial printing plant)
-Previously Plant Manager for Tennessee Valley Press (printing company)

 -Both current and previous job require management of digital and film images
-Have had and/or have responsibility for scanning, storage and archiving files

 -Knowledgeable in both PC and Mac platforms

 -Currently Editor, Nylon Highway -the publication of the Vertical Section of the NSS

 -Oversaw production of following publications:
         -1989 SERA Guidebook
         -1998 Convention Program Guide
         -1998 SERA Guidebook
         -2001 SERA Guidebook (Co-Editor)
         -NSS Discovering Caves brochure "Lava Tubes"
         -NSS Discovering Caves brochure "Fragile Underground"
         -NSS brochure "Bats Needs Friends"
         -NSS Membership brochure
         -"Basic Vertical Training Student Manual" for Vertical Section
         -Letterheads, envelopes, business cards, etc. for NSS Office starting May 2002

I think his background, coupled with his close proximity to the NSS Office make a good fit for Tim and this position.

Thanks to Greg Passmore (Web Page), Bill Torode (Librarian), and Jim Hall & Terry Ragon (Photographers), the NSS On-Line Book Auction continues to be a success. As of Sept. 4th, we had placed about 91 books on line. We have bids totaling $4,260.

We now (Sept. 4, 2002) have 322 General Members (an increase from 163 that Scott Fee reported in May 2002).

NSS Online Bookstore Revamping Project:

Once our subcontractor fell though, Will Marsh (willmarsh3@att.net) stepped up to tackle this project, what follows is his updated summary:
I've got a cut on it implemented using PHP.  This is in order to make it easier to update the book listings and make it look more consistent.  I need to complete work on it and polish it up. 

List of new features to implement
1) Keyword search on the catalog. - In progress
2) Visit counter (since June 2002). - In progress
3) Cool caving background images. - In progress
4) Easy catalog updating - edit one file without having
to know html. - In progress
5) Featured specials or new items on front page.
6) Improved look - see
http://www.caves.org/service/bookstore/newsite.html

Also see
http://wwww.caves.org/service/bookstore/phplist.php
for the new book listing.  This reads lines from booklist.txt and generates html for display.  Once I get everything running I can tweak phplist.php to improve the look of the book listing.

I am using php, which dynamically generates html for the browser but keeps our code hidden.  PHP is much more powerful.  All the items will appear basically at once.  I have set aside Thursday night to continue work on this.

Problems:
(This is still an issue) With the growth of the General Membership category, it has become apparent that we need to fully integrate the numerous membership processes into the master database program.

The compressor went south at the Smith House, below was the cost to replace:
      

We store a lot of our books and other items in the Smith House, so keeping a controlled climate is crucial to keeping them in good condition.

• Scott Parvin stepped down from the Market Analysis Committee. I did ask him, via e-mail, for a committee report, however I did not get a response. I will start looking for a replacement.
  
  
• Pati Miller, our part time office staff person resigned her position effective Sept 5th 2002. She was able to get a position with a school system, teaching children about the planet and other environmental issues. The hunt to find a replacement for her has already begun.
  
  
• My IT Committee is more & more running up against the problem of running out of space on the NSS web site. We are currently up to approx. 700 meg and I can foresee that number increasing by leaps and bounds in the near future. The more image, music, and other multi media files that are uploaded means that we need to increase our budget for future web space.

Archivist Committee:

J. Reynolds Duncan, Jr.
153 Atria Drive
Toney AL 35773-9515
256 852-4522
jrdandlld@aol.com

ARCHIVES COMMITTEE REPORT
August 2002
Plans:
Continue with the sorting and filing of material.

Progress:
Responded to several requests for information. Some material in boxes has been sorted and filed.

Problems:
None.

Submitted by: Reynolds Duncan,
Chairman, Archives Committee

Audio-Visual Committee (Slides):

Colin Gatland
1151 Crestwood Hills Drive
Vandalia OH 45377-2714
937 890-0339
cgatland@core.com

Progress:
Nothing since my last report. The "Best of" slide show and Photo CD’s were delivered to the NSS Office, AV library and others that routinely receive the Photo CD. Other than that all is quiet.

Plans:
As I am now the NSS Operations Vice President I am stepping down from the position of AV Committee Co-Chairman/Slides. I have been searching for a replacement and have made notice of the position in the internet caving lists and in the NSS News.

Problems:
None anticipated other than when I do find a replacement, coordinating the delivery of the master slide show files, scripts, and misc. items.

Audio-Visual Committee (Video):

David Socky
6572 Woodbrook Drive, SW
Roanoke, VA 24018-5402
703 989-7693
sockydr@cox.com

Plans:
No new plans since the Spring 2002 report

Progress:
Online AV catalog
The slide catalog updated, plus sections for DVDs and Multi-Media programs have been added. I will send an updated print catalog to the NSS office by the end of August, as well as make the new online catalog the main AV Library web page.

Vertical Techniques Video
I received a script from Bruce Smith just before the convention. This will be an introductory program on vertical ascending systems. I was able to obtain some footage for this program at the convention.

New Video/Computer Projector
The projector was used quite a bit at the NSS Convention in Maine, and was a great success. It worked very well during the NSS Photo Salon. Control of the projector from a computer was great, since we didn’t have to rely on a remote to switch inputs. On Friday, we used the projector for showing the full-length versions of the 2002 video entries. The videos were front projected on the huge built in screen the auditorium. The 2000 lumens was more then enough to keep even that large image bright and crisp.

Rental feedback cards
Nothing done yet

Problems:
Time, I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I would like to do.

Cave Files Committee:

Richard Blenz
8070 W Eller Road
Bloomington IN 47403
812 825-2345
rblenz@indiana.edu

No report submitted.

Note: This is due mainly to my accidental omission of Richards e-mail address in my committee database. The error was not found out until too late. I have since corrected the error.

Headquarters Facilities Committee:

Jim Hall
623 Larry Place
Madison AL 35758-1118
256 772-9829
jimehall@compuserve.com

Progress:
None

Problems:
None

Plans:
Still planning to paint the high trim as soon as the weather cools off.

Jim Hall
Facilities Maintenance committee

Internal Organizations Committee:

Evelyn Bradshaw, Co-Chairman
5713 Castlebridge Rd Apt 226
Fredericksburg VA 22407-6044
540 785-5361
ebradshw@staffnet.com

Keith D Wheeland, Co-Chairman
2191 Mountain View Ave
State College PA 16801-7214
(home) 814 238-2057
(e-mail) kwheeland@psualum.com

Members: Gary Bush, Eric McMaster, Esty Pape, and Dave Taylor.

Part 1

(You should hear directly from Keith Wheeland on his current progress and plans and any problems. He now handles all the grottos and my collecting of reports for Sections and Regions is never particularly onerous.  And we know that Dave Taylor satisfactorily does his assignment with surveys is always well and promptly done.)

I now see that over twenty years in this job is a real plus.  From the many associations developed over those years gives me a panel to touch base with when problems arise.  I do process applications for new Internal Organizations, as well as reviewing amendments on constitutions and bylaws when they come up.  Since convention two interesting inquiries about new I/Os have come in. Neither is an open and shut case.

In Alaska a caver in Fairbanks wants to start a separate grotto and hints that he has good rapport with the local feds that augurs well for future cooperation.  My policy is always respond positively (within reason, of course; if the inquirer includes opening a store to sell speleothems on the side, polite but firm explanation that some projects cannot be approved).  Alaskan cavers are organized around three centers, all within one grotto (the Glacier Grotto). Just how coordination of programs within the centers is arranged, I don't know.  Momentarily I wondered if converting Glacier  into a region could allow the Fairbanks core grotto status while still retaining oversight and some control by the "new" region.  My contacts, however, lead me to believe that the status quo should be retained and for me to look for some other way to give the inquirer some satisfaction short of receiving a grotto charter. Meanwhile, Alaskan cavers are asking for widespread caver support for their push for expanded protection measures for cave and karst resources in US Forest properties.  They feel that the decision of the entrenched Forest Service leadership to maintain the status quo is ill advised.  Cavers are seeking testimony from recognized experts elsewhere that backs their conviction that problems in Alaska require pushing for expanded protection.  I sent their statement out on the Conservation and Management Section listserv.

On the California front, a cave guide who is an NSS member in a national park has written proposing to start a Section for cave guides, to be called the Stephen Bishop Association.  This is not a new thought.  Several years ago a group of cavers at a national convention came up with the idea of an association of cave guides, not necessarily within NSS, as one way to prevent tragedies like a recent fatality at that time when an over-zealous guide took a youth group into a cave when bad weather was forecast and the cave was known to flood dangerously.  An association might promulgate standards and better-trained guides might solve the problem. This raises all kinds of questions, such as what type of guides are we talking about -- salaried ones in publicly owned caves; volunteers who take youth and church groups in, etc.  The self-nominated head of the shaky Human Sciences Section, Charles Cicciarella, is adamantly opposed to a Section if it will both set standards and offer training to meet those standards.  He cites from his own experience that this inevitably leads to lowered standards.

For some help in evaluating the best approach to handling this application as it applies to setting standards et., I have sent copies of all correspondence on this so far to some three dozen cavers whom I felt might be well qualified to comment on the situation, and will await their responses.  Meanwhile, Barry Oost has been sent the usual application packet.  I see no reason he should not organize such a Section; the question is how the purpose of the Section would be stated in their constitution.  They may also need in the membership section of the constitution to define to what kind of cave guides membership would be extended.

Evelyn

Part 2

I/O Committee Report – August 8, 2002

Submitted by Keith D. Wheeland

Progress:
Contact with Editor of NSS Members Manual
We have been in touch with the Editor of the upcoming Members Manual, to plan for the steps we need to take to satisfy his needs.

Congress of Grottos Votes
At the Convention in Maine, Congress voted to determine the number of primary members for I/Os by using the NSS database (rather than the membership rosters submitted by each I/O). Thanks to a flurry of activity by Scott Fee, Colin Gatland, and Phil Winkler, we were able to make the changes to allow this to happen.

I/O Web Site
The I/O web site at www.caves.org/committee/i-o/ has been updated to reflect the new way of determining primary membership in I/Os.

NSS Web Page Showing I/Os and Links
Gary Bush maintains this page for the I/O Committee. It is currently up-to-date with all changes he has received.

Plans:
Web Submittal for Region and Section Annual Reports
At the NSS Convention in Maine, the Regions and Sections expressed an interest in submitting their reports via the web just as Grottos were able to do this year. I have added Regions and Sections to the online I/O database. Some simple changes need to be made to the online forms to accommodate this request. I have asked Eric McMaster to make the changes.

Job Descriptions and List of Duties
This project is still being worked on.

I/O Web Page Improvements
Additions are being planned for the I/O web page. We will be adding some details concerning the submittal of annual reports for Regions and Sections.

Problems and Issues:
Submittal of I/O Annual Reports
Once again, we hope to make the submittal of annual reports a bit simpler. We hope that Board will bear with us as we try to improve the way annual reports are submitted. We may not be abiding by the letter of the regulations, but we sure are abiding by the spirit. For example, under 6A of the Policy for Internal Organizations the following is required:

They shall submit an annual report to the Internal Organizations Committee, containing a list of the members of the organization which notes who is an NSS member and claims this organization as their IO, a list of the organization’s officers with their respective NSS numbers and mailing addresses, identify two organization members who are to be listed in the NSS Members Manual as contacts, the mailing address, meeting date and location of the organization, and whether copies of the organization’s publications are being submitted per Section C of this Paragraph. The committee may request additional information, but the completion of it must be labeled as optional. Reports must be submitted prior to a date set by the Committee. 

1) We won’t need to require the membership list to show who is a primary member since we will now get the information from the NSS database.

2) We don’t need the mailing address of the officers since we can always get that information from the NSS database.

Co-Chairmen: Keith D. Wheeland and Evelyn Bradshaw. Members: Gary Bush, Eric McMaster, Esty Pape, and Dave Taylor.

Information Technology Committee:

IT Team Chairman:
Joseph G. "Tray" Murphy
10210 Francill Court
Richmond, VA 23236-2276
804 745-6730 (home)
tray@jgmurphy.org

Current status:
We are over budget on our disk space with Xeran...I will call them and try to negotiate a better than retail rate for our additional space. We have purchased additional disk space in the past, and adding the Salon pages and a few new "tenants" has pushed us over the current 500MB limit by 124MB. I am currently analyzing disk usage to ensure there are no "space hogs" using more than their allotted quota.

Everything else seems to be fairly smooth, although I continue to receive scattered reports of server outages. However, when I check the logs, there are no "holes" in server response time, thus leading Xeran Tech Support and I to believe that for some reason, some people get "can't find this server" messages because other sections of the internet are down.

Andy Niekamp, our PERL programmer, has reactivated the search engine, and included the NSS business pages in the search indices. He has also moved all of our membership application, renewal application and change of info forms to our secure server to preclude personal information (including credit card numbers) of our members from being intercepted.

Problems:
The search engine is deleting its own index file periodically. Andy is working on this.

Future plans:
Keep it all running as smoothly as possible.

Information Technology Committee:

Office Automation Division
Phil Winkler
816 N. Washington Street
Wilmington DE 19801-1510
302 571-1156
pwinkler@plmconsulting.com

Progress:
1. Created report of Internal Organization affiliations for all members from NSSTrak database.

2. Began necessary coding to incorporate General Memberships into the main system.

3. Advised IT Committee of necessary software for our Disaster Recovery Plan.

4. Participated in email conferences for a search of possible substitute software for NSS operations. Advised that the level of customization in our existing software pretty much precludes the use of off-the-shelf programs unless we were willing to dramatically change the way we do business (unlikely).

5. High speed DSL service is now available in the NSS Office at a cost of $80/month. This permits us to cancel one business telephone line and save $80/month. Of course, this is a wash money wise, but we now will have a fixed IP address permitting support people (me, primarily) to access the systems via the internet and eliminate the long distance charges we've had for the last 6 years.

Plans:
Complete General Membership modifications. This should now be easier and faster with out new DSL service.

Problems:
None

Market Analysis Committee:

Scott A. Parvin, Chairman
8019 Riverbend Rd
Morris Al 35116-1259
(home) 205 647-1936
(cell) 205 563-CAVE
(e-mail) sparvin@mindspring.com

No report due to Scott stepping down from his position of Committee Chair. A replacement will be sought.

NSS Library Committee:

Richard Downey
380 N 600 East
Orem UT 84097-4843
801 224-6678
cavediva@msn.com

Plans:
I recently received a post from Dave Luckins of the "ad hoc" committee regarding Library items discussed at the Maine Convention. There were some intriguing options presented that will need serious consideration.  I will be spending time in the interim to contact various persons and institutions to have a better grasp of things to be presented at the Board meeting in Salt Lake City in the spring and at the next convention in California.

Progress:
In lieu of any solid information on the NSS library, until I received the note from Dave, I have been testing the waters again for a western satellite library. I realize that this is of a secondary priority but one that may need to be addressed at some point in the near future.

Problems:
No real problems at this point except the slow grinding of the wheels that are necessary in projects like this.

NSS Operations Manager:

Stephanie Cothron
National Speleological Society, Inc.
2813 Cave Avenue
Huntsville AL 35810-4431
256 852-1300
manager@caves.org

Progress:
Roger Haley (IT Committee) has installed an upgrade computer for Bill’s workstation. This is great because UPS shipments are processed more quickly and it doesn’t take forever to print EOD (end-of-day) reports. Bill is still using his ‘old’ computer to check his email until Roger can get a 50-foot cable and connect Bill’s workstation to the server and DSL.

Phil Winkler can no longer dial-in using the modem because of his PC Anywhere upgrade. Since the office has DSL and neither Phil nor the office needs the modem, I will cancel the modem with BellSouth and an order for an IP address has been placed with Hiwaay Internet Services. We will test the IP address before finalizing the cancellation of the modem. We’re currently paying: $75/month modem expense, $49.95/month DSL expense for a total of $124.95. We will pay with DSL and IP address $109.00/month for a yearly savings of $191.40.

Avis and I attended convention in Camden, Maine, June 24th – 28th. We left Huntsville on Friday, June 21st and flew into New Hampshire. Our drive to Maine was beautiful.

We worked hard, but we really enjoyed our stay in Camden. I felt like a pro at my 2nd NSS convention. It was so good seeing NSS members I met at last year’s convention, as well as, meeting new folks that I’ve conversed with via the telephone or email. It’s so good putting a face with a name.

Avis attended SERA 2002, July 12th – 14th, in Jamestown, Tennessee. There were around 400 registered. Total SERA sales: $1,013.25.

NSS Bookstore Sales Comparison 2nd Qtr 2002 vs. 2nd Qtr 2001

The August 2002 Journal of Caves and Karst Studies was mailed to the NSS membership 8/15/02.

Colin Gatland (our new OVP) visited the NSS Office August 2nd – 3rd. We did an extensive review of NSS Office Server Back-up Procedure Checklist. Colin also suggested we make back-up copies of: Novell Software, DataEase, and Win 98. We’ve been unsuccessful, at this time, in finding Win98 and Back-up Exe software. Pati has successfully made back-up copies of: Novell and DataEase. I have the back-up copies at my house.

We also discussed marketing strategies for the NSS Bookstore.

Despite the problems with LedgerMaster, I got the months of May and June closed. I had a lot of help from Phil and Les dialing in to take a look at the system. There was a DataEase version update, but an update was not made to LedgerMaster this caused an index corruption error, which caused a language problem between DataEase and LedgerMaster. I couldn’t get my balance sheet to balance. The error has been corrected and this will help Dave Irving tremendously in providing Financial Data for this month’s EC meeting.

In June, we began sending out Membership Renewal Special flyers (save 10% on Cave Minerals of the World, Speleogenesis, On Call, T-shirts, mouse pads, bat, logo and conservation stickers) with NSS membership renewal. So far, the promotion has had a favorable response and brought in $1,029.40.

On a personal note, I got hitched" on 6/1/02. Marcus and I had a beautiful church wedding. Our reception was held at the Marriott in the Grand Ball Room. We took a honeymoon cruise to Nassau, Bahamas, CocoCay, and Key West, Florida. We also spent time in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios. So, if you see an email or note from Stephanie Searles, please do not discard. Stephanie Cothron AKA Stephanie Searles. J

Plans:
Prepare for OTR, August 30 – September 1, West Virginia. Pati will begin packing for OTR this week. Avis and Jim will leave 8/28/02.

I’ve already given Tim White (Huntsville Caver who works for Slaton Press) my ideas for the 2003 NSS Bookstore Catalog. I want this year’s catalog to be glossy, full color and 81/2x11 in size. Tim is going to provide me a quote by this Friday 8/23, so I can stay within budget. We’ve made plans for Tim to come by the office and load Adobe PageMaker on my computer. Slaton Press also has an in-house mailing house. This will make it much easier on me in trying to get the catalog out on time to the membership. I won’t have to try and coordinate between two different companies. The catalog will be to each member’s house before Thanksgiving.

Problems:
My 2-year anniversary with the NSS will be 8/28/02. I still need to go to Delaware and get some on-hands training with Phil on NSSTrak and Ledgermaster.

Photo Archives Committee:

Karen Kastning
PO Box 148
Radford VA 24141-0048
703 639-4666
karen@skyhopper.net

Fall 2002 Report of the NSS Photo Archives Committee
Submitted by Karen M. Kastning
(additional committee member, Ernst H. Kastning)

Plans:
Long-term plans:
Remains the same:  To establish a detailed database for research purposes. No progress on this during the summer months - but it remains my primary objective.

Short-terms plans and activity:
As mentioned in my last report:  "New archival-quality storage materials were obtained in April (various-sized plastic sleeves for protecting prints and 16 x 20 acid-free boxes).  The large-format prints had been passed on to me (several years ago) in seven very large boxes that allowed the prints to "rattle around", making it difficult to even move them, much less look through them.  Therefore, I handled them only rarely, to minimize any chance of damage.  Of course, this made them practically "dead storage".  Finally, sufficient funds became available to purchase 15 appropriately sized boxes that will hold most of the large-format prints."

Therefore, work (at putting sleeves on the large prints, sorting them into appropriate categories, and filing them in the new boxes) is occurring in spurts as time permits.  Work on this project will be continued throughout the winter months.

Progress:
On Monday afternoon of the 2002 convention in Maine, there was a special showing of both of the 1-hour, Skeets Miller Floyd Collins Television dramas from the 1950s.  They were shown using the new NSS Video Projector (thanks to Dave Socky's assistance).  Over a hundred persons attended the showing and many cavers expressed pleasure over the fact that the films had been saved and restored by the NSS.

A small Photo Archives exhibit was also set up at the Maine Convention, consisting of 16 black-and-white photographs of early caving in the Northeast (from the Photo Archives Collection).  Committee funds were used to duplicate, enlarge, and mount the photos (so that no originals were placed on exhibit).

As usual some of the Photo Salon entries were donated to the Photo Archives and the Photo Salon Committee forwarded these items to me immediately after Convention 2002.

Some of the lost exhibit stands surfaced (Jim Hall located them) and they were delivered to me at the Convention in Maine.  Unfortunately, only one duffel bag was found (ripped to shreds) and the 2nd one (still missing) had most of the pipes.  We were, however, able to put together enough stands to show the 16 photos mentioned above ON TABLES - not free standing on floors, as they previously could be.  At some point, if the second duffel bag does not show up, I will need funds to replace the missing pipes.  I do not want to start this project until I have given Jim a chance to look for the second bag and I have time to finish the reorganization/refiling.

Problems:
No significant problems other than time, space, and money. Still need a HIGH QUALITY slide/negative scanner.

Speleo-Museum Committee:

Craig Hindman
7600 Pindell School Road
Fulton MD 20759
410 792-0742
ctider@us.ibm.com

Progress:
Had a successful display at the convention. Received 4 donations. Another gift has been promised and is expected to be received this fall.

Plans:
Request a portion of the 2003 Convention Auction income be designated for the Museum Restricted Fund Start photo documentation of the Museum contents.

Problems:
None at this time.