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 Bookstore Manager Report
NSS Library Committee Report
NSS Operations Manager Report
Office Automation Committee Report
Photo Archives Committee Report
Speleo-Museum Committee Report
Addition to Section 9 of the Board of
Governors Manual
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’m currently working with Cheryl Jones to receive funding
from PMI for reprint of the "Guide to Responsible
Caving." In addition to Cheryl, I’ve been working with
the author, Ed Sira, and Tom Rea, who is doing the layout, to
work out the details. A Memorandum of Agreement is also being
drafted to outline the duties of the NSS and PMI. With 1500
copies of the current edition in stock, I don’t expect the
next printing until sometime next year.
The office is looking to hire another part-time person to assist with the NSS Bookstore. See Camille’s report in this report for more details.
PROGRESS:
The library cataloging is going well. Jim Hall, who was hired as
a contractor to perform this function, is about half way through
the process. This project may be completed ahead of schedule.
PROBLEMS:
The workload at the office has increased considerably over the
past couple of years. This has prompted the move to hire a
bookstore assistant and also redefine Camille’s job
description as her duties have changed much since she was hired.
The logistics of implementing the proposed credit card donation
program could be a potential problem and solutions are being
considered at this time. I anticipate the problems to be resolved
by the time we institute this program.
J. Reynolds Duncan, Jr.
153 Atria Drive
Toney, AL 35773-9515
(205) 852-4522
jrdandlld@aol.com
PLANS:
Now that all of the boxed and bagged material has been catalogued
at a top level, I will go back through that material which needs
further review to identify the subject matter. This will be a
slow process but, when completed, will allow for the retrieval of
material by subject.
PROGRESS:
All of the material in boxes and bags has been reviewed and
catalogued, at least at a top level. It could now be better
organized and more easily accessed if filing cabinets were
available for the material in boxes. I have received and
responded to several requests for information.
PROBLEMS:
The lack of filing cabinets and open shelf space will not permit
much more organization of the material. Having reviewed all of
the material, I have found that some things that should be in the
Archives material are missing. Specifically, a set of boxes sent
as 1 of 6, etc., has three of the boxes missing (not in the
Archives room).
Audio-Visual Committee (Slides):
Colin Gatland
1151 Crestwood Hills Drive
Vandalia, OH 45377-2714
(937) 890-0339
pitdropper@aol.com
PLANS:
I hope that I can finally start re-making some of the graphics
slides from some of our slide shows. This is something that needs
work on as there are some truly outdated and hard to read
graphics. This cost would need to come from the AV Library
Restricted Fund. Mike Hood approved $1000.00 to use for the
updates.
PROGRESS:
There is a USFS slide show in the planning stage. Janet Thorne
requested this at the end of the 1999 convention in Idaho. It is
hoped that it will be ready for the Cave & Karst Symposium in
Chattanooga in October 99, if not then, at the 2000 Convention in
WV. As of this writing the needed slides are very thin, so I am
not holding my breath for this project to be completed in Oct.
I am also working on the display for the above-mentioned symposium with Gary Bush and Doug Medville. I’m taking care of the display info and getting images made for the it.
The slide show library is in pretty good shape overall with most of the immediate maintenance problems taken care of (i.e., lost slides, damaged mounts, missing scripts, etc.).
I have not heard any adverse comments regarding the newly implemented AV deposit policy. I had always thought from the start that a deposit policy was the best way to approach slide show rentals.
PROBLEMS:
No real problems to speak of at this time. As of this writing I
have used $731.00 on slide dupes of old shows, NSS Best of 99
show, photo CD and slide trays for the NSS office. So if I
started with $1,500.00 and $750 was for slides, then I only have
about $11.00 left for the rest of the fiscal year. If it was a
$1,000 total budget then I have eaten into the video committee's
chunk. So I guess money is this season's problem, however I will
make due with whatever.
The AV Library Restricted Fund is available for some of the items Colin describes.
Audio-Visual Committee (Video):
David Socky
6572 Woodbrook Drive, SW
Roanoke, VA 24018-5402
(703) 989-7693
sockydr@roava.net
PLANS:
Slide and Video Deposit Policy
The new deposit policy for slides and videos was implemented with little fanfare and/or controversy (at least that I have heard). However, one part of the policy has already come under a test. This is the new rule that only NSS members may check out slide or video programs. A couple of weeks ago, a person by the name of John Wingate started a concerted search for Mr. W. Karras and information for writing a book on the 1967 Hannibal, MO cave search for three lost boys. John knew about the video, "Rescue at Rowland's Cave," Video #V901, in the NSS AV Library and wished information on checking out the video. Because of the policy, I had to inform Mr. Wingate that he could not check out the video, but if he wished to join the NSS first, then he could check it out.
Actually, I and others feel, that since the institution of the deposit requirement, there should be no problem with renting to non-NSS members. This policy of renting to non-members would be a useful outreach service, just as it was before. But now those who don’t return the shows will not stiff us. I would like to see this issue discussed and a positive decision made this fall.
I instituted the member-only rule at the insistence of some board members. I have no strong feeling either way on this and am willing to lift the member-only policy if the board desires it.
Other Plans
I have not made any other new plans, since only minimal progress has been made on plans from the spring or summer (or even from last year).
PROGRESS:
Updates to NSS AV Library and Catalog
Alex Sproul and Colin Gatland did a great job of getting this year’s video and slide entries copied and distributed to the NSS AV library. From the 1999 NSS Video Salon, the AV library has seven new videos—two professional shows, and five in the amateur category. Plus there is the 1999 Photo Salon slide show, a year 2000 pre-convention slide show, and a year 2000 pre-convention video program (Cave The Millennium). Previous to this years convention, Alex got last years convention banquet program video, the popular "Tag - You're It!" video in the library. Also, just this summer, we obtained masters and copies of old Floyd Collins programs. The first is called "The Story of Floyd Collins" and consists of two reenactments made for NBC-TV; "Rescue" aired in 1951 on Philco Playhouse, and "Crisis at Sand Cave" aired in 1958 on Robert Montgomery Presents. The second tape is "The Floyd Collins Story", a new reenactment of the events surrounding Floyd Collins’ entrapment, commissioned by the Cave City (Ky) Chamber of Commerce and produced by Peridot Pictures.
The NSS AV Catalog, both the printed version and the On-line Catalog, was updated for the new entries at pretty much the same time they were made available. The catalog will be printed and distributed in the usual manner in the very near future.
Purchase of a new Video/Computer Projector
I was able to check out features and performance of new video/computer LCD projector at the 1999 Photo Salon at the NSS Convention in Filer, Idaho. There is no doubt that the newer projectors are smaller, lighter, and easier to use and to set up. They also are more versatile and can project more kinds of media than the NSS's current projector. However, in side by side comparison of light output and quality of projected video, there was almost no difference. As a matter of fact, the new projector had a little too much contrast--the old projector had a bit more of a softer look. But I am sure with a little adjustment on either machine, the picture quality between the two projectors could be made to be near identical.
But because of the advantages of a newer machine, I believe we ought to actively pursue obtaining another projector in time for next year’s convention.
I have started the process of purchasing a new video/computer LCD projector to replace our old and heavy three-gun projector. Primary usage will be for the yearly NSS Photo Salon for graphics and video. However, because modern projectors are smaller in size, lighter weight, and have a higher light output (and are easier to use), the projector can be used for other purposes throughout the year. Bob Vandeventer is loaning the NSS an InFocus Projector for the convention this next year, so afterwards, a model and price will be decided, and if funding is found, the NSS will purchase a new projector.
Rental feedback cards
Nothing has been done yet. 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.
NSS Convention video
Nothing has been done yet. Late last year I supplied a montage of video footage on past NSS conventions to Carol Tiderman (for use by the Maine Convention staff). The video will be shown to the City Council and other public officials in Maine in preparation for the NSS Convention in that state. The purpose is to give public officials some idea of what the NSS, and its yearly Convention, is all about. Because this was a ‘rush’ project, the video I supplied was real rough—no titles, no narration, no music, just a bunch of scenes from past NSS Conventions.
What I would like to do is to produce a more professional show about NSS Conventions and what they are all about. Something like this could be a great marketing tool, making it easier to show local officials the benefits of NSS Conventions. Soon, I will be asking for help in planning, scripting, and writing a narration for such a video. That would allow myself and others to obtain specific footage for an NSS Convention video.
"What the NSS is about" video
Nothing has been done yet. The project above (NSS Convention video) is only a show about NSS conventions. I would also like to produce a video, which tells the viewers what the NSS is all about. I know there is at least one program of this type in the library, but I imagine it is somewhat out of date. As in the Convention video, I will be asking for help in planning, scripting, and writing a narration for this production.
New AV Catalog
No further progress has been made.
AV Video database
Alex Sproul: A project for this winter is to database the video archives by subject, title, and producer, correlating them to cassette and time-code placement on the cassette. This project is ‘in progress’.
PROBLEMS:
Time
I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I would like to do. Things have gotten minimally better after the Convention, but not good enough to make this a thrilling report. I did get the impression that most everyone enjoyed the NSS Year 2000 Convention teaser video, after the Photo Salon in Idaho. So the time spent producing this 15-minute show for the NSS 2000 Convention staff was not a waste of time.
Richard Blenz
8070 W. Eller Road
Bloomington, IN 47403
(812) 825-2345
rblenz@indiana.edu
A suggestion was made by certain board people that I be more specific on what the Files are doing. Maybe next time I will have more to say but for now nothing has changed from last time because of three weeks to and from Convention and then three weeks at OTR in W. Va.
I was given a large accumulation of NSS Bulletins and NSS News by someone at OTR; can't remember his name. When I have time I will begin to add that material to the files.
Plans:
To continue as usual.
Progress:
Still filling filing cabinets with newsletter stuff.
Problems:
None.
Headquarters Facilities Committee:
Greg Freese
8012 Strong Dr., SE
Huntsville, AL 35802
(256) 881-6544
gfreese@mindspring.com
No Report Received.
Internal Organization Committee:
Evelyn Bradshaw
10826 Leavells Road
Fredericksburg, VA 22407-1261
(703) 898-9288
ebradshw@staffnet.com
PLANS:
The I/O year begins with preparations to send out the call for an
annual report from the I/Os. I work with grottos and regions,
while Bill Bussey and Dave Taylor work respectively with sections
and surveys. They have each agreed also to take on some grottos
in their areas, so that we will have two more people acquiring
some familiarity with the procedures and problems of collecting
grotto reports. By the grapevine, I learned that Thom Engel may
be interested in an assignment to Internal Organizations, so I
wrote to ask if he would be interested in taking on Regions. No
answer so far.
Bill Mixon, when he chaired the I/O Committee, edited the I/O Newsletter. At that time the NSS News was somewhat unreliable as a timely source of news, and Bill included news in the I/O publication that filled in the gap for those on the monthly mailing list. This was one reason why an ad hoc committee considering all NSS serial publications and looking at the I/O Newsletter (which I was by then editing) suggested it might be properly called the NSS Administrative Memo.
The content and timing of the Memo had always been adapted to the needs of the I/O Committee. Now that the Memo is no more, there will need to be occasional communications to the I/Os but not as a serial publication. It is planned to go as bulk mail from this area. The first mailing will be an announcement of the new schedule for submitting the annual report due January 15, 2000, and a more detailed "manual" covering all aspects of grotto reporting by hard copy, e-mail, and computer. This will help responders avoid some of the pitfalls of the past and make for reports that will require less processing and follow-up work with grottos. It is my plan to include an outline of the questions in the annual report as a part of this manual, so that responses can be typed or e-mailed as messages or put on a disk by those who either don’t use computers at all or use non-IBM compatible computers such as Macs. Responses will not have to be squeezed into spaces allowed on the printed forms used in the past.
While this "manual" is currently being written with specific reference to 1999 and 2000, it is planned that it will ultimately be edited so that the one copy can be kept and used over and over. Only new grottos and those who’ve lost their copies will need more printings. While I may not have some of the dry humor that Bill Mixon put into the Guidelines for Newsletter Editors that he wrote when he was I/O chairman, it will be personalized as I describe specific problems that have arisen in my experience with the reports.
The mailing will also include a plug for getting in memberships before the dues increase occurs (in the hope of helping to avoid the increase in drops that could easily happen). There will also be a report on the Congress of Grottos and the statistics on participation, which again as over several years show low actual participation. This is partly due, no doubt, to the fact that we haven’t been able to develop and circulate a COG agenda in advance. If there’s space, I may stick in some notes stressing that grottos can play a part in seeing that there are good candidates for NSS awards, and that they ought to fold their newsletters (if sent as self-mailers) with the folded edge at the bottom to minimize the chance of being mutilated by the USPS machines (I’ve gotten several quite torn up). I’ve also noticed that a few of them are still using old address correction notices that are no longer valid.
This mailing needs to go out before the BOG meeting in Chattanooga, because adequate time must be allowed for bulk mail to reach everyone so all can begin to plan ahead for the annual report (and for making the most of the short time before dues go up). But there will undoubtedly have to be one or two more before next summer and if any one knows of announcements or other items that could stand a little extra exposure in the media they can communicate with me about putting them in an I/O memorandum.
No change is being made in the grotto report software at this time. However, I should report that Gary Bush has taken on responsibility for updating the I/O listings on the NSS home page, since during the winter that was putting an extra burden on Josh Abdulla. I appreciate this very much.
I also need to thank Lois Lyles for putting up with how slowly some I/O material comes in for the directory (a major reason for moving the deadline back from Feb. 15 to January 15), and the NSS office (Camille Mueller and Avis Van Swearingen) for providing me with information about NSS individual memberships as needed.
PROGRESS:
A list of twenty-three grottos being dropped from the active list
was circulated to the office and others on the list for I/O
updates. Four had submitted reports but did not meet the
requirement that all members of the governing body be active NSS
members. We are in touch with a few of the twenty-three and it
appears that those may be reinstated soon on the active list.
Some were already established as defunct as early at mid-summer
1998. Others will be invited to submit an annual report at the
end of 1999 and be reinstated.
The Gruta de Paamul in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico was chartered August 18, 1999 (G-425). This group consists of a few U.S. citizens working there, some apparently permanently, and one Mexican citizen who owns a resort in the area. It’s planned to develop local ties so that the grotto could survive the departure of the U.S. members. John Moses, NSS International Secretary, was advised of the initial inquiry and of the chartering.
Two applications are fairly well along in the process. One is in the Rockingham County area of Virginia, spark plugged by the son of the owner of the Linville Quarry Cave. There has been no negative vibes here. The nucleus is young people who had existed as an informal caving group for several years, and decided to become an NSS grotto.
The other application came to fruition during the Idaho convention (perhaps the discussion belongs under "Problems"). A group of cavers with travel trailers were in attendance and got the bright idea there ought to be a grotto for peripatetic people like them. They seem quite serious but would like to make waves by being the first group to draw their membership from the entire United States. I haven’t bought this. They haven’t accepted my suggestion that they become an affinity group while they experiment with the feasibility of maintaining any kind of community with far-flung members. So I’ve insisted that for a charter they should have at least the minimum of five NSS members (as required for any grotto charter) living within reasonable commuting distance of one another. There is precedence for such an arrangement (i.e. a nucleus in one community and a considerable number of other members living at some distance).
Incidentally, neither affinity group approved in 1998 reported this past winter. I did not authorize their inclusion in this year’s directory but apparently, with any word to the contrary, their listings (with a bad address for Bob Addis) did appear.
The Congress of Grottos was better attended than I had expected and was held in good order under the chairmanship of Gary Storrick. No motion to dissolve it appeared, although the Virginia Region was considering a study to determine the appropriateness of such a step.
Nothing has been done on the archives, although several files await only inventorying them before turning them over. I actually have two complete sets of archives here, one speleological and one of Quaker materials (smaller in number). I determined that the Quaker materials could be handled more quickly and moved to the repository at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania fairly easily. I have already shipped off some of those and will continue to work on that as time offers (as when a thunderstorm makes it unwise to work at the computer).
PROBLEMS:
I don’t really feel that I have problems. Instead one can
accept problems as opportunities to develop good management
policies. Thom Engel used to say that we don’t show our
appreciation to workers enough, but I certainly cannot complain
about that. And we are all in this together and I respect the
Board members and Committee chairs for their dedication to the
goals of the NSS.
Joshua Abdulla
2744 Towne Drive
Carmel, IN 46032-9749
(812) 334-1294
joshua@caves.org
The Internet Committee (IC) is responsible for all aspects of the NSS Internet presence. This includes the NSS website (http://www.caves.org/), E-commerce initiatives (http://www.cavebooks.com/ - soon to come!), and all caves.org e-mail accounts.
Committee Members include:
Joshua Abdulla - Regular Maintenance/Administration
Gary Bush - Grotto Listing maintenance
Tom Rea - NSS Business Page
Camille Mueller - Online NSS Bookstore
Dave Socky - Online A/V Library
In addition, Mike Hood is now responsible for partial moderation of the NSS Discussion Board (http://www.caves.org/cavetalk/).
PLANS:
* Continued marketing of NSS bookstore.
* Marketing to members the ability to have webspace and e-mails
@caves.org.
PROGRESS:
* 166 NEW NSS ONLINE MEMBERSHIPS RECIEVED between July 12, 1999
and September 12, 1999. This represents a 145 percent increase in
the number of members joining online last year at this time.
* Approximately $4,700 bookstore orders received between July 12, 1999 and September 12, 1999.
* Direct changes to the website include:
* NSS Change of Information Form
* NSS 200 Webpage went live
* San Francisco Bay Chapter, Commander Cody Caving Club, Medical Section, Connecticut Grotto all moved to caves.org.
* Continued marketing of NSS bookstore.
* Marketing to members the ability to have webspace and e-mails @caves.org.
PROBLEMS:
Over the past several months, a quality of service issue has
arisen regarding our Internet Service Provider. Many people
report having problems with e-mail messages being sent to the NSS
office and other folks with e-mails @caves.org. Much of this is
due to our ISP's "spam filter." The spam filter throws
out messages that it detects as having spam. IF your message
header is addressed to more than a certain amount of people or
has more than 3 @caves.org addresses, it could be regarded as
spam. Due to this problem, I am in the process of putting
together a proposal to have the NSS spend the money in order to
purchase its own server and rent a fractional T1 line into the
NSS office. Although this is somewhat wishful thinking right now
(due to the high costs of high speed Internet connectivity), it
is my belief that as prices go down and as web site usage,
bookstore orders, and online memberships increase, the
justification will be obvious.
Josh’s suggestion of the NSS owning its own server is worth considering as a long-term project. Perhaps a grant could be pursued to pay the $8K cost to do this.
Michael Taylor
800 N. 14th Street
Arkadelphia, AR 71923-3810
(501) 246-2940
taylorm@holly.hsu.edu
No Report Received.
Michael said he had a report coming, but I did not receive it in time for this report. I hope to have a report from him as a supplemental for the board meeting.
Jim Hall
623 Larry Place
Madison, AL 35758
(205) 772-9829
jimehall@compuserve.com
PLANS:
We plan on having the 2000 color catalog out before Thanksgiving
week, last year the 1999 catalog came out after Thanksgiving week
due to various problems and this may have affected sales.
PROGRESS:
Gross sales at convention were $11,537 which included $1,736 in
memberships and without the replacement cost of the broken window
we would have almost broke even on costs of attending compared to
profit on sales. Gross sales at OTR were slightly over $5,000
which includes $2,041 in membership fees and cost of attending
OTR were about $325.
PROBLEMS:
We are out of the 1999 Color Bookstore Catalog, however we are
reprinting it without color on an as needed basis.
Richard Downey
380 N. 600 East
Orem, UT 84097-4843
(801) 224-6678
cavediva@uswest.net
I received by mail a large package of items from Jon Smith, past chairman, dealing with his tenure and etc. I have been working through these things to get better acquainted with the problems, opportunities and issues involved. I should be through this in a week or so. Until then I have no specific plans other than to keep in touch with Jack Speece and Bill Torode. I did have an interesting thought that I might run past you. During convention you told me of a future plan for the building of a new Library. The one stipulation was, as I understand it, is that the library needed to be built in the Washington D.C. area. As I was sitting at consignment sales for pretty much the duration, I had a chance to talk with the woman who has the NSS Museum residing in her basement at the present time. Has anyone given any thought to housing these two entities in the same facility? Since she lives in the D.C. area anyway, it might make sense to explore this possibility. I'm sorry but I have forgotten her name but you who are all wise and all knowing will know who it is.
The idea of having the museum and library collocated has been discussed and has merit. I would like to see this happen.
There is another thing that I think bears some follow through. We had discussed the possibility of satellite libraries in the northeast and possibly somewhere in the western U.S. I was talking with Warren Lewis at convention and he was wondering out loud about what he was going to do with all his papers and books now that his caving days are over. His words not mine. This could be the nucleus of a large western branch. The main problem would be deciding where this would be placed to best serve the NSS members. He is presently in Albuquerque. Would the west coast be better or Colorado etc.? If we could get something going out this way, it may encourage some more to donate money and materials to the project.
Camille Mueller
National Speleological Society, Inc.
2813 Cave Avenue
Huntsville, AL 35810
(256) 852-1300
manager@caves.org
PLANS:
I hope to have July and August accounting closed by the end of
September. September accounting will hopefully be closed by the
15th of October.
October will be busy as Avis is taking vacation October 1st through the 7th. Avis will be taking a small bookstore setup to TAG. I will be setting up a small bookstore at the National Cave and Karst Management Symposium in Chattanooga October 18-23 along with attending the BOG meeting. We plan to have an independent inventory of the bookstore at the end of October. I am also trying to set up an audit for October or November.
PROGRESS:
It doesn’t seem like we are making much progress at the
moment. We have been playing catch up for the past two months.
Bookstore sales at the 1999 convention were $11,536.50 with the
cost of goods being $7185.22 (assumes that the cost of
Speleogenesis is $30.00) which left a profit of $3713.28. We
received $1736.50 in memberships which breaks down to 19 New
regular members, one new family member, one new institutional
member, 17 regular members reinstated, eight family members
renewed, and three sustaining members that converted to life
members. Our expenses were $3628.44, but I am expecting another
$300.00 in shipping charges (if and when UPS gets their act
straight and removes our charges from Alex Sproul’s bill).
Avis took off the week after convention and I came back to piles
of mail, which included $13208.00 in memberships and 500+
e-mails. I took off the week after that to move in the hot July
sun. August was spent trying to get caught up on all the
prepublication orders of Speleogenesis, accounting, getting all
the financial information to the officers, and getting all the
inventory back in stock. Avis and Jim Hall went to OTR on
September 1st. Avis sold $3219.60 with a COG of $1580.34. We
received approximately $1300.00 in memberships. Their costs were
low, less than $400.00. This was because Jim Hall drove his truck
instead of us having to rent a truck. We finally got caught back
up from OTR and Labor Day weekend this week (9/15/99). Avis had
just gotten through telling me that she felt overwhelmed with all
the address changes, renewals, and Speleogenesis orders when my
hard drive crashed. To make matters worse the laptop’s
autoexec.bat got erased a few days ago and I could not get on the
server with it. The bookstore computer’s monitor died so I
had to replace it with one of the old ones in the back. So I
spent the rest of the afternoon and the next day getting
computers up and running again. Losing my hard drive did not seem
like a huge problem as I save everything on the server--that is
until I realized that I lost all my e-mail addresses. Luckily,
Cheryl Jones had a copy of some of my e-mails, which had the
monthly mailings among other groups. My other loss was my
software to work on the web page. I downloaded it off the web so
I am hoping that Josh will send me their web address and I can
get my copy replaced.
Speleogenesis sales have been steady. As of 4 pm on 9/16/99 (nothing like waiting till the last moment to get my report in), we have pre-sold 114 copies. There are probably a dozen more orders in the in basket waiting to be entered into the computer or for the postage money to be sent in. See comments in the problem section. I have not heard from David McClurg about the publication date but with my e-mail problems, I am not surprised.
It is now time to start working on the bookstore catalog and a November and December advertisement for the NSS News. Somehow I will find a small spot of time to work this in to my schedule.
I will also be interviewing and hiring a bookstore assistant to remove some of the work load from Avis and myself. Boy, was I wrong when I thought my workload would drop after getting the first year closed. It seems like there is no end to the work.
The bookstore assistant want ad will appear in the November NSS News, as well as on the web page and Huntsville newspaper. After considering the duties of the job, it was decided the position was more of an assistant than manager. A motion to change the duty title is on agenda for the board meeting.
PROBLEMS:
Finding time to get everything done!! I am looking forward to
having someone concentrating on the bookstore. There was
absolutely no way that I could have taken the time to go to OTR.
The telephone was busy the entire time that Avis was gone. Plus
that time frame was exactly when the majority of the monthly
renewals arrive. I was surprised to see how much email came
across the nss@caves.org account. I never got time to check it on
9/3/99 and when I checked it on Tuesday morning, there were over
130 messages.
The ads in the NSS News for Speleogenesis neglected to mention shipping cost therefore we have received numerous checks for $52.00. By the time we realized that it was missing and Avis contacted David McClurg and asked him to add the postage to the ad, there was not enough time to get it done before the October News. Avis has been sending out postcards asking people for an additional $5.00 for postage. Surprisingly, she has gotten a number of rude emails and postcards back.
More attention to detail will be stressed for future ads to ensure this type of mistake doesn't happen again. Camille’s duties have changed considerably from when she was first hired. I will be revising her job description, but will not have it done in time for this meeting. However, I do have a motion on the agenda to change her duty title from Operations Manager to Chief of Operations in recognition of her increased duties and responsibilities.
Phil Winkler
816 N. Washington Street
Wilmington, DE 19801-1510
(302) 571-1156
72426.1153@compuserve.com
PLANS:
To update database software to version 5.15i from the existing
4.53 version. This version provides for a four-digit year in the
date field data type(MM/DD/YYYY) and will help resolve a
long-standing problem with Life Member expiration dates. This is
NOT a Y2K problem.
Update network hub and network adapter cards to 100 mbs capability to improve speed of network. Existing system is 10 mbs.
PROGRESS:
System remains stable.
PROBLEMS:
None of any significance.
Karen Kastning
PO Box 148
Radford, VA 24141-0048
(703) 639-4666
kkastning@runet.edu
No Report Received
Craig Hindman
7600 Pindell School Road
Fulton, MD 20759
(301) 792-0742
ctiderma@ns.tssc.com
PLANS:
I have not spent any of my budget as yet. The price of digital
cameras are coming down. I am looking for the model that best
suits this application. Help is still in place to develop the web
page and put the Museum online. I am trying to get the biggest
bang for the buck.
PROGRESS:
Discussed the requirements for the web page with the person who
will develop it. There has only been one donation since the last
report. "Speleo Spud", the first convention mascot, was
donated at the convention.
PROBLEMS:
None
ATTACHMENT 1 TO OPERATIONS VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT
ITEM TO BE ADDED TO SECTION 9 OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNOR’S MANUAL:
Bookstore Assistant
Part-time position.
Responsible for inventory and stocking of items, filling orders, processing credit card orders, researching and ordering books, writing ads for the NSS News, answering the telephone, and pulling and shipping orders. Other duties will include travel and setup of bookstore at various events to include the annual convention, Old Timer's Reunion, SERA, and TAG Fall Cave-in. May be assigned other duties at the discretion of the Chief of Operations.