Annual Meeting Notes

There are a couple of related items which had interest and general conversation during the business meeting.

One of the items mentioned by our PIC IV chair, Noel Shultz, mentioned was the ASEE Statement on Sustainable Development Education, initially created in 1999. I has recently become part of the conversation within ASEE, and part of that process will include a review and revision of the existing statement. I have succeeded in locating the statement, it is included on the ASEE webpage and can be found here : http://www.asee.org/about/Sustainable_Development.cfm

The other topic of interest and broader discussion was around ELD choosing to green our portion of the conference by supporting and promoting environmentally friendly practices. This would benefit the member of ELD, but will allow us to set an example and promote these practices to ASEE for larger implementation at the conference. This conversation has been happening in other library organizations and perhaps among university conference planning units. We would like to gather information and input from all of those people who interested helping. So if you would like work for and with the division in this capacity, let me know and I'll work to get a group started.

Some of the ideas generated on greening the conference are below:
* no handouts at sessions, link to e content on webpage
* member pledge for green practices during the conference
* an opt out option for no paper conference book
* get rid of the conference CD - the papers are all online
* green hotel options (those hotels that have greener practices)
* Local and green food options
* virtual conference options
* online / electronic session evaluations - no more paper!
* have convention center set the temperature higher (less AC)

Possibly partner with other divisions in ASEE for leading this effort. Good candidates may be the Environmental Engineering Division and the Energy Conversion and Conservation Division.

Additional resources:
EPA page on green meetings:
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/greenmeetings/
"Green" Hotels Association: http://greenhotels.com/index.php

The list of ideas above will be sent to our PIC chair to provide her information to speak on at the Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday.