The Nominating and Elections Committee: Leilani St. Anna (chair), Cliff Cornish, Linda Milgrom, and Terry Wiggins,
found candidates for the ballot. Thanks to everyone who agreed to run. The new members of the1998 Board are:

1997 Annual Meeting PORTLAND, OREGON

1. This is the 37th annual meeting of PNC/MLA.

1st meeting Pacific NW Regional Group in Seattle, 1953: Six out of 23 attendees from Portland; on program:

• Bertha Hallam, libn U.Oregon Med School Library "MLA Certification Program"
  
• T.H. Cahalan, libn U.Oregon Dental School Library "Building Plans for the U.O Dental School Library"

Four previous meetings in Portland:

• 4th 1959 Nov 7
  
• 9th 1968 Sept 27-8
  
• 21st 1981 Oct 1-3
  
• 33rd 1993 Oct 20-22

2. Much archival activity this year

-history: working on a history of PNC/MLA as part of MLA's centennial celebrations
-poster: accessing archives for materials for PNC/MLA poster for MLA annual meeting in Philadelphia, 1998
-NorthWest Notes: sent lists of PNC/MLA officers and chairs of committees to Kathy Murray for publication. 1990's and 1980's already published. Will publish 1950-1980 in upcoming issue
-pictures: published plea for pictures to include in archives

3. The inactive records of PNC/MLA are kept at the UW Libraries Manuscripts and University Archives Division.

4. Any records (especially Program Chair's records from this meeting) should be sent to Janet Schnall as Archivist of PNC/MLA.

5. Members are welcome to ask me for information that is in the Archives. This is especially helpful when applying to MLA's Academy of Health Information Professionals and need verification of holding an office in PNC/MLA.

188 PNC/MLA continuing education survey forms were sent out in December 1997 to the PNC/MLA mailing list; 118 completed forms were returned. Your Regional Medical Library has been mailing and tallying this survey for PNC/MLA since 1983.

1. Type of library

34 academic health sciences library
10 academic library
35 large hospital (200+ beds) library
23 medium hospital (75 to 199 beds) library
3 small hospital (1 to 74 beds) library
13 other

This breakdown is similar to previous years.

2. Course Topics. Respondents were asked to put checks next to the five course topics they would find most useful.
Respondents were also asked to suggest other topics.

76 PubMed
63 Internet search engines--advanced searching techniques (for example,
advanced Alta Vista searching)
57 Web browser plug-ins/helper applications (Adobe Acrobat, Real Audio)
46 Copyright and electronic journal licensing
44 Sources of statistical information in the health sciences
44 Document delivery options, including contracting with vendors and
electronic publications
44 Searching for clinical, evidence-based medicine information
37 Providing health information to consumers and patients
31 Communicating/partnering with systems administrators
31 Advanced Web site management and establishing an Internet node (perl and
shell scripting, VRML, etc.)
22 Public health resources
22 Setting up a home page, including HTML and home page design
20 Windows NT networking

3. How long have you been in the profession of health librarianship? Respondents were asked to check one.

11 less than 2 years
12 3-5 years
25 6-10 years
24 10-15 years
41 over 15 years

This was a new question for the survey; the response is fascinating.

4. Fees. Respondewerents asked to check the maximum fee they would pay for a course of high interest.

1 $25
26 $50
75 $100
13 $200

This is quite a bit higher than last year.

5. Credit. Respondents were asked to check whether MLA credit for a CE course is an important factor for them.

51 yes
67 no

The Internal Revenue Service has approved MLA's request for group tax exemption. This means that our Chapter is now classified as a 501(c)(3) organization, and is exempt from most Federal income taxes. This is the most favorable
designation available.

Members may wonder what the advantages and/or disadvantages are that come with this new designation. While there are both, the Chapter Board feels that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

The benefits are:
1) Anyone donating funds to the Chapter receives a Federal tax deduction for those contributions. Contributions
may be made in the form of cash, property, unreimbursed travel expenses, including transportation, meals and lodging, while performing required services for the Chapter.
2) The Chapter may be eligible for exemption from state sales taxes on purchases (eligibility varies by state).
3) The Chapter is eligible for lower postal rates.
4) The Chapter is eligible to receive grants and other funding from Federal and private foundations.
5) The Chapter can qualify for lower prices on purchases made through companies that offer discounts to tax-
exempt organizations.

The disadvantages, while few and debatable, are:
1) The Chapter must file annually with the IRS. PNC, however, will take advantage of MLA's group filing process.
2) The Chapter must be operated for charitable, educational, literary or scientific purposes.
3) The Chapter cannot distribute gains to directors, officers or members.
4) Should the Chapter ever be dissolved while enjoying tax exempt status, any remaining assets must be
distributed to another tax exempt organization.
5) The Chapter is limited in its political activities designed to influence legislation, and it cannot participate in
political campaigns for or against candidates for public office.

PNC/MLA members may direct questions to Pam Spickelmier, PNC Treasurer, by e-mail at: spickelp@slrmc.org
Or to Ray Naegele at MLA headquarters: naegele@mlahq.org