Hummus, falafel and baklava..

LISSA officers, Nancy, Veronica and Michelle met at Dimassi's for a fun gathering along
with former officers Monica and Poom.

We started off with shocked surprise to see: Dr. Ana!

She came down to Houston to attend the LISSA meeting prior to our social.

The LISSA-Houston team hosted an informal social, Friday night, at Dimassi's (Mediterranean Cafe) in the Rice Village (2401 Times, Houston, TX) for fun, falafel, and fascinating tales from ALA Annual Conference and the Spectrum Leadership Institute. Veronica handed out some great tips on resumes and PhDs along with all one ever wanted to learn about scholarships available for LIS students or LIS professional organizations.

Twas great to see alums, Somer Newland and Jimmy, Bob Bartlett, John Ronald, Janey from HPL, UH Librarians Steven and Rafal, Dr. Don, Jane Q Public... Amy Coffin(our adopted alum), and Alex.

We managed to follow the agenda:

Old Business:
1. Discussion of 2006 LISSA Library Directory--revisions or updates needed?
2. Tour of St. Mary's Seminary Library
3. Blog--assignment of blog and e-mail tasks ("Link of the Month", etc.)

New Business:

1. Discussion of current eligibility requirements for officer positions
(including Members-at-Large):
The current LISSA Constitution (Article V, Sec. 1) states:
"All members of the Association shall be eligible to hold office."
Article III states the requirement for membership in LISSA:
"All students enrolled in the School of Library and Information Sciences
shall be eligible for membership in the Association."

2. Planning for LISSA participation in the Houston Program's orientation
for new students.

3. Program for social immediately following:

i) 2006 ALA Conference "debriefing" (Poom Taylor and Nancy Neal)
ii) Spectrum Scholarship program (Veronica Arellano)
iii) Info regarding TLA District 8 Fall Meeting (10/21/06) call for
programs
(theme is "Creating Community Connections") (Nancy)
iv) Drawing for Elsevier bag ("Never Underestimate the Importance of a
Librarian")
donated to LISSA by Rafal Kasprowski, the Houston chapter
representative of
the Special Libraries Association. (Rafal)

Bob won the coveted bag from the evil empire, Elsevier!

Final item of business:


Eat, drink, and be merry! Renew old friendships, and make new ones!

WE managed to do that part!! Nancy, Raf, Janey, Steven, John and I headed over to Half Price books, and Nanyc found a beautiful Thai art book for me, as John and I were debating the merits of buying the Illiad and the Odyssey, as I mused aloud, when would I ever read them?

Luckily we ended up at the Harp, and watched Rafal beat Steven and Janey, all night long at darts, first using his right hand, then left! Nancy selected some great tunes, among them Mellow Yellow.

Reporting from Clear Lake... Poom