Notes from the Chair

In August the board of Museum Education Roundtable met for their annual planning meeting in Washington, DC.  Thanks to board member, Theresa Esterlund, the two-day board meeting was held in a lovely conference room at the Freer and Sackler Gallery.  Highlights of the meeting included the introduction of the newly elected board members Cynthia Robinson and Bert Davis, and the new editor of Network, Mari Shopsis.  All three of whom immediately rolled up their shirt sleeves and set to work—not only contributing to the meeting, but volunteering for committees right away.

 There were also some goodbyes.  Jim Hakala rotated off the board; however he is still quite involved, as he will be representing MER on the Definitions Project, sponsored by the NAI.   Additionally, the board honored Wendy Pollock, the former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Museum Education.  Her contribution of time and energy, not to mention her commitment to quality of content and writing, have been instrumental to the success of the JME. 

 The most pressing item on the agenda was to review the feasibility of co-publishing the Journal of Museum Education with an established publisher.  The board heard presentations from Left Coast Press and Alta Mira Publishing.  It was decided, after much discussion, that as long as we could proceed without compromising content and editorial control, that co-publishing made fiscal sense.  A taskforce was formed to continue the negotiation, headed up by Carol Brown, with help from David Ebitz, JME editor Monica Smith, and new board members Cynthia Robinson and Bert Davis. 

The result of this work was the main topic of discussion for the November conference-call board meeting.  After much hard work, the taskforce determined that Left Coast Press would be the appropriate choice as a partner.  As a whole, the board has determined that entering into this co-publishing agreement will be the best way to ensure that members receive the correct number of journals per year on a timely schedule, while ensuring the continued editorial quality of the JME. 

For more information, please e-mail info@mer-online.org.