Minutes of the International Dreiser Society
Business Meeting
11:30 am, May 25, 2001
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Present: S. Brennan, B. Buchenau, J. Clendenning, C. Eby, P. Gerber,
K. Newlin, P. Orlov, D. Pizer, T. Riggio, S. St. Jean, R. von
Bardeleben
Election of Officers: Riggio assumed the office of
society president and nominated Eby for vice-president; the members
voted to accept the nomination.
Secretary-Treasurer's report: Orlov
related that the Society's treasury has rebounded from expenses
incurred by our partial sponsorship of November's Dreiser Centennial
at the University of Pennsylvania, and at present contains a. $1600,
up from a low of $800. The new money came from membership dues
renewals and new members: the Society's rolls now contain about 80
names, up from 50. Orlov also gave one-year’s notice that he will
step down as the Society's Secretary-Treasurer and asked members to
consider a proper candidate for replacement.
Dreiser Bibliography: Pizer reported that the
University of Pennsylvania's DreiserWebSource
will now feature a Dreiser bibliography and described its features,
the most notable being its accessibility for periodic scholarly
updates. Members discussed a small committee responsible for the
maintenance of the bibliography, which will be comprised of Pizer,
Brennan, and various society members familiar with scholarship
originating in foreign countries. Bardeleben and Buchenau agreed to
join the committee and seek out scholarship from European sources.
Riggio agreed to search out individuals to supply data from China,
Japan, and India.
Future Panels: Eby proposed two topics for next
year's ALA Dreiser panels: "International Dreiser" and
"Dreiser and Social Activism" (title supplied by Riggio).
After discussion, members voted to defer the "International
Dreiser" panel for two years, when ALA again meets in
Cambridge, so that foreign members will incur fewer expenses.
Brennan suggested we leave one topic open.
Dreiser Studies: Newlin, co-editor of Dreiser
Studies, presented preliminary copies of the journal in its new
format. He reminded us that the annual essay contest closes in
August. Dreiser Studies currently has a backlog of essays and
the material for the next issue is nearly ready. Library
subscriptions of Dreiser Studies have remain unchanged since
1997; we have entered a licensing agreement with EBSCO for an
initial three years where Dreiser Studies will simultaneously
appear in EBSCO’s Academic Search Premiere database. Pizer asked
Orlov to amend next year's dues renewal form to ask members to
encourage their institutional libraries to subscribe to DS.
The disposal of back issues of the journal was also discussed.
Storage of the paper copies has become cumbersome and various means
of distributing these were proposed. Newlin cautioned that making
available of back issues online could lead to potential piracy.
Members eventually reached a consensus that back issues on the Penn
website, with a five-year blackout forward, would be desirable (This
would mean that only issues of The Dreiser Newsletter and Dreiser
Studies up to 1996 would be available online in 2001; in 2002,
1997 would become accessible, and so on.)
The essay prize committee needs a third member to read entries;
Brennan will approach various people for this, possibly outside the
Society.
Meeting adjourned approximately 12:45 pm.
—Minutes by Shawn St. Jean |