Annual Report
2004/2005

Report of the President: Don McGee, Library and Archives Canada

This was the year of change for the RMI. And with that change came trials, tribulations but most of all success. More information to follow in the portfolio reports below, but I have to thank each and every one on the Executive for their perseverance in getting the job done. We revamped the process for delivering the program, we came up with a solid communications plan, and we expanded our impression on the community by joining with 14 other Associations to form an IM Roundtable. A most interesting but busy year.

Thank you to you the members for continuing your support of the RMI and next year promises to be an even more interesting year with an even more dynamic and passionate Executive.

Program

Many thanks to our Program Director Angela Foran. This program year has been extremely successful. We took the program meeting attendance from below 20 people last year, to well above 50 people per session this year. The combined ARMA/RMI meeting held in September, where we had Ian Wilson as a speaker, was a tremendous success. It cleared the path for what has been a productive and interesting year.

The program committee met in July/August of 2004, and planned out the year to come. The planning was based on feedback from a focus group that was put together by our training director earlier in 2004. From their suggestions, we organized "hot topics" - issues - that records managers in the federal government are facing.

Another critical task was the name change from "Program Meetings" to "Learning Opportunity Sessions". The program committee, chaired Angela, drafted a Strategic Communications Plan outlining the changes that were made. It was circulated and approved by the Board of Directors as well as the members and was finalized in January 2005. The strategic Communications Plan outlined the name change, reasons why, new format for the LOS, bi -monthly LOS instead of monthly and much more. The feedback was positive and the change was well received by our members.

Treasurer

As of the end of April, 2005, our bank balance was at $10, 721.69. Thank you to Sylvie Charron, our Treasurer for balancing the budget and I should add keeping that budget healthy enough to allow us to buy a laptop last year for association business

Training

During the interim period between the bi -annual seminars, work focused on adjusting the platform for delivering training to the membership, and on determining members'' training requirements. Based on information provided to the Board of Directors, this past year the Program Director reformatted the regular monthly meetings into bi -monthly Learning Opportunities -- in an effort to deepen our understanding of the records and information management topics addressed. The program of the next training seminar will attempt follow this example by presenting a series of full day workshops on those topics members have told us are nearest and dearest to their hearts, such as implementing and complying with the Managing Government Information policy, function -based records classification, automated classification, electronic document and records management systems (EDRMS), developing retention specifications, and records disposition.

Another potential vehicle for meeting training arose this past year in the form of the Ottawa Information Management Roundtable. The OIMR, an initiative begun by John Savage (President, Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services--Ottawa Chapter), brings together some 15 associations of professionals working in the field of Information Management, including our own Records Management Institute. The opportunities presented by the OIMR for sharing and the cross -pollination of IM ideas are considerable. The first combined effort of the OIMR may take place as early as June 2006, in conjunction with the Canadian Library Association holds its annual conference in Ottawa.

Membership

We had our long time Director of Membership Lovdy Desjardins retires to better things this year and as a result, we will be electing a new Director today. Our membership currently stands somewhere around 375 so watch out for a major membership drive coming soon.

Awards

Sadly, due to the fact that no nomination was received locally for the Cardillo Award, this year it will not be presented. Interestingly enough we did receive a nomination for someone in Nigeria but they did not meet all the criteria.

Joanne Allaire and her Member of the Year Committee, consisting of Lyne Béélanger and Kristine -Rystenbil was much more successful as we all know. The member of the year was presented Angela Foran at the Christmas meeting in December.

Sponsorship

Rhonda Healy updated the Sponsorship agreement this year to include three categories of funding and to clarify the differences between seminar and program sponsoring. It was a difficult year as far as securing funding was concerned.

Public Relations

Director Beth Knox made sure our RMI Kiosk was set up at our Learning Opportunities this year and again at the ARMA Spring Seminar. Special thanks to Michel Legendre for his continued support in making sure it was always where it should be and safely back in place.

Constitution

No Changes were made to the Constitution this year. A copy is available on the RMI Website: PRIVATE HREF="http://www.rmicanada.com" MACROBUTTON HtmlResAnchor www.rmicanada.com And translation is pending.

Upcoming Year

The newly elected RMI Executive will face some interesting challenges over the next two years.

Watch for the announcements and more details about the Seminar in 2006. Watch for changes and updates on the Website and above all watch for opportunities to take advantage of your membership in a strong, growing and constantly improving Records Management Institute.