Minutes of IMCoS AGM 2015

(Approved at IMCoS AGM 2016)

Meeting Held on Saturday 6th June 2015

1 Opening and Welcome

The meeting opened at 10.00 am.
The Chairman welcomed all those present to the 2015 AGM of IMCoS. He would aim to complete the business of the meeting before the London Map Fair opened at midday. He presented apologies for absence received from Jenny Harvey (Advertising Manager) and Ian Harvey, who were setting up the IMCoS stand in readiness for the Map Fair.

Present were:
H Kok           Chairman
V Newby       Vice-Chairman
J Edwards       Hon. Treasurer
L Ortolja-Baird Journal Editor
D Dare           Hon. Secretary
D Webster       Member at Large
P Walker         Financial and Membership Administration
A total of 22 members were present.

2 Approval of Minutes of AGM 2014

The Minutes of the 2014 AGM held on 7th June 2014 were approved.

3 Chairman’s Report

The Chairman read his report on the previous year’s activities.

4 Treasurer’s Report and annual accounts for 2014

4.1 The Treasurer distributed copies of the audited accounts for 2014 to those present.  He drew the attention of members to the reduction in surplus from £8K achieved in 2013 down to £3K in 2014. This is a trend he expects to continue in 2015 as administrative and printing costs continue to rise. He noted that the Collector’s Meeting did not appear in the accounts for 2014 because it was held as part of the Norwich visit, and so was not accounted for separately. He also noted that the asset value of the IMCoS Library had been reduced in line with book sales.

4.2 The audited accounts for 2014 were approved.

5 Journal Editor’s Report

The Editor reported that the printer continues to produce the Journal to a high standard. She had recently changed the distribution method to improve efficiency. The time and cost of bulk distribution are avoided by having the job done by the printer. It appears to be working well; members were asked to report any delays in receipt to the Editor. 300 additional copies of the Journal had been printed to go into delegates’ packs at the forthcoming ICHC Conference in Antwerp.

In reply to a question the Editor said that in June 452 copies of the Journal were despatched to individual members as well as multiple copies to certain individuals and institutions. The normal print run is the minimum economical order size of 650 copies, but in June extra copies had been printed for Antwerp. The marginal cost will be charged to the publicity budget.

Wulf Bodenstein praised the high standard of the Journal and asked how the book review process was managed. The normal practice is for IMCoS to obtain the book and pass it to the reviewer, who retains the book by way of payment. Books do not have to be newly published so long as they are of high quality and have not previously been reviewed in the Journal.

Wolf Bodenstein asked about the availability of back copies of the Journal. These are available on the website to members. If hard copies are wanted, as a special service to members back numbers can be mailed, but postage rates are high. Photocopies of specific articles can be provided more cheaply.

6 Membership Fees for 2016 (including student membership)

In view of the healthy state of IMCoS finances, HK proposed that the current membership fee structure (£50.00 annual, £135.00 three year, and £25.00 student) should be retained for 2016. Wulf Bodenstein seconded the proposal and all present agreed.

Francis Herbert expressed his hope that the initiative taken in distributing the Journal and Membership Forms to ICHC Conference delegates would result in some extra members.

7 International Matters

HK reported that preparations for the 2015 Symposium in Cape Town were proceeding on schedule and registration via the Symposium website had recently been made possible. The organizers are very much on their own, having been unsuccessful in obtaining public funds to subsidise the event.

The 2016 Symposium will be held in Chicago in conjunction with the Kenneth Nebenzahl Lectures and the Chicago Map Fair during the week 24-30 October 2016. The plan is to hold the IMCoS Symposium during the early part of the week (24-26 October), followed by the Nebenzahl Lectures from the evening of Thursday 27th evening to Saturday 29th October. The Map Fair will be held over the weekend 29/30 October.

HK would like the 2017 Symposium to take place somewhere in Europe, but so far there had been no offers to host and organize it. LO-B asked if a move to a biennial frequency for symposia would help matters. HK replied that volunteers were deterred by the financial risk involved rather than the time and effort needed to plan conferences. DW suggested that IMCoS should perhaps offer to underwrite any financial losses that might occur. HK was reluctant to make such an open-ended commitment, but thought that an offer to cover specific costs, e.g. speakers’ travel costs, might be made if necessary.

8 Appointments and Re-appointments of Executive Officers

Jenny Harvey, Advertising Manager, and Jeremy Edwards Honorary Treasurer, having completed their 4 year terms of office, offered themselves for re-election and were duly re-appointed.

Sonali Siriwardena, Member at Large, had resigned from the Executive Committee. Diana Webster, co-opted member, offered herself for election as Member at Large and was duly appointed.

Sue Booty, Financial and Membership Secretary, had resigned from her post and Peter Walker had been appointed in her place. It was agreed that although he would not be a member of the Executive Committee, he would be invited to be “in attendance” at meetings.

HK noted that the post of International Representative was still open. He continues to cover the post himself.

9 AOB

Francis Herbert asked that in future the flyer advertising the IMCoS AGM at the RGS should include details of all the bus routes that serve the site rather than the two routes that are currently shown.

JE asked, and all those present agreed, that the meeting should formally record its thanks to Sue Booty for all the work over many years that she has done in support of IMCoS.

10 Closure

The Chairman thanked everyone present for attending the AGM and closed the meeting at 11.26 am.