October 1, 1975

Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics

Minutes of Meeting

Members Present: Philip M. Morse – Chairman, Robert T. Beyer, William A. Fowler, Laurence W. Fredrick, W. W. Havens Jr., H. William Koch, Jarus W. Quinn

Absent: A. A. Strassenburg

Nonvoting Participants: Herbert L. Anderson (MAL), E. A. Kearsley (SOR), Jacques Ovadia (AAPM), Melba Phillips (AAPT), R. A. Young (ACA)

Guest: H. Richard Crane, Past Chairman of the Governing Board

AIP Staff Present: H. William Koch, Director; Sidney Millman, Secretary; G. F. Gilbert, Treasurer; Lewis Slack, Assoc. Director for General Activities; Robert H. Marks, Assoc. Director for Publishing; Dorothy M. Lasky, Assistant to the Director; Mary M. Johnson, Assistant to the Secretary

Chairman Morse called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m.

1. Minutes

Upon motion made and passed, the minutes of the September 8, 1975, Executive Committee meeting were approved.

2. Report on Meeting with AAPM Officers

Koch called attention to his letter of September 18 to Jacques Ovadia, President of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (copies of which were distributed prior to the meeting) regarding the intention of AAPM to locate their headquarters in Chicago and to have Smith, Bucklin & Associates perform many administrative functions for them. Although AIP has not as yet received formal notification from AAPM about what changes in our relationship will be, we know enough from informal discussions and from a meeting held at AIP on September 26  with representatives of Smith & Bucklin, AAPM, and AIP to anticipate what the changes are likely to be. AIP will be requested to continue to supply:

1. dues and subscription fulfillment services for AAPM members

2. publishing services including Medical Physics, the Society directory, and nonmember subscription fulfillment

3. accounting for the services supplied by AIP

The main change will be in administrative secretarial services and the headquarters location, which AAPM proposes to terminate on January 1, 1976. In Koch’s view, the services that are continuing with AIP are the important ones. The arrangement will be the same as it is with such other Societies as AAPT and OSA. Ovadia commented that the details were decided on only the previous Friday, which is why AIP does not yet have a formal notification. He felt that it is an arrangement AAPM can be comfortable with.

Koch recommended waiving the six-months’ notice requirement in the service contract, and the following motion was passed without dissent:

MOVED that the six-months’ rule be waived for the AAPM to drop its services from the AIP in the area of administrative secretarial services and headquarters location, and that the AIP management be authorized to proceed with detailed arrangements along the lines stated by Koch.

3. UNIVAC Computer Schedule

Koch noted that, at the last meeting of the Executive Committee, he reported a delay in the computer conversion program from the present UNIVAC 9300 to the 90/30 facility. AIP agreed to delay installation of the 90/30 computer until about May 1, 1976. We are now exploring with UNIVAC the desirability of having 6 new disc drives, each with a capacity of 59 megabytes, instead of the original 400 megabytes total capacity. This would cost about $500 per month less rental. There is no change in the timing of availability. He stated that AIP is pleased with the level and quality of the computer programming effort that UNIVAC is supplying to us. He is going to write UNIVAC a letter covering 3 items: (1) requiring the continuation of their computer effort, (2) asking for confirmation that test time will be available in the New York area, and (3) that the operating systems (programs) will be available as needed. UNIVAC must not relax its effort even though we are going to delay the installation date.

4. Status of Subscription Fulfillment

Gilbert reported that the joint member bills as well as the ASA, AAPT, and AAS member bills have all been mailed and returns are coming in rapidly. The OSA member bills were to be mailed on October 1. Nonmember renewals were to be mailed the following week. The Subscription Fulfillment Division is operating with two less staff members than budgeted, one in Membership and one in Nonmember Coding. It is current with the nonmember correspondence and has had no substantial backlog since the first of this year. The Control Section, which was set up as per the recommendation of Von Simson, is working out very well, as are the Cashiering and Back Numbers operations. The Division does not anticipate any substantial problems in subscription fulfillment and is looking forward to a smooth operation in calendar year 1976.

5. Income from Reprint Sales

Marks referred to a document on reprint income which he distributed. Income from current physics reprints was about $570 in 1974 and we project $800 for this year. On permission-to-reprint fees, we realized over $2,800 in 1974 and project $3,000 for 1975. We also sell reprints of about 1,500 articles per year to IEE at a flat rate of $6,000 and hope to make a little money from that.

Marks also distributed a proposed agreement with Plenum Publishing Corp. dated October l, 1975, and noted that AIP has been exploring the possibility of publishing a reprint book, and negotiations with Plenum Publishing resulted in an idea for a Physics Today reprint book series. Plenum has agreed to pay AIP a 50% royalty after costs of producing the book have been met, and they have agreed to give a 20% discount to members of AIP Member and Affiliated Societies. Appointment of an editor would cost AIP money and Plenum would advance us this money and deduct it from our royalties. Marks plans to set up a budget for the first volume, if the Executive Committee approves, covering the costs which are to be deducted. Since this constitutes a new publishing venture, he will pass this proposal along to the Publishing Policy Committee for comments. Quinn thought that it would be appropriate for the Publishing Policy Committee to review it but, since it does not meet as often as the Executive Committee, he said it is desirable not to delay it and suggested that the Executive Committee should take action at this time. Havens expressed concern about an item in the proposed agreement which states that all articles are original. Koch suggested that we should have the wording checked with our attorney. Marks noted that these are just the kind of comments he was looking for.

The following motion was then passed:

MOVED that the AIP staff be authorized to proceed with negotiations with Plenum Publishing Corp. on a reprint book of PT articles, and report back to the Executive Committee.

6. Possible Tape Sales to Engineering Index

Marks referred to a draft letter dated September 17, addressed to John E. Creps, Jr., of Engineering Index, Inc., copies of which had been distributed prior to the meeting, and noted that their Board reacted favorably to our tape sales proposal although they are questioning the $11 per item price. It would amount to $55,000 credited to the input end of the publishing operation. The volume could well climb from 5,000 to 7,000 or 8,000 items per year. Our ability to make such a proposal came out of the NSF grant that provided funds for us to make the two data bases interchangeable. Eventually we should be able to reduce the page charge by the amount of the income from these items. It should also be possible to use these tape data for Chemical Abstracts. Koch remarked that another important aspect of this proposed agreement is the implication with respect to our negotiations with the Institution of Electrical Engineers, which we have been pursuing for several years.

7. Salary Administration

Millman reported that, because of the difficulty we experience in the New York area in hiring people in certain fields such as clerk-typist and copy editor, Koch and he together with the Personnel Manager, Charlotte Maier, have undertaken a study on salary administration. We have conducted salary comparisons with the outside market and have considered the possibility of getting an outside consultant to review our salary administration and determine whether it should be modified. To that end, we have talked with representatives of Cresap, McCormick and Paget and of Hay Associates, we have visited AT&T personnel people, and Mrs. Maier has contacted other employers. Although our study has not been completed, it looks as if we are not likely to undertake a thorough restructuring of our whole salary administration but we will want to make adjustments in starting salaries in some areas, and make other salary adjustments that may be indicated.

8. Invitation to AIP to Become a Corresponding Society of the NRC Assembly of Mathematical & Physical Sciences

Millman reported that Morse had received a letter from the above Assembly inviting AIP to become a Corresponding Society, in an effort to improve communications between the National Academy of Sciences and scientific societies. There are no fees involved. They would like AIP to indicate its interest and to designate some person as the one to whom they should send correspondence, newsletters, inquiries, etc. Havens noted that APS had also received such an invitation which he has not answered as yet but he intends to reply affirmatively. The following motion was then passed:

MOVED that AIP accept the invitation of the National Academy of Sciences to become a Corresponding Society of the Assembly of Mathematical & Physical Sciences.

9. Review of Governing Board Agenda

Morse went over briefly a list of items he will cover under "Highlights of Executive Committee Actions." He noted that one of the Board members, A. A. Strassenburg, had resigned and there was a vacancy which was taken care of by AAPT, naming Melba Phillips to the Board. The Board will now have to elect a replacement for Strassenburg on the Executive Coomittee and Morse stated that he would propose to the Board that Melba Phillips be elected also to the Executive Committee. Fowler suggested that Morse also report on AIP’s sending of PT to Congress since last July.

Millman noted that the item on the Governing Board agenda relating to the adoption of proposed guidelines for membership in AIP will involve two amendments to the AIP Constitution, and these were recommended for approval by the Executive Committee on September 8. There will also be some other recommendations from the Ad Hoc Committee that will not involve changes in the Constitution.

Slack noted that under the item entitled "Renewal of AAAS Affiliation," the new AAAS constitution requires that affiliated societies renew their affiliation every three years. AIP has not yet received the formal notice from AAAS but, in anticipation that we will, we should perhaps get action from the Board authorizing us to renew our affiliation.

10. NSF Grants

Slack reported that following an earlier proposal prepared for submission to NSF on the documentation of the revolution in astrophysics, as noted in the minutes of the September 8 Executive Committee meeting, a second grant proposal has now also been prepared and submitted to NSF. The latter is a proposed study of the preservation of documents on post-war non-academic science. It requests a little less than $200,000 for three years. This is substantially larger than we had originally intended, but people with whom we had discussions urged us to ask for enough money to do the job properly.

As a related piece of information, Slack noted that, at the recent meeting of IUPAP in Munich, it was suggested that a commission on the history of physics be established.

11. Future Meetings

The following future meeting dates were agreed upon:

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.