October 26, 1977

Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics

Minutes of Meeting

Members Present: P. M. Morse – Chairman, L. W. Fredrick, W. W. Havens Jr., H. W. Koch, Sidney Millman, J. W. Quinn, A. A. Strassenburg

Absent: R. T. Beyer, W. A. Fowler

Nonvoting Participants: J. A. Burton (APS), C. B. Duke (AVS), J. R. Knox (SOR), Murray Strasberg (ASA), Peter Wooton (AAPM), R. A. Young (ACA)

AIP Staff: H. W. Koch, Director; Sidney Millman, Secretary; G. F. Gilbert, Treasurer; R. H. Marks, Associate Director for Publishing; Lewis Slack, Associate Director for General Activities; D. M. Lasky, Assistant to the Director; M. M. Johnson, Assistant to the Secretary

Chairman Morse called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.

1. Minutes

After noting two typographical errors to be corrected, the draft minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of 8-10 September 1977 were approved upon motion made and passed without dissent.

2. Confirmation of Telephone Ballot re Uniform Copying Fees for Articles in Journals Published Before 1 January 1978

Koch noted that, after establishing a set of copying fees for those years prior to 1978 at Woods Hole, i.e., 25¢ per article for the 5 years before 1978 and no fees for 1973 and earlier, he felt that it would simplify matters to set the same 25¢ fee for all articles in journals published before 1978. He had called members of the Executive Committee and had got a majority to agree to this change. The copying fee includes, of course, the charge that the Copyright Clearance Center will make. There will be no net to AIP if the Copyright Clearance Center charges 25¢. Havens thought it would be nice if we could publicize the fact that AIP is not going to get anything out of it. Koch added that he expected that the Copyright Clearance Center charges will go down from 25¢ in subsequent years. If, as a result, we want to lower the fee, we can do so.

Upon motion made by Havens and seconded by Fredrick, the telephone ballot setting a flat copying fee of 25¢ for all articles in AIP journals published before 1 January 1978 was confirmed.

3. Status of Woodbury Activities

Koch reported that the renovation work at Woodbury is actively going on, substantially on schedule, which calls for the upper level to be completed by 30 November. The lower level is scheduled for completion by 1 February. Furniture, partitions, and carpet have been ordered. He was pleased with the progress to date. He will report as soon as he can on employee transportation and benefit costs. He was pleased that AIP was able to get Alan Kranz to spend full time on the Woodbury move and to worry about the various details. He noted that Kranz believes that we are a month behind schedule. Koch looked forward to holding the spring meeting of the Governing Board at Woodbury.

Gilbert distributed a two-page summary on the "Financing of Woodbury Property," listing all the relevant figures and adding up to a total investment so far of about $1,830,000. The approximate breakdown is as follows:

It is planned to take care of this expenditure, which is about $1.38 million when the mortgage is left out of the total, by using our short-term investment money. A breakdown summary of the financing of this is as follows:

4. Purchase of Telephone Equipment

Marks distributed a memorandum dated 24 October from Kranz to Koch on a proposed telephone system for Woodbury. The proposal is to buy it from a private company rather than having the system installed and service provided by the Bell System, because of the substantial saving in operating cost when integrated over a 10-year period. Because of the regulated nature of the New York Telephone Company’s pricing structure, they are not competitive in their bid. The purchase cost, which is expected not to exceed $45,000, will be amortized over a 7-year period. In addition, the private company equipment contains many desirable features that the Bell System can't offer in the Woodbury area. Marks added that Kranz has thoroughly looked into the question of service and both Kranz and Marks are assured that the competing firms are well-established, sound, and can adequately service their equipment. They have checked with several customers who have had over 10 years of highly satisfactory service. Marks recommended that the Executive Committee authorize a sum not to exceed $45,000 to purchase the necessary telephone equipment from a non-Bell company to serve the Woodbury facility. It is not a request for the approval of a specific arrangement with one vendor but for an authorization to continue negotiations with some non-Bell companies leading to a purchase.

In answer to a question by Strassenburg as to why the bids from two non-Bell companies are so different, Marks noted that they are offering somewhat different service.

The following motion was made by Fredrick, seconded by Strassenburg, and passed without dissent:

MOVED that authorization be granted to the AIP staff to continue negotiations and to purchase non-Bell telephone equipment for Woodbury for a price not to exceed $45,000.

Burton, who attended the Executive Committee meeting as a nonvoting participant, abstained from commenting on the question of going to a non-Bell company for the installation of telephone service at Woodbury. Marks remarked that, because of our close ties with Bell, Kranz and he spent a lot of time examining the pros and cons of acquiring a telephone system from a non-Bell company.

5. Contributors to Copyright Clearance Center

Koch distributed a 2-page memorandum dated 24 October 1977 which included a list of contributors to the Copyright Clearance Center (copy attached as Exhibit A) as requested at the September meeting of the Executive Committee. He noted also that Curtis Benjamin, former President of McGraw-Hill Book Company, is going to be asked if he will help raise the additional $100,000. However, in order to put the Copyright Clearance Center on a sound basis, it is now believed that only $100,000 will be sufficient and Koch thought that kind of money was already in sight, even though the total contributions to date add up to only $58,000. He expects to bring a more up-to-date list to the December Executive Committee meeting.

6. Projected 1977 Net Income

Gilbert distributed a 3-page document entitled "1977 Projected Net Income" and discussed some of the highlights and the reasons why the present projected figure of $700,000 is so much greater than the budgeted figure of $200,000. He noted that AIP’s income is influenced principally by three factors: archival journals, translation journals, and investment income. In the archival journals, we now project publishing 1,000 fewer pages than were budgeted for last December and that accounts for a saving of about $142,000. We also have $124,000 income over budget on the Soviet translation journals. This is a continuation of a larger effect which took place last year during the transition to a calendar year when we billed for 18 months and incurred expenses appropriate for 12 months of publishing. There is also a decrease in expenses of about $25,000 which is attributable broadly to fewer Russian pages. In interest on investments, we have an additional $65,000 income because the projections for using investment funds have not happened as early as originally planned. The net expense of Physics Today, which is projected now to be $40,000 under budget, is accounted for largely by $50,000 more income from advertising.

The projected net income for 1977 will be refined further when the budget for 1978 is presented to the Executive Committee in December.

7. Revised Retirement Resolution as Required by Employees Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Gilbert stated that employers are required to revise their pension plans, effective 1 January 1976, to include the amendments required by ERISA. The Revised Retirement Resolution must be filed by 31 December 1977. The only substantive change from our present plan is the one year of service requirement for eligibility for employees who have completed 1,000 hours of service. The other changes just give effect to the reporting and administrative changes required by ERISA.

The following motion was passed without dissent:

MOVED that the Revised Retirement Resolution, required by the Employees Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), be adopted.

A copy of the Revised Retirement Resolution is attached to the official copy of these minutes, and a summary description will go to all AIP employees who are participants in the plan.

8. Review of Governing Board Agenda

1. Status of Computerization of Accounting

   Gilbert distributed the latest report by our consultant, R. J. Moynihan, dated 24 October, and discussed some of the highlights. The plan to bring financial records up to date and prepare monthly billing statements for the Societies is progressing on time. This will eliminate the problem of allocation of income from short-term investments. Gilbert pointed to the need for converting from our present accrual system to put the accounts on a cash basis, as required by the Quinn motion, passed at the Woods Hole meeting. One still has to work out the mechanism for handling the balances at the end of the year.

   Havens asked about the progress in bringing the programming staff up from four to eight people, and Gilbert replied that, because of the proposed move to Woodbury, our Personnel Office is not having much success finding people to work in New York who would be willing to work later in Woodbury.

   Quinn pointed out that we should avoid having two sets of reports: (1) dues and subscription collections, and (2) other Societies' revenues and expenses. Gilbert indicated that there is no reason why the accounting cannot be done the way the Societies want it, after the transition period is over. The journal statements could be changed from quarterly to monthly. The problem is that the General Ledger system conversion was never completed and a manual intervention is required during the interim period. He will tell the consultant that it is the desire of the Executive Committee that production of a single report is to be the ultimate objective of this system and will ask for ·an estimate on the expected time when such a system can be put into operation.

2. Status of Negotiations with APS on Retroactive Payment of Interest on Short-Term Investments

   Gilbert distributed copies of a memorandum dated 20 October 1977 entitled "Short-Term Investment Income," signed by Gilbert and Burton. He noted that Burton and he tried to come up with a procedure to determine whether AIP owed the Societies money for interest earned on short-term investment funds in prior years. Gilbert stated that he recognized from the beginning that the Institute was using Society monies as a result of comingled funds derived from institutions paying for multiple subscriptions. This system did not lend itself to setting up separate bank accounts. We had a number of meetings with the AIP and APS auditing firms, and AIP had already spent about 40 man days on this. It was finally decided that there should be some kind of compromise, as described in the following excerpt from the Gilbert-Burton memorandum of 20 October:

   Proposed Compromise Interest due APS
   Calendar Year 1975	$25,000
   Calendar Year 1976	$30,000
   Calendar Year 1977	to be determined from the 1977 audit figures, but expected to be in the same range.

   “In our opinion and in the opinion of our respective auditors, these amounts represent a fair and equitable compromise for both APS and AIP. The decision resulted largely from a recognition that considerable further time of AIP accounting personnel would be required to develop detailed additional analyses to insure that all relevant factors have been taken into consideration. Further details about the methods used to determine these amounts will be provided if requested.”

   Burton stated that this compromise has also been approved by the APS Executive Committee, and it is being further proposed that APS donate one-half of the prior years’ interest income to the AIP Center for History of Physics endowment fund. The APS Council will also have to approve it.

   The following motion was introduced by Strassenburg, seconded by Havens, and passed without dissent:

   MOVED that the suggested compromise stated above be approved.

3. Is There a Need for a Revision of the Memorandum of Agreement?

   Gilbert distributed and read a letter from the AIP attorney, W. A. Boylan, dated 21 October, which was written in response to a request to render an opinion about the need for a change in the Memorandum of Agreement between AIP and Member Societies resulting from the adoption of a new accounting system. Gilbert noted that our attorney's advice is that no change is needed at this time, nor is it desirable since we do not know what we are going to want in a few years. Koch agreed that, at the present time, we do not know enough about the changes that are going on to make it more general.

   Quinn restated his opinion that all financial statements should be prepared monthly, and it appeared to be the consensus of the members of the Executive Committee that monthly statements will not violate the spirit of the present Memorandum of Agreement since, while it requires quarterly statements it does not forbid more frequent reports. Smaller Societies can still settle accounts every three months if they so wish.

   Morse restated the general sentiment that we can defer revising the Memorandum of Agreement.

4. Guidelines for Contributions by AIP

   Koch stated that a set of guidelines governing AIP financial contributions to other organizations had been prepared and were included in the attachments to the Governing Board agenda. This was a result of discussions at the Woods Hole meeting related to authorizations to contribute $1,000 to the Columbia University Pupin celebration, and $5,000 to the Copyright Clearance Center. The guidelines, with suggested changes if any, will be included as an attachment to the minutes of the 29 October Governing Board meeting. There were no objections.

5. Proposed New Physics Manpower Survey

   Slack called attention to an attachment on this subject (C-2) to the Governing Board agenda. He noted that a number of reports have come out making use of the old data that we gathered in 1973. It is felt that in the light of the diaspora of the people that has occurred in the last five years, it becomes highly desirable to get up-to-date information on who the people are and where they are. It is proposed to conduct a short survey covering only people in the AIP Member Societies. We have prepared some detailed cost estimates which supplement and refine the estimate of $50,000 to $60,000 submitted at the Woods Hole meeting. We currently estimate that it may be even less than $50,000. About one-third of that would be for salaries for people presently on the AIP staff and temporary people. Another one-third would be for postage, and the rest for data processing, printing, and other expenses. The questions we would ask would permit us to get names, addresses, and Society memberships, which information would be the kind we would need to do detailed selected surveys in subsequent years on samples of people.

   We are proposing that the Manpower Division proceed with developing more detailed plans so that a survey can be conducted next spring. Should we be able to time it so that the mailing could go out as part of the APS billing, there would be a modest saving in money, but this may be more complex than it is worth. We are asking for authorization to include the project in planning for next year's budget with the understanding that the investment would not be more than $50,000. The net incremental cost would be about $40,000.

   Havens felt that designing a 1-page questionnaire to be included with the dues bill would even further cut the incremental costs. Wootton commented that if one wants good responses, it is not wise to send our questionnaires with bills. He recommended that AIP seek support from experts on design of a questionnaire. Young suggested that only factual questions should be asked, not opinions.

   The following motion was made by Havens, seconded by Strassenburg, and passed without dissent:

   MOVED that authorization be granted to the AIP staff to prepare the questionnaire and detailed plans as to what is to be sent out, and that it be distributed to the Executive Committee in advance of the 19 December meeting.

The meeting was recessed for dinner at 6:05 p.m. and reconvened at 7:35 p.m.

6. Building Alterations

   Marks called attention to Attachments B, B-1, 2, 3 to the Governing Board agenda giving reasons for reconsidering the General Electric building on Madison Avenue, together with a breakdown of costs of four options for housing the AIP Manhattan activities, and went over the four plans in some detail. He estimated it would cost $700,000 to fix up seven floors of the General Electric building. The usable space per floor would be about 7,400 square feet. It would provide for an auditorium on the first floor and include a larger Niels Bohr Library and Board room.

   Fredrick expressed his uneasiness about the reconsideration of the AIP Manhattan location. He thought he understood, at the time the Lake Success building was rejected and the Woodbury building was purchased, that the present headquarters location together with our Long Island location would take care of all of AIP’s needs for the immediate future. The General Electric building was rejected at that time. Marks noted that AIP is committed to two locations. There is still a reservation about the location of the General Electric building. As far as the maintenance is concerned, even if we fail to rent the excess space, the carrying cost is less than it would be for any of the other alternatives. The present headquarters building can very likely be sold for $1.5 million, which is the price we would have to pay for the General Electric building. Koch added that using rental space is more expensive and that we are, moreover, bound by the condition that AIP must have a "definable" building and not be part of a larger building that belongs to someone else.

   Havens thought that a building located in the neighborhood of 32nd Street would not enhance the image of physics. He felt, furthermore, that we should solve all the Woodbury problems before we think of anything else. We should sit tight for at least another six months. He expressed his opposition to any move to get the General Electric building at the present time. Quinn thought that the headquarters building should be put up for sale at $2.5 million and, if we can sell it, we should move into rented space. Moreover, we should not vote on the General Electric building without an engineering report.

   In order to sort out the various ingredients of the discussion on building alternatives, it was decided to break things down into three motions:

   1. The following motion was made by Havens, seconded by Quinn, and passed without dissent:

      MOVED that it be the objective of AIP to consolidate all activities in New York City in one location.

   2. The following motion was made by Quinn, seconded by Havens, and passed without dissent:

      MOVED that AIP put the headquarters building up for sale at a minimum price of $2.5 million, with the final price to be determined by the management and real estate agent.

   3. The following motion was made by Quinn, seconded by Strassenburg, and passed:

      MOVED that the Executive Committee recommend to the Governing Board that $10,000 be appropriated for the evaluation of the General Electric building.

   Morse suggested that members of the Executive Committee who have not previously visited the General Electric building should arrange to do so.

7. Photocopying Matters

   Koch noted that several items on this subject would be discussed at the Governing Board meeting. There is the consideration of (1) a letter that Havens wrote in which he expressed concern about the magnitude of fees we have already established; (2) the amount we charge per page for archival and translation journals under our Current Physics Reprint program; (3) the suggested changes in the wording of the copyright transfer form and the special issues raised by industrial employees and U.S. Government employees. If we stick to our original copying fees many Corporate Associates and others will be faced with a substantial additional cost next year, whereas this year they have been doing a substantial amount of photocopying and paying nothing at all. We could still tie the copying fee to the back number price but reduce it to a factor of 10 instead of 4. The third way to do it would be to provide a fixed fee for our Corporate Associates and deliberately make it very low, such as 25¢. The last alternative would be to have a low fixed fee for everybody. The American Chemical Society has set $1.00 for archive and $5.00 for review journals. Charles Lieb’s (AIP’s copyright attorney) reaction to preferential treatment for Corporate Associates is that it may be legal but it would not be politic. Libraries would resent our giving preferential treatment to a class of our membership.

   Havens thought we could get a great deal of good will by establishing a low uniform fee for our archival journals and a different fee for the Soviet journals. He proposed for the archival journals a fee of 75¢ and a fee of $1.50 for the translation journals. He did not believe there is going to be a precipitous drop in nonmember subscriptions. It is not important whether we get any income from this in 1978. If there is an unexpected adverse effect, we can change it in 1979.

   After a brief discussion, the following two motions were made by Havens and passed without dissent:

   1. MOVED that the copying fee for AIP archival journals be one-tenth (1/10) the single back number price, with a minimum fee of 50¢.

   2. MOVED that the copying fee for the translation journals be one-tenth (1/10) the single back number price.

   Koch then took up the matter of Current Physics Reprints. This is where we supply the reprint itself. We have seen increased use of this system. The price has been 25¢ per page, plus postage. He recommended that this be increased to 50¢ per page for AIP archival journals and $1.50 per page for the translation journals. The following motion was made by Quinn and passed without dissent:

   MOVED that the price of Current Physics Reprints be increased from 25¢ to 50¢ per page for AIP archival journals and to $1.50 per page for translation journals.

   Koch then took up the matter of copyright transfers and noted that we have to do something about the industrial employers. They insist on being able to use the articles by their writers in their employ in any way they want to, except for resale. He will propose to the Governing Board the inclusion of an appropriate sentence in the wording of the copyright transfer. He will also propose for discussion some changes having to do with government employees.

8. Appointment of Administrative Review Committee

   Morse stated that, if there are no objections, he should like to appoint George E. Pake, Robert Karplus, and Herbert L. Anderson as members of the Administrative Review Committee for 1977, with Pake as Chairman. There were no objections.

9. Suggestions for Members of Committee to Nominate Candidate(s) for Tate Award

   Morse stated that, if the Governing Board approves presentation of the John T. Tate International Award in the coming year, he would propose a committee of S. A. Goudsmit, V. F. Weisskopf, and Lewis Branscomb to suggest candidates for the Award.

9. Future Meetings

The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be held on Monday, 19 December, at AIP headquarters, as decided on at the September meeting of the Executive Committee. It was agreed that there be no meeting at the time of the annual APS-AAPT joint meeting scheduled to be held in January 1978 at San Francisco. Instead, there will be a meeting of the Executive Committee at AIP headquarters on either 1 February or 3 February, the exact date to be decided at the December meeting.

The next meeting of the Governing Board will be held on Friday and Saturday, 31 March and 1 April 1978, probably at our Woodbury location.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.