Suffolk County Library Association

Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting

July 19, 2002

Location: SCLS Blue Room

Present: E. Hayes, J. Clemens, F. Altemose, A. Richards, K. Minschke, J. Carhart, F. Byrne, C. Farrugia, M. Fusco, S. Atlas, S. Johnson, V. Antonucci, M. Weiss, D. Bucher, K. Baudouin, G. Pepa, A. Lehner, J. Loughren, J. Olney, R. Dressler, J. Barr.

J. Clemens called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. After some corrections were made, K. Minschke made a motion to accept the minutes of the June meeting. J. Carhart seconded the motion. None were opposed.

TREASURER’S REPORT: J. Loughren reported $88.24 income for June, and $1,587.60 in expenses. The total fund balance of $19,063.08 included $1,703.50 in the Scholarship Fund and $342.50 in the Intellectual Freedom Fund. D. Bucher made a motion to accept the report. J. Olney seconded. None were opposed. 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: R. Dressler reported that 160 L.I. Ducks tickets had been sold, and that $2 from the price of each ticket would go into the Scholarship Fund. She reported that all the Writers on the Vine series tickets had been sold. Rona had attended one of the series events, and highly recommended them. She thought SCLA might consider other events at Palmer Vineyards. Rona asked about the White Elephant sale table planned for the Antiques & Collectibles Show in Islip. D. Bucher reported that flyers would go out to members in August. She asked for volunteers to help with the mailing. SCLS will once again allow donations to be transported via their daily van. Donations should be marked to Della Bucher’s attention at Harborfields library. B. Hoffman has offered the use of her van on the day of the sale. R. Dressler asked about the SCLA t-shirts. F. Altemose reported that t-shirts had been ordered and would be available in approximately three weeks. She will fill orders from Sachem Public Library. The cost is $10. Checks should be made out to SCLA. Our production costs should be no more than $5.95 each. They are available in medium, large and extra large sizes. D. Bucher suggested they could be sold in October at the Antiques & Collectible Show. 

DIVISION REPORTS:

DASL: No report.

RASD: J. Carhart reported that planning for next year’s L.I. Reads campaign has started. The joint committee hoped to select the book title at their August 8th meeting. In response to feedback from this year, the committee hoped to get materials out to all libraries much earlier. Jo Ann reported that J. Nichols of SCLS might have a staff member on this year’s committee. This might be helpful, because it is Suffolk County’s turn take charge of some of the printing and distribution of materials. The next RASD Board meeting will be Sept. 10th.

CATS: M. Weiss reported that the East End library tour had been very successful. CATS is planning an Oct. 18th trip to the N.Y.P.L.’s Performing Arts Division at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Cost will be $20 for non-members, $16 for members. The Board is thinking of a way to memorialize the recent death of Board member Elaine Etkin. July 23rd will be their next meeting.

SSSD: F. Byrne reported that the nominating slate for next year’s officers was set. She mentioned that custodians were represented on the slate, and said that soon a mailing soliciting more nominees would go out. The division plans a membership drive in the fall.

YASD: No report.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

ARCHIVES: S. Johnson reported that she had been asked to find SCLA’s original tax exempt application, but so far had only found references to it in old minutes from 1965. She said she had found background information on the Scholarship Fund, and was sharing that with the current Scholarship Committee. Suzanne said that she would be interested in any older material on SCLA, especially material from the 1960’s, if anyone had it.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS: No report.

CONTINUING EDUCATION: K. Baudouin reported that the committee had met in June. They are planning an Internet Addiction program at Emma S. Clark Library on Oct. 24th. Karen is writing an article for the next SCLA newsletter about the program, and it will be advertised through the listserv. C. Gray has arranged a joint meeting with NLA’s Continuing Education Committee in September. A. Mondelli will try to schedule a visit to the Medical Library at Stony Brook. K. Minschke spoke up and said she had helped organize visits to the medical library in the past. Karen reported that new committee member Stephen Ingram had offered to present a Photoshop workshop, possibly in January or February. S. Sessa is working on the database of upcoming programs, and will share information with SCLA President Rona Dressler. 

ELSA: G. Pepa reported that the committee had received ten “tremendous” nominations for the Excellence in Library Service Award. Some had come from patrons. The committee had been sent copies of all nominations, and they will meet in September to pick the winner.

FALL DINNER: C. Guzzo had e-mailed a report. The Fall Dinner will be on Friday, Nov. 8th from 6:30 –10 p.m. at the Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead. Save the Date notices will be going out shortly. The cost is $56 per person. A $500 deposit and contract was sent out this week. There will be a cocktail hour with a variety of hors d’oeuvres. Dinner choices will be Penne a la Vodka, Chicken Francaise and Veal Marsala. Dessert will be Italian cookies. Soft drinks and coffee and tea are included. There will be a cash bar available.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: No report.

LDA AWARD: No report.

LEGISLATIVE: L. Tesoriero e-mailed her report. Planning for the autum Legislative Breakfast continues. Changes from last year include: reminder calls to legislators prior to the event; invitations sent out to each library director and each library board president; LILRC rather than Sachem Public Library will prepare the flyer; more communication between the two host libraries (Nassau and Suffolk) to encourage a consistent format; a Legislative Committee meeting immediately after the breakfasts, for the purpose of evaluation. Other issues discussed at the committee’s meeting were the possible formation of a “Political Action Committee,” and encouraging the involvement of Friends of the Library groups in legislative lobbying efforts.

LISTSERV: No report.

L.I. LIBRARY CONFERENCE: R. Dressler said she had received a list of nominees for the various sub-committees for next year’s conference.

LONG-RANGE PLANNING: No report.

MEMBERSHIP: R. McEneaney sent a written report which stated that there were 603 active SCLA members. Regina asked that all nominees for officers in the different SCLA divisions please check their membership status.

NEWSLETTER: R. Dressler said that the Sept./Oct./Nov. issue of the newsletter would be a tribute to retiring SCLA Executive Secretary Angie Lehner, and asked that people with stories or photos to contribute please submit them by August 1 to Barbara Hoffman.

NOMINATING: J. Clemens handed out the proposed slate of nominees for SCLA Board officers for 2002-2003: Vice President/President Elect, Cynthia Guzzo and Marina Sullivan; Secretary, Mary Ann Koferl and Patty Thomson; Treasurer, Joe Loughren; Member-at-large, Paula Bornstein, Edana Cichanowizc, Susan Ketcham, and Angela Richards. Della Bucher and Fran Altemose sill have one year left in their two-year terms as Members-at-large. Joan asked if there were any nominations from the floor. Marge Fusco volunteered to run in the empty slot as the second nominee for Treasurer. S. Johnson made a motion to accept the slate. D. Bucher seconded it. None were opposed. 

PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: No report.

PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY: No report.

SCHOLARSHIP: C. Farrugia reported that flyers about the new support staff continuing education scholarship were going out, and she asked Board members to promote the new award. We had received $250 in raffle ticket sales so far. She reported that $465 had been donated in memory of CATS Board member Elaine Etkin, who passed away recently.

STATISTICAL SURVEY: S. Atlas reported she had received 32 responses to the survey, and needed 20 or so more. She planned to follow up, and hoped to have all responses by August 1st. (She wants to have all data collated before A. Lehner retires in September.) Sandy said that she had looked at the recent suggestion to include academic libraries in the survey, but the committee had concluded that the SCLA survey was not well suited to academic libraries. She pointed out that some of the funding for the survey came from SCLS. The committee thought perhaps there was a need for a separate, academic library survey. Someone suggested that Sandy write up her recommendations and keep them on file for future reference.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE: No report.

WEB PAGE: No report.

LIAISON REPORTS:

CLASC: No report.

BOCES: J. Barr handed out copies of the Eastern Suffolk BOCES School Library System Newsletter. She invited people to visit their new website, http://sls.sricboces.org. She reported that the system will have something similar to the Virtual Reference Collection used by the public libraries. The schools, however, are not able to purchase in the same way as the public libraries (site licenses cost more, etc.), so they would not be able to offer as wide an array of databases as the public libraries.

LILRC: V. Antonucci reported on upcoming events, including the two Legislative Breakfasts, Archives Week, and a workshop on medical vocabulary at Northport library on July 30th. She reported that the LILRC Annual Conference on Libraries and the Future would be held at Dowling College on Oct. 3 & 4. Virginia also mentioned that LILRC’s Annual Meeting in November would feature Judith Krug, Director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, as their speaker. 

LVA SUFFOLK: No report.

NCLA: L. Tesoriero sent e-mail stating that NCLA would next meet on Sept. 13.

PLDA: D. Englehardt faxed a report. The PLDA held its semi-annual Luncheon in early June At its next regular Board meeting, they plan to address the offer of having a PLDA member on the L. I. Reads Committee.

SCLS: No report.

SLA: J. Olney reported that he is on the new SLA nominating slate as Vice President/President Elect.

OLD BUSINESS: A revised version of the SCLA dues structure was handed out: Friends, Student, Retirees would pay $10 per year, members earning up to $15,000 per year would pay $15 dues, members earning between $15,001 and $30,000 per year would pay $25 dues, members earning between $30,001 and $45,000 would pay $35, members earning more than $45,001 per year would pay $45, Trustees would pay $25, and Vendors and Institutions would pay $55. After some discussion, F. Byrne made a motion to adopt the new dues structure. K. Minschke seconded the motion. None were opposed.

NEW BUSINESS: R. Dressler shared e-mail she had received which solicited sponsorship for a Ronald McDonald House Mini-Golf Fund Raiser. After discussion, it was decided not to contribute.

R. Dressler asked for a motion to adjourn. J. Clemens made a motion to adjourn, and A. Richards seconded it. The meeting was adjourned.