October 18, 2002 -- SCLS Auditorium

Suffolk County Library Association
Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting
October 18, 2002
Location:  SCLS Blue Room 

Present::  E. Hayes, J. Olney, F. Byrne, S. Ingram, S. Holden, R. McEneaney, M. Fusco, H. Biblo, J. Nichols, S. Johnson, J. Carhart, S. Atlas, D. Miller, E. Cichanowicz, D. Bucher, P. Bornstein, L. Tesoriero, D. Jones, M. Firestone, J. Clemens, J. Loughren, R. Dressler.

The meeting was called to order at 10:07 a.m. by J. Clemens.  After a review of the September 13^th minutes, S. Ketcham made a motion to accept them, and P. Bornstein seconded.  None were opposed.

DASL report [out of sequence]:  S. Ketcham reported that their Oct. 11^th  workshop entitled “From Competencies to Competence” at Suffolk Community College had been very successful.  The division has had to postpone hosting Herb Foerstel as a speaker on the Patriot Act at their annual meeting, because Herb had a heart attack.  They were looking forward to hearing Laura Zelasnic, of the N.Y. State Newspaper Project, speak right before the luncheon on Dec. 6^th at the Culinary Institute.  The division lost its webmasters (they graduated).  Sue might take over the webmaster slot as Past President.  Oct. 31st is the deadline for DASL ballots.  Their next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 1^st at NYIT/Central Islip Campus Library.  Sue passed around a copy of the book she authored with Marge Fusco, “Distance Learning for Higher Education:  An Annotated Bibliography,”  published by Libraries Unlimited.

TREASURER’S REPORT:  J. Loughren gave his report.  Income for the General Fund in September was $4,203.04.  Expenses were $2,225.70.  Scholarship Fund income was $90.  The Fund Balance was $17,684.37, plus $3,329.50 in the Scholarship Fund and $342.50 in the Intellectual Freedom Fund, for a total balance of all funds of $21,356.37.  J. Olney made a motion to accept the report.  D. Bucher seconded.  None were opposed.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT:  R. Dressler asked about progress on the White Elephant Sale.  D. Bucher reported that she had more donations than last year, and would need some more tables.  She asked if we could give her custodian at Harborfields Public Library an SCLA t-shirt (it was agreed).  Rona asked everyone to give important SCLA dates to Danielle Zubiller, so that she could post them on the web page.  Rona mentioned two NCLA programs, one on print vs. online resources, Nov. 6^th, and a tour of the Port Washington Library on Nov. 26^th.

DIVISION REPORTS:

DASL:  (see above)

RASD:  J. Carhart said that the RASD Board had not met since the last SCLA Board meeting.  She reported that their annual meeting would take place on Oct. 30^th.  The Health Care Concerns Committee would present a program on Autism.

CATS: A. Tiffany e-mailed a report:  The Preservation and Repair workshop on Sept. 20^th was a huge success. 49 people attended.  Thank you to Regina McEneaney from Suffolk Community College and Tracee Ugenti from Longwood for doing such an outstanding job.  The CATS New York City library tour was taking place Oct. 18^th, with approximately 50 people attending.  They were planning to visit the Performing Arts division of the N.Y. Public Library and the Grolier Club Library.  The CATS annual meeting will be Tuesday, Dec. 10^th at SCLS, and will feature a discussion of wireless networks.  The CATS newsletter should be out in December.  Jim Balletta has resigned from the CATS Board.  Min Liu from LILRC will be a Member-at-Large on the 2003 Board.

SSSD:  F. Byrne reported that the division had held its annual general meeting on Sept. 18^th and an Executive Board meeting on Oct. 15^th.  The program “Searching the Internet More Effectively” on Oct. 1^st was very well received by the 50 people who attended.  The division plans to offer programs on a quarterly basis.  Their next program, “Photoshop for Beginners,” will be given Jan. 9^th, 2003 at Northport Public Library.   In late March, they hope to offer a Building Maintenance program.  In September, they will have another Roundtable Discussion.  The tentative date for the next Library Clerk Civil Service exam is January 2004, and the division hopes to run a “prep” course in December. Deadline for ballots is Oct. 23^rd.   One Member-at-Large position has been added to the Board.  In November, planning will begin for co-sponsoring a program with the NCLA Clerical Division at the annual May conference.  In November, their Board will vote on changes to the constitution and by-laws.  The term of office for Members-at-Large may be changed, and the word “Services” will probably be dropped from the name of the division.  Fran pointed out that the new Continuing Education Award for Support Staff was left off the agenda for the SCLA Annual Dinner.

YASD:  D. Jones reported.  He said their annual luncheon at NYIT had been very successful.  They were planning a program on Nov. 14^th on “Youth Violence, and What Librarians Can Do To Prevent It.”

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

ARCHIVES:  S. Johnson asked those present to hold on to any SCLA materials they had from the 1970s.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS:  M. Firestone reported  that the change in term limits looked like it would pass with 164 yes votes and 11 no votes so far.  The revision of SCLA dues structure had received 118 yes votes and 64 no votes.  Deadline for SCLA ballots is Nov. 1^st.

CONTINUING EDUCATION:  K. Baudouin e-mailed a report:  The Committee met on September 24^th.  They were joined by members of NCLA’s Continuing Education Committee Helene Hertzliner of Levittown Library and Marjorie Lentz of Plainview Library.  They discussed future shared programs and resources, including a program for the L.I. Library Conference.  The committee is running the “Caught in the Net” program on Oct. 24^th.  They are re-thinking their visit to the Health Sciences Library in light of possible conflicts with other tours.  They looked forward to Steve Ingram doing a Photoshop program.  Please e-mail programming events to Sheryl Sessa, who will keep a master calendar.

ELSA:  G. Pepa e-mailed a report.  She was pleased to announce that Carolyn Hasler of Huntington Public Library is the 2002 ELSA winner.  She was nominated not only by an enthusiastic staff but by colleagues at Literacy Volunteers, as well as several library patrons. Gail visited her at the main building as well as the Station Branch, where Carolyn is most often on duty and found her to be as kind and professional as she was described. Photographs were taken with her director and other staff members.  Her award, a $200 US savings bond, has been ordered, and Gail is working on the award certificates for Ms. Hasler and the nominees. The ELSA plaque has been engraved as well. The committee is looking forward to the formal presentation at the Annual Dinner.Gail needed reimbursement forms and asked that they be sent to her at Smithtown.  Gail expressed concern as to whom might be taking up Angie's responsibilities next year,  as there were certainly many projects that this year's ELSA committee relied on her for. Gail couldn't imagine doing the same work without someone as capable.

FALL DINNER:  No report.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM:  No report.

LDA AWARD:  P. Bornstein reported that Lisa Paulo, the 2002 LDA Chair, had sent Paula paperwork from this year’s report.  In 2003, it will be SCLA’s turn to chair the LDA Committee, with NCLA appointing one of their members as co-chairperson.  SCLA will be responsible for the expense of printing the LDA Award brochures and any mailing fees.  This should be incorporated into the 2003 budget.  SCLA must also absorb the cost of a year of SCLA membership dues for the 2002 LDA Award winner.

LEGISLATIVE:  L. Tesoriero reported on the Legislative Breakfast held in September. Eight legislators and over 100 other people attended.  Laurene thanked Jerry Nichols of SCLS for putting together an informational folder on the “New Centuries Library” project.  Laurene said the cost of the breakfast was quite high, and wondered if SCLA could have more of a voice in planning and scaling back expenses.  This year’s bill was $2,775.  SCLA had only allowed $800 in their budget.  A long discussion followed.  J. Olney mentioned that last year the breakfast also went over budget, and SCLA had asked Sachem Public Library, the hosts, to cut back on expenses.  Herb Biblo, Joe Loughren, Della Bucher also contributed to the discussion.  It is hoped that SCLA can work more closely with the LILRC Legislative Committee and the host library to control costs. 

LISTSERV:  No report.

L.I. LIBRARY CONFERENCE:  S. Johnson reported that the website had been updated with some information on the 2003 Conference, to be held May 7^th.  A mailing to 150 vendors should produce a good response.  This year there were 108 vendors at the conference.  The website address is:  www.suffolk.lib.ny.us/lilc.

LONG-RANGE PLANNING: S. Holden reported that the committee would be meeting on Oct. 23^rd to plan Spring semester visits to library schools.  She asked if the Board could authorize the expense of some folders and labels, to be given out to the library school students.  After a short discussion, J. Carhart made a motion to authorize $100 in expenses.  R. McEneaney seconded the motion.  None were opposed. 

MEMBERSHIP:  R. McEneaney reported that we had 634 active members and 75 honorary members.  Renewal brochures will go out in November.  Reminders and invitations to re-join SCLA will go out after the first of the year.

NEWSLETTER:  no report.

NOMINATING:  J. Clemens reported that we had received approximately 200 ballots so far.  She said she would put a reminder (to vote) on the listserv.

PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS:  No report.

SCLS:  (Liaison report ) [out of sequence]:  J. Nichols reported that Maxine Jurow, of Literacy Volunteers of America, had been in a serious car accident recently.  A budget proposal had been sent out to member libraries.  A staff re-organization was underway.  (Angie Lehner had retired, etc.)  A new edition of the Virtual Reference Collection was being offered.  He mentioned that SCLA would be taking over some Talking Books work from NCLA.  He mentioned some  library building news, including the groundbreaking for the new South Huntington Public Library, and the dedication of the Hauppauge Public Library.  Jerry mentioned the upcoming vote in the Elwood school district, among others.

PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY:  S. Ingram reported that John Richardson of SCLS would be able honor a request from Pratt and visit a “Knowledge Management” (cataloging) class there.  Steven asked if the brochures on different forms of librarianship could be put on the SCLA web page as PDF files.

SCHOLARSHIP:  No report.  (Angela Richards will be taking over as chairperson of this committee from Christine Farrugia.)

STATISTICAL SURVEY:  S. Atlas reported that the finished survey was at the print shop.  She thanked R. Dressler for helping her  with all the Excel files.  She planned to send all directors two copies as per usual, rather than “take one away” and send them only one (and send the other to a department head), as  had been discussed earlier.  Sandy said more copies of the survey would be printed this year.  R. Dressler mentioned that Jerry Nichols had said SC LS would try to re-distribute some of Angie Lehner’s old SCLA tasks.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE:  No report.

WEB PAGE:  No report.

LIAISON REPORTS:

CLASC:  No report.

BOCES:  D. Miller reported that Dr. Janet Barr had created a web address, with electronic resources and links organized there, and made it available to BOCES schools.  She had worked with vendors to the benefit of all the BOCES schools. 

LILRC:  H. Biblo reported.  He handed out flyers for several programs, including one entitled “Statistics Without Fear,” to be held at Huntington Public Library on Oct. 31^st.  He also mentioned a grant writing  workshop offered by the Documentary Heritage Program.  He reminded everyone that Judith Krug would be giving a talk on the U.S. Patriot Act and other issues at the LILRC Annual Meeting on Nov. 21^st.  He mentioned that LILRC staff member Judith Nuefeld was still out on medical leave.  Herb also talked about the upcoming NYLA meeting.  He mentioned that discount coupons for New Horizons classes were available.

LVA SUFFOLK:  No report.

NCLA:  No report.

PLDA:  No report.

SCLS:  ( see above)

SLA:  J. Olney reported that they would be having a Trivia Night at Jillian’s in Farmingdale on November 20^th at 7:30 p.m.  He thanked DASL for co-sponsoring the event.  James also asked for a SCLA t-shirt to be donated as one of the prizes (it was agreed).

OLD/NEW BUSINESS:  J. Clemens said that a job description for Executive Secretary (Angie Lehner’s old position) did exist.  She asked that Board members write down tasks that Angie had  performed for their committee/division and send them to Rona Dressler in order to make the job description more thorough.  Board members were asked to submit budget requests by the beginning of November, so that the Executive Board could use them to formulate the proposed 2003 budget.

J. Clemens asked for a motion to adjourn.  J. Loughren made a motion.  R. McEneaney seconded.  The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.