December 20, 2002 -- SCLS Auditorium

Present: E. Hayes, J. Clemens, D. Cunningham, J. Carhart, B. Hoffman, H. Biblo, R. McEneaney, M. Fusco, S. Ketcham, K. McCoy, S. Ingram, S. Holden, P. Bornstein, E. Cichanowicz, K. Minschke, M. Mueller, C. Gray, P. Thomson, S. Johnson, G. Pepa, S. Atlas, D. Miller, D. Bucher, D. Engelhardt, J. Olney, J. Loughren, F. Byrne, C. Guzzo, R. Dressler, L. Tesoriero, J. Nichols.

The meeting was called to order at 10:09 a.m. by J. Clemens. After a review of the Oct. 18th minutes, S. Ketcham moved to accept them. C. Guzzo seconded. None were opposed. 

TREASURER’S REPORT: J. Loughren distributed copies of the monthly financial statement for November, 2002, which showed a fund balance of $18,705.89. R. McEneaney moved to accept the monthly report. C. Guzzo seconded. None were opposed.

J. Loughren then presented the proposed 2003 budget. Joe pointed out that the main change in the structure of the budget was in the category of the Annual Dinner. Rather than report all expected income and expenses, only the anticipated net expenses (of $250) are listed. The budget line for Programs was handled the same way. He went over the budget in detail. Joe pointed out that, although an anticipated expense of $2,000 for personnel was proposed, this is flexible. Executive Secretary A. Lehner has retired, and she will not necessarily be replaced in 2003. Rona Dressler said that the budget would be voted on by the Board at the January 17th meeting.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: R. Dressler invited everyone present to introduce themselves, and state their division or committee, as well as if they were “incoming” or “outgoing” officers, etc.

DIVISION REPORTS:

DASL: S. Ketcham reported on the division’s Annual Meeting in early December and the presentation they heard on the N.Y. State Newspaper Project. She said the 2003 Annual meeting (at the Culinary Institute) would be on Dec. 5th. Their next Board meeting would be Feb. 7th at Suffolk Community College, Ammerman Campus.

RASD: J. Carhart reported on the work of various committees within RASD. She said the Electronic Resources Committee was planning a meeting on how to publicize electronic resources. Health Concerns will meet in January to pick their annual topic. The Long Island History Committee met in November for a lecture on the history of Girl Scouting in Suffolk County. An invitation to join RASD for 2003 will be put on the listserv. O.A.R.S. met on Dec. 4th to learn about the newspaper ABLE. The next issue of Ramblings will be in March. Reader’s Advisory will meet on Jan. 30th. RASD is planning two programs at the LI Library Conference. One is in cooperation with Nassau RASD, on Multicultural Collection Development. The other will be called “Hook up with Distance Learning @ Your Library,” with speaker Rhonda Miller from Dowling. Four RASD members are on the L.I. Reads Committee, which is featuring Julia Alvarez’ “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents” this year. Packets for National Library Week went out. The committee is working on funding for an author dinner with Julia Alvarez in late April. The RASD board met on Dec. 3rd and discussed division business such as meeting schedules, banking, and anew Membership Chair.

CATS: C. Guzzo reported that 49 people had attended their “Wireless Technology” session at their Annual Meeting. The division is planning a program on Technical Services websites for the L.I. Library Conference in 2003. They also hope to schedule a vendor tour, and they expect to hold their annual member library tour again.

LONG RANGE PLANNING : S. Holden reported that the committee had met on Oct. 23rd to prepare for visits to Palmer and Queens library school Spring semester Orientations (on Jan. 17th and 23rd respectively). Sue asked for copies of the newsletter and the Scholarship brochures to put in with the packets. She had a bill to submit for information folders she had purchased. Sue said that Palmer has 50 new students entering the program, and Queens has 150.

NEWSLETTER : B. Hoffman reported that the SCLA newsletter would go out later that day. She had samples with her. Barbara said that extras had been printed for the library school student packets, and also for a Career Day at Patchogue High School, given through the Rotary Club. J. Carhart mentioned that anyone participating in a Career Day need only contact A.L.A. through their website and they could receive lots of free materials on librarianship as a career.

SSSD: F. Byrne reported that their Executive Board had met on Dec. 18th. New membership applications were being printed. Their workshop on “Photoshop for Beginners” on Jan. 16th had gotten a good response so far in terms of registration. Fran said incoming President Marie Mueller would take over in January. Fran thanked the outgoing officers for their service to the division. She reported that the division had not yet decided whether to co-sponsor the program that NCLA’s Clerical Division had planned for the L.I. Library Conference.

YASD: No report.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

ARCHIVES: S. Johnson noted that there was an article on the archives in the SCLA newsletter.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS: R. Dressler said that copies of the revised Constitution & Bylaws would be distributed at the January meeting.

CONTINUING EDUCATION: C. Gray reported that they had scheduled a Jan. 7th tour of the Health Services library at SUNY Stony Brook. It will include a demonstration of resources available to the public. The committee had submitted a proposal for a program entitled “I Like My Boss, But. . .” for the L.I. Library Conference, but she said it was unclear as to whether it would be on the schedule or not.

ELSA: G. Pepa reported that Carolyn Hasler of Huntington Public Library had been presented with the ELSA at the SCLA Annual Dinner in November. The web page has been updated. Elyse Hayes has agreed to co-chair the committee for 2003. Gail said she had approached Carolyn Hasler about joining, too.

FALL DINNER: C. Guzzo reported that 129 people attended the SCLA Annual Dinner in November, and that the committee had received positive feedback. She noted that a chairperson was needed for the 2003 Annual Dinner Committee.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: K. McCoy reported that Judith Krug from ALA’s Freedom of Information Office had been the speaker at LILRC’s Annual Meeting. Kevin also reported on a Dec. 12th Teleconference on the Patriot Act. Kevin said that Herbert Foerstel, the author of “Surveillance in the Stacks,” might be doing a DASL program in the Spring.

LDA AWARD: L. Tesoriero said that flyers would be ready by mid-February.

LEGISLATIVE: L. Tesoriero reported on a recent LIRLC Legislative Committee meeting at which she informed them that SCLA would only be able to pay $800 towards the bill for the Breakfast held in September (this is $500 less than the amount SCLA was asked to pay). Laurene said she informed the committee that SCLA had budgeted $1,000 for the 2003 Breakfast. Discussion followed on getting the committee and the host library to stay within that budget amount. Possible solutions would be to charge for the Breakfast, or to get a sponsor. Another issue discussed at the Legislative committee meeting had been the lack of understanding of library issues on the part of non-librarians attending the Breakfast (such as library board members, and the legislators themselves). After some discussion, Della Bucher volunteered to help produce some written summaries or handouts, and possibly an informative display for the next Breakfast. S. Ingram pointed out that the Breakfast was a good opportunity for news coverage and publicity. Laurene said she would bring all these comments back to the committee. Laurene reported that the annual Legislative bus trip will be on Tuesday, March 18th, 2003. NYLA is considering having a demonstration that day on the capital steps, which would draw attention to library funding. 

LISTSERV: K. McCoy reported that the listserv had 723 members and was growing at the rate of 100 members a year. It is the second largest library listserv in the state. (NYLA has 1,4000 members.)

L.I. LIBRARY CONFERENCE: S. Johnson explained that the problem the Continuing Education committee had encountered was due to the possibility that the programs would be scaled back from 12 slots to 9. Suzanne said this would be resolved at their next meeting. She said 23 vendors had registered so far. Save the Date postcards will go out in January. The conference will be on Wednesday, May 7th, 2003. 

LONG-RANGE PLANNING: (See above)

MEMBERSHIP: R. McEneaney reported that SCLA had 638 active 2002 members. 86 had renewed for 2003 (although 50 of those were considered honorary). All renewal flyers had been sent out. Regina also sent out 216 flyers to people who had been members in recent years, but had not paid in 2002.

NEWSLETTER: (See above.)

NOMINATING: No report.

PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: K. Minschke said that she had been considering resigning as chairperson (but Edana Cichanowicz had persuaded her not to!). Kris said she would need a co-chair and a clearer mandate as to the purpose of the committee, if she was to continue working on the committee.

PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY: S. Ingram said that he would be willing to work with Sheryl Sessa of the Continuing Education Committee on the database of all SCLA programs. He said he thought all committee and Board meetings could be listed, and that a report template, such as the one used by the SCLA Secretary, might be helpful. Steven also said he hoped to get some press coverage in 2003. He thought the LI Library Conference would be newsworthy. He hoped to start a connection with Newsday. S. Johnson mentioned that popular author Mick Foley would be speaking at the Conference, which might help get some news coverage.

SCHOLARSHIP: No report.

STATISTICAL SURVEY: S. Atlas said that the 2002 Survey had been sent out in early November. Two complimentary copies were sent to every director of a Suffolk public library and one to each director in Nassau. We have sold $440 worth of extra ones. The survey is still available for $20. Sandy said that one additional question for 2003 might be on Sunday salaries.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE: M. Fusco told the newcomers present about the ongoing need for paperback book donations to the Yaphank and Riverhead jails.

WEB PAGE: Rona Dressler reminded everyone to mail SCLA event news to Danielle Zubiller, so she could put it on the web page.

LIAISON REPORTS:

CLASC: No report:

BOCES: D. Miller reported on a January 10th conference to be held at SUNY Stony Brook, during which several interesting curriculum projects would be demonstrated.

LILRC: H. Biblo clarified how the LILRC Legislative Committee is structured. He said SCLA’s concerns about the Legislative Breakfast would be taken up by the committee. He commented that he thought Long Islander Art Friedman’s presidency of NYLA is having a positive impact. Herb said that LILRC had voted to roll back fees charged for dues to the 2002 level, rather than raise them. He reported on the Bryant Public Library pilot digitization project of several hundred historical postcards. Herb said LILRC hoped to broaden their digitization funding to other projects. 

LVA SUFFOLK: No report.

NCLA: L. Tesoriero reported that NCLA’s Annual Dinner had been in December. She noted that the new President is Ken Bellafiore.

PLDA: D. Engelhardt accepted everyone’s congratulations on the recent birth of her son. Debbie said the PLDA Winter Luncheon had been held on Dec. 18th at the India Cove Restaurant in Hampton Bays. The 2003 officers are: President, Peter Ward of Smithtown: Vice President, Michael Squillante of Westhampton; Treasurer, Kevin Verbesey of Hauppauge; and Secretary, Judy Willner of Sachem. Debbie said her replacement as PLDA liaison had not been determined yet.

SCLS: J. Nichols welcomed all the new officers and committee heads and thanked the outgoing members for their work. He noted that SCLA had played an important part in the formation of the Suffolk County Library System. Jerry reported that their 2003 budget had passed with overwhelming support. He reported that the Public Library Administration courses that SCLS had been sponsoring at Stony Brook would be conducted under the auspices of the Palmer School starting in the autumn of 2003. He said that L.I.U. would incorporate the program between their M.L.S. and PhD programs, in partnership with the Business Department. 

SLA: J. Olney reported that their Trivia Night had been both social and educational. He thanked DASL for co-sponsoring the event, and said they hoped to run another one some time.

OLD BUSINESS: Rona Dressler stated that it had been an honor working as President of SCLA in 2002. She called it a “transition year” and mentioned some of the highlights and changes that had taken place. Rona then handed the SCLA banner over to incoming President Joan Clemens. Joan Clemens presented Rona with a thank-you card and present from the Board.

NEW BUSINES: R. Dressler said she was happy to “hand over the reins” to Joan Clemens. Rona thanked outgoing Secretary Elyse Hayes for her efforts, and welcomed all the new officers. She said she thought SCLA needed Kris Minschke to keep working on Professional Concerns. Rona reported that Matthew Sheehy of Dowling College had volunteered to keep a database tracking the ceus of members from academic libraries, and Dorothy Curto would do the same for public librarians. (This job used to be done by Executive Secretary A. Lehner.)

J. Clemens asked for a motion to adjourn. Fran Byrne made a motion. L. Tesoriero seconded it. The meeting was adjourned at 11:25 a.m.