Suffolk County Library Association

Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting

March 21, 2003

Location: SCLS Auditorium

Present: C. Guzzo, P. Thomson, J. Loughren, J. Clemens, D. Cunningham, S. Holden, S. Ingram, D. Bucher, F. Altemose, L. Hawrey, E. Hayes, V. Antonucci, K. Minschke, R. McEneaney, M. Fusco, K. McCoy, C. Gray, L. Squires, R. Dressler, P. Bornstein, L. Tesoriero.

C. Guzzo called the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. After a review of the Feb. 21st minutes, K. Minschke moved to accept them. L. Squires seconded. None were opposed. 

TREASURER’S REPORT: J. Loughren distributed copies of the monthly financial statement for February 2003, which showed a fund balance of $30,020.66. J. Clemens asked if the $475 listed for printing expenses was for the SCLS newsletter. Joe replied that it was. R. Dressler moved to accept the financial report. D. Cunningham seconded. None were opposed.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: J. Clemens spoke about Library Legislation Day. She mentioned that there were a few glitches that she would like to see tightened up in future years, but overall, she felt it was a very successful day. Joan reported that it seemed like more legislators were present for the meetings, rather than their aides being present on their behalf. Joan mentioned the rally on the steps of Capitol Hill and that it may have garnered some local attention. K. Minschke mentioned that the legislators she had appointments with all commented on how affective letters were and that it was important to write letters. Most legislators suggested writing to the Governor directly. S. Ingram asked if NYICE is still being considered in the current legislation, and nobody was certain. Joan suggested that we make appointments to speak with our individual representatives in their local offices. F. Altemose relayed a comment from a legislator that, as a group, library advocates tend to be to ‘nice’ and should be more aggressive in their requests. More pressure was needed in order to see change. Joan also said that it was encouraging to see people from all different levels of library service, from trustees to directors to students attending this year’s Library Legislation Day.

DIVISION REPORTS:

DASL: K. McCoy reported a Tour of the library and archive at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception on March 28th. E. Hayes will be the speaker. Also scheduled for DASL is a business meeting on April 4th at the Katherine Gibbs College in Commack . DASL will also be sponsoring a program at the Long Island Library Conference on Middle States Accreditation. The speaker will be Gloria Robeson, Associate Librarian at Adelphi University . And on September 26, 2003 , DASL will host a workshop titled PATRIOT Act in Libraries at Suffolk County Community College , Selden Campus. The speaker will be Tracy Mitrano, Co-Director of the Computer Policy and Law Program at Cornell University .

Kevin also reported the sad news of the loss of Francie Davis, reference Librarian from Dowling College , who died in an airplane accident on March 15th. Her husband Jim, Head of Neurology at Stony Brook University Hospital , and her daughter Mandy, who just successfully published a novel, also died. M. Fusco also spoke of Francie, who was a member of SCLA DASL. Francie worked for several years with LILRC’s committee on the Annual Virtual Libraries Conference held at Dowling as well as with ACRL – New York . A memorial service will be held at Dowling College in the Hunt Room of Fortunoff Hall on Wednesday, March 26th, from 2 pm to 3 pm . Marjorie also mentioned that the Library Department at Dowling is discussing the creation of a student scholarship memorial in her name. More information will follow.

RASD: D. Cunningham reported that there was an RASD meeting on March 4th. It was at SCLS and 13 people attended. The next RASD meeting will be on April 1st at the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library. On February 19th, approximately 15 people attended ‘How to Lead a Book Discussion: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents’ at the Riverhead Library. The speaker was Grace O’Connor, a member of RASD. While it was a good program, the unusual snowfall appeared to interfere with attendance. 

On May 7th, RASD will be sponsoring a program at the Long Island Library Conference. The program is titled ‘It’s A Small World: Multilingual Collection Development for Long Island Libraries’. The speakers will be Fred Gitner and Adriana Tandler of the New Americans Department of the Queens Borough Public Library. RASD members are working on handouts and securing catalogs and journals in bulk to hand out to attendees the day of the program.

The CARE committee has chosen ’Long Island Jobs Online’ as the focus of their next meeting. S. Holden reported that program would be on April 23rd at SCLS. She also emphasized the importance of this workshop given the current economic climate. Websites and a variety of other resources will be presented. Flyers will be sent soon. The next CARE committee meeting will be on March 26th at the Port Jefferson Free Library.

The Reader’s Advisory committee met on January 30th. Sixteen people attended and discussed nonfiction that reads like fiction.

OARS last met on March 12th. They are in need of a regular meeting place.

Long Island History Committee met on February 15th. There were 3 people in attendance.

A proclamation from Suffolk County Executive Gaffney was issued recognizing National Library Week in Suffolk County . The proclamation is currently being housed at SCLS.

D. Cunningham also wished to thank Diane Eidelman for all her hard work in arranging for the publicity for Long Island Reads. Deborah showed the group the current publicity posters, and suggested that if anyone needed or wanted more flyers, to contact Deborah directly.

CATS: L. Hawrey reported a workshop on beginner’s Excel scheduled for Friday, May 23rd and Monday, June 2nd from 2-4pm . Ceil Hearn of Sharper Training Solutions will present the workshop. This workshop will be offered at SCLS, and will be hands on through the use of laptop computers. The cost will be $15 for SCLA members and $20 for non-SCLA members. CATS will also be sponsoring a program at the Long Island Library Conference called ‘OCLC Metadata Migration”. Also planned for future sessions are a tour of Recorded Books in New York City combined with an afternoon library tour (no date as of yet), an open forum for Technical Services (tentatively scheduled for September 30th or October 1st), a program offered by John Richards from SCLS titled ‘Websites for Technical Services’, scheduled for October 30th, and their Annual Meeting will focus on Emerging Technologies.

SSD: M. Mueller reported that the SSD Board met on Tuesday, March 18th at the Sachem Public Library. They discussed preparations for the next two programs to be offered and the table they will have at the Long Island Library Conference. In addition, they addressed the need for a contact list that would include members at every library to make sure that incoming SSD mailings are directed to the appropriate staff. One Board member in particular never receives mailings sent by SSD. Flyers were distributed for their upcoming program, ‘Carpet Maintenance and Spot Removal Techniques’. That program will be on April 3rd from 9:30 to 12:00 at the Sachem Public Library. A listserv message was also posted this week announcing the program. The deadline for registration is March 28th. So far, 5 people have registered. SSD’s website was recently updated. They are still working on additional changes to their page. The next SSD meeting will be held at the Sachem Public Library on April 15th.

YASD: L. Squires reported that there were 2 YASD programs since her last report. On February 27th, approximately 30 people attended the Annual Nassau/Suffolk Joint YASD meeting at the Farmingdale Library. The guest speaker was Mel Glenn, author of several YA novels in poetry format. On March 13th, approximately 20 people attended the SCLA YASD meeting at SCLS. Tracey Firestone led a group discussion about Summer Reading Programs for Young Adults. On April 10th, YASD will have their monthly meeting at SCLS. The topic will be ‘Teens in the Working World: Helping Teens Find Jobs, Career Options, Internships and Volunteer Opportunities’. Long Island Works Coalition, Suffolk County Department of Labor, and Community Database of Long Island will all be sending speakers. On May 7th, Nassau YASD and Suffolk YASD will be co-sponsoring a program titled ‘Poetry In The Branches: Using Poetry Collections and Programming With Young Adults’. The speakers will be Jen Abrams, Poetry in the Branches Coordinator for Poets House and Cheryl Boyce Taylor, Poet. Lorraine announced that the Best Award deadline is approaching. People can still nominate a teen that has provided excellent service in Libraries. Lorraine suggested that nominations be sent directly to her, and she still has nomination forms available. S. Holden asked what the maximum age for nomination is. Lorraine was pretty sure it was 19. Lorraine also reported that Young Adult Librarians are preparing for the Summer Reading Programs and Battle of the Books. The YASD Board is exploring ways that YASD can better support Battle of the Books. The YASD Board is also looking to revive the Literature Committee, with a focus on booklists and flash talks.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

ARCHIVES: No report.

D. Bucher reminded everyone that she has all of the Long Island Library Conference archive materials. She also mentioned that the scrapbook is falling to pieces. Della has taken everything home since Harborfields is renovating. Della asked if she could purchase boxes for archival purposes for the Long Island Library Conference material. She feels that scrap booking is not the way to go with these items. The boxes Della are looking at are $3.79 each for 3 boxes from Gaylord. J. Clemens suggested that Della contact Suzanne Johnson to see if Suzanne already has boxes. Della asked what she should do if Suzanne does not have boxes. Joan replied that she likes the idea of using boxes, but that Della should defer to next month’s meeting if Suzanne doesn’t have anything to offer to help. Della also asked people to send her anything that people have from past Long Island Library Conferences. People do not have to worry whether Della has the material already or not. She would appreciate anything people have to contribute. Joan reminded Della that SCLA has some space at SCLS where items can be stored. L. Hawrey suggested that perhaps something should be sent on the listserv asking for additional materials. V. Antonucci may have pictures from past conferences. She will pass along anything she has.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS: No report.

CONTINUING EDUCATION: C. Gray reported that the Continuing Education Committee will be sponsoring a program on May 7th at the Long Island Library Conference. It will be called ‘I Love My Boss But…Dealing Effectively With Your Supervisor/Employer’. The speaker will be a reporter and columnist from Newsday. Karen Baudouin has confirmed the tour of the Museum of Natural History for Friday, October 3rd. Karen is now firming up the costs involved. Carol spoke of a program being planned for February 2004 that deals with archiving. V. Antonucci expressed concern about a possible overlap with an upcoming LILRC program in October about archiving. They each discussed some of the specifics of their program, and they agreed to get together after our meeting to discuss it further. 

ELSA: E. Hayes handed out the ELSA brochure asking for nominations. She thanked R. Dressler for her help updating the form and SCLS to their help in printing out the brochures. Elyse announced that Carol Hassler has joined the committee. ELSA would like to have at least on Support Staff representative on the committee as well. The committee is presently working on distributing the flyers to SCLA members, SCLS libraries, academic libraries, BOCES, and others. Elyse expressed a concern that the ELSA committee has. Gail can’t print the flyers for distribution to libraries (generally 2 flyers per SCLA library). She asked for suggestions as to how they can be printed. D. Bucher suggested that Elyse contact Camille Ioluccci to see if she can help. Camille was the winner of the risograph machine at the Long Island Library Conference last year. Elyse commented that there aren’t many committee meetings because their committee is so small. One idea that ELSA had in terms of publicity is to see if they could publicize the award in the newsletters of various libraries. The committee is exploring various avenues to provide additional publicity. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

FALL DINNER: C. Guzzo reported that she thinks this year’s Fall Dinner should be at the Meadow Club. The Meadow Club was the runner up in last year’s survey. Cindy anticipates the cost of the dinner to be approximately $50 if there is no DJ. She will look into it and offer more specifics at a future meeting.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: K. McCoy passed out the NYLA resolution and the ALA resolution on the USA PATRIOT Act for discussion. Kevin also reported that R. McEneaney sent him the names of those people who expressed an interest in being involved in the Intellectual Freedom committee. Kevin will contact those people (there were 5 or 6 new names). J. Clemens asked for a possible response from SCLA. Kevin reported that there is a PATRIOT ACT 2 that, while not formally proposed, is leaked to be in the works. Joan pointed out that this issue ties in nicely to the Professional Concerns committee. S. Ingram mentioned how he used the LILRC Videoconference as a launching point for further discussion at his library. Different scenarios were discussed. Stephen suggested that writing to local representatives could be part of actions taken as well. Joan suggested that this issue is similar to the filtering concerns of years ago. Stephen suggested being proactive. Joan suggested that Kevin and K. Minschke talk after the meeting.

LDA AWARD: P. Bornstein reported that the LDA Award brochures were distributed and that the deadline for nominations is April 1st. LDA brochures were also distributed among NCLA members. Paula asked for nominations for the LDA Award. J. Clemens asked Paula if she’s considered appointing people. S. Ingram asked how many nominations have been submitted thus far. Paula said that she couldn’t be specific, but she could say that she has put the announcement on the listserv. One of the concerns Paula has is that people see the LDA Award as a reward upon retirement, and that’s not the case. She stressed that nominees don’t have to be ‘senior’ people. She asked that anyone interested in nominating a colleague speak to her directly. Paula stressed that it is a relatively easy application.

LEGISLATIVE: L. Tesoriero reported another successful Legislative Bus Trip to Albany to lobby for libraries. Laurene reported a full bus and a wide variety of people in various positions, from directors and assistant directors to school media librarians to a high school student, who Laurene planned to contact to see what type of an article describing the day’s events he submitted to his superintendent. Laurene summarized the expenses incurred, and reminded everyone that no gifts were given this year. J. Clemens asked if we have received the bill from the bus company yet for transportation. F. Altemose said not yet. Laurene reported that one problem was that the bus left an hour later than it was scheduled to from Albany because a couple of people couldn’t find the bus. Another correction that needs to be made is to raise the fee to $8 per person. Laurene thanked many people, including Jerry Nichols for his summary and talking points, Flo Denny for her assistance with the refreshments, F. Altemose for assisting with making the bus reservations. Alan Schelp hosted the flyer on Sachem’s web site, and David Jones took pictures during the day of the event. Laurene also thanked Judy Willner for her continued support. Laurene reported that the last Legislative Advocacy meeting was on February 26th at the Sachem Library. Library advocacy was the focus at that meeting. Local legislators suggested that libraries make more of an effort to partner with schools. One concern that was raised is that at present, librarians in elementary schools are not mandated. Many elementary school librarians face being excessed with the proposed NYS budget cuts. Laurene reported that the suggestion of providing displays for the Legislative Breakfast was presented, but that the initial feedback had brought up concerns about the availability of space on the day of the breakfast. Those on the committee are concerned about space. One suggestion was to use flipcharts to be made available on each table. Another suggestion was for SCLA to create some type of portable display. One benefit is that it could be used at a variety of other locations as well. Something else that was mentioned was that people consider contacting their legislators at their home offices. Laurene reported that one legislator reported that the most effective means of making an impact, in order of strongest methods to least effective methods, are: a visit, an individualized letter, and individualized postcard, phone calls, and lastly, e-mails. J. Clemens asked if anyone else was at Sachem the day of Library Advocacy. Joan reported that it was a very interesting day. She reported that one legislator suggested that libraries should try to fight for more funding before money for education is appropriated. Joan anticipates a tough battle with education this year for funding. Regarding possible display ideas, S. Ingram, D. Bucher, and L. Tesoriero will get together to discuss further ideas. F. Altemose spoke of a PowerPoint presentation that Alan Schelp put together for the library advocacy meeting that was very dramatic. Fran suggested that perhaps, something similar could be done for our legislators. She also suggested supplementing that type of presentation with a packet of information as well. Joan mentioned that NYLA offered plastic bags full of information to legislators on Library Legislation Day and that many legislators looked at the information right away. Joan suggested perhaps coming up with something creative, such as stickers, to make packets more appealing to local legislators if packets are to be used. 

LISTSERV: K. McCoy reported having done some cleaning of the listserv. All new members have been added and those who indicated they did not want to continue to be on the listserv were purged. Kevin also removed any non-functioning e-mail accounts. At present, there are 785 people participating. J. Clemens said she’s always disappointed when people express an interest in unsubscribing to the listserv. R. McEneaney reported that approximately 150 people are on the listserv that aren’t members. 

L.I. LIBRARY CONFERENCE: S. Johnson was not in attendance. P. Thomson reported on her behalf that all was going well with the conference and that registration

brochures would be sent out within the next week.

LONG-RANGE PLANNING: S. Holden reported that there was no past meeting to report, but that there will be a meeting in June (date to be announced) at the Northport Public Library to discuss future projects for 2003-2004. One suggestion is a partnership with the Public Relations Committee to discuss the image of libraries and librarians. Also to be discussed is the redesign of the ‘library career’ brochures. Copies of these brochures will be available at the Long Island Library Conference in May.

MEMBERSHIP: R. McEneaney reported that reminders have been sent for 2003 renewals. They were sent on March 15th to 450 members from 2000 through 2002. There were 715 members from 2002 with many students joining. At present, there are 453 members for 2003. Regina also printed out lists of people expressing interest for each committee and has them available for each division or committee chair. Those needing lists should see Regina . Regina reported a problem she has had recently where a number of people have been sending in SCLA applications that appear to be from 1999. She knows the application is outdated because it asks that the membership form be sent to Angie, who is no longer involved. She asked if anyone knew the source of the outdated information. S. Ingram asked if an application is posted on SCLA’s web page. Regina said it was possible. The problem is that the fee structure is off. She e-mailed J. Clemens about the problem. She didn’t know if the source is from some student contact, because three of the incorrect applications were from students. P. Thomson suggested calling those that had submitted the application to ask them where they found the forms. D. Bucher questioned old fees being accepted. She felt that someone should contact these people to explain that a mistake was made and that the current membership fees are different. Regina felt that it was an honest mistake and that people weren’t deliberately looking to pay less than what’s currently asked. Stephen suggested that Regina contact each person directly. Regina asked that each division president look at his or her division’s information to make sure that the current information is being used. L. Tesoriero asked about the Long Island Libraries Handbook. Specifically, she wanted to know how many copies SCLA is entitled to and if we paid for those books. Joan answered that last year SCLA arranged for 50 copies and paid a reduced fee based solely on printing costs. She reported that each member of the Executive Board received a copy. E. Hayes asked when they were made available, and it was reported that they are usually available sometime the first week of May to correspond with the Long Island Library Conference. Laurene asked if SCLA is still providing a membership handbook. R. Dressler answered yes, but we’re still waiting for a sponsor at the moment. Joan suggested that we use our listserv to promote membership, and Laurene suggested that we take advantage of the SCLA newsletter as well to encourage membership.

NEWSLETTER: No report. R. Dressler said she had extra copies of the newsletter, and encouraged everyone to send their articles to B. Hoffman. 

NOMINATING: C. Guzzo asked for clarification as to what positions she has to be looking to fill for the slate. J. Clemens said that they are VP/President Elect, Treasurer, Secretary, and 2 Members At Large. Joan was to e-mail any relevant information to Cindy directly. The deadline for a slate is the June SCLA meeting. Joan will check by-laws to make sure everything is being done correctly. It was asked if the listserv could be used to ask for interested people to respond. Joan and D. Bucher both seemed to agree that this is a good idea. R. McEneaney also suggested perhaps putting together a committee to help with the process.

PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: K. Minschke reported that there was no meeting to report of, but that there is a Round Table Discussion scheduled for May 21st at SCLS. She requested mailing labels from R. McEneaney. Kris was also going to prepare a brief summary to make available at the Long Island Library Conference in the hopes of generating more interest. J. Clemens suggested possible topics to include the NYS Budget, privacy versus security, and the image of library staff.

PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY: S. Ingram reported that he has been working hard on getting people to post their information on SCLA’s web site, but he’s happy to report that he’s had success. Specifically, RASD and the Legislative Committee have added programs to SCLA’s page. Stephen is pleased to see that the Events Page has been updated as well, and thanked Danielle Zubiller for her assistance. He strongly encourages everyone to continue to post their scheduled events that they report at our Executive Board meetings on the SCLA web page. He also noted that the minutes on the SLCA website needs to be fixed. J. Clemens suggested that the pictures that were taken at Library Legislation Day be posted at scla.net as well. Alan Schelp has also offered to provide pictures from Library Advocacy Day. F. Altemose reported that she is trying to get in touch with King Kullen to ask them to commit to using their shopping bags to advertise for libraries as they have done in the past. Fran has had success in the past, but King Kullen rejected her request to highlight National Library Week because it is only a weeklong event. Fran is going to see if she can get them to commit to something in September to correspond with Library Card month.

SCHOLARSHIP: Angela Richards was not in attendance. It was acknowledged that we have received some positive feedback about raffles to use for the scholarship. Any other offers or suggestions would be appreciated. 

STATISTICAL SURVEY: No report.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE: M. Fusco thanked everyone who has donated books to either the Yaphank or Riverhead jails for their support. She asked that people continue to donate non-violent books to either jail. Books can be sent through the system. Marjorie simply asks that the boxes be marked to indicate if they are to be sent to Yaphank

WEB PAGE: No report.

LIAISON REPORTS:

CLASC: No report.

BOCES: No report. J. Clemens took a moment to say that J. Barr was very busy advocating for schools. Joan also reported that there was a very nice article about the Library Advocacy Forum in the School Library System News (volume 5, issue 3 – Spring 2003)

LILRC: V. Antonucci thanked F. Altemose and L. Tesoriero for their very hard work that helped to make Library Legislation Day such a success. Herb Biblo was grateful as well. Virginia announced that LILRC is sponsoring a program at this year’s Long Island Library Conference. The title of their program is ‘Why Should a Hard Copy Be Retained’ and the speaker will be Greg Hunter, Professor at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at C.W. Post. R. McEneaney commented on the relevance of this program, and spoke of the concerns she has when publishers pull copies of articles from databases and the availability of information when the Internet goes down. Virginia also announced that LILRC’s Digital Project is available on the Internet at http:lilrcdigitalpilot.cdm.oclc.org Virginia asked if anyone had problems regarding access, that they call her directly. LILRC is also going to be sending a survey of what needs people have regarding digitization. Virginia passed around copies of printouts of post-cards that have been digitized during this current project. She commented on the ease of use postcards provide, and that people who have no experience to start did very well. Virginia also spoke of the symposium on digitization that is planned. LILRC has contracted with OCLC for instructors. The symposium will cover all aspects of digitization. LILRC is making every effort not to overlap with others. Also, LILRC will be hosting the 8th Annual Archives Week Leadership Conference at the Milleridge Inn on October 10th from 9am-1pm .

LVA SUFFOLK : No report. Suzanne Smith left material. J. Clemens spoke about LVA’s Annual Recognition Celebration and the LVA Winter/Spring 2003 Workshop Schedule.

NCLA: L. Tesoriero reported that 26 people attended at Librarian 2 Civil Service Examination Workshop sponsored by NCLA. The suggestion was made that perhaps we should offer something similar in Suffolk . Laurene also reported that their Outreach Committee is still in the process of forming. Ten people have expressed an interest so far. Tracey Simon, past president of NCLA, is working on creating a Management Institute modeled after Jerry Nichol’s program. Presently, they are looking for qualified instructors. And NCLA’s salary schedule is printed and is available for sale through the association.

PLDA: No report. J. Clemens said that Debbie Engelhardt reported that it’s Peter Ward’s responsibility to appoint a new liaison for PLDA. Debbie will no longer be acting as PLDA’s liaison.

SCLS: No report. J. Clemens reported that J. Nichols expressed his sincere thanks to SCLA for their support for Library Legislation Day.

SLA : No report. J. Olney asked that a meeting sponsored by SLA be announced. 

OLD BUSINESS: None.

NEW BUSINESS: J. Clemens was pleased to see that the attendance at our SCLA Executive Board meetings has improved. She also announced that the next meeting will be on April 25th and the following meeting will be on June 20th.

J. Clemens thanked C. Guzzo for her all her help and for providing the refreshments.

C. Guzzo asked for a motion to adjourn. D. Bucher made the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 11:35 a.m.