Suffolk County Library Association

Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting

October 17, 2003

Location: SCLS Auditorium

Present: J. Clemens, C. Guzzo, J. Loughren, A. Richards, R. Dressler, S. Johnson, L. Tesoriero, S. Holden, S. Ingram, A. Richards, S. Atlas, C. Kelly, D. Miller.

After consulting the bylaws, it was determined there were not enough members in attendance for a quorum. It was decided to meet anyway, and postpone action items to next month. J. Clemens called the meeting to order at 10:20am.

Minutes for the September 12th meeting were reviewed. Corrections were made.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: J. Clemens received a copy of the Directory of Long Island Libraries. More copies are needed for the members of the Executive Board. Joan also noted that the SCLA letterhead needs to be updated, with the return address changed to SCLS. Other business will be discussed during division and committee reports.

TREASURER’S REPORT: J. Loughren dropped off copies of September financial statement. The report showed a fund balance of $35,332.77 as of the end of September 2003.

DIVISION REPORTS

DASL: No report.

RASD: D. Cunningham submitted the following report. On September 17th, the Long Island History Committee sponsored a Historical House Tour in Port Jefferson and lunch at Pasta Pasta. The committee is actively looking for a new Chair for the LI History Committee. On September 18th, the Reader’s Advisory Committee met at the South Country Public Library. The topic was a second part of a workshop about Asian Authors. Japanese and Korean literature and authors were discussed. Election ballots for RASD officers have been sent out, returned, and counted. The results will be announced at the SCLA Annual meeting in November. On October 29th at 10am at SCLS, the Health Concerns Committee will sponsor a program about Multiple Sclerosis. RASD has developed a new committee called Multicultural/Multilingual Services. Edana Cichanowicz will chair this committee. There are no meeting dates scheduled at this time. 

CATS: No report.

SSD: No report.

YASD: Lorraine Squires sent the following report. On September 30th, over 30 people traveled to the Half Hollow Hills Community Library in the morning and the Syosset Public Library in the afternoon for meetings. The topic for the morning meeting was ‘What’s New in YA Literature’, and the afternoon session addressed ‘Young Adult Services’. These meetings were co-sponsored by SCLA and NCLA. The speaker was Michael Cart. S. Holden noted that Mr. Cart is an excellent speaker. On October 23rd, the committee will meet at the East Islip Public Library to discuss the wrap-up of the Summer Reading Club and Teen Read week and then will travel to the NYIT Culinary Arts Restaurant for their Annual Luncheon.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

ARCHIVES: No report.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS: No report.

CONTINUING EDUCATION: Karen Baudouin submitted the following report. The Continuing Education Committee ran a successful bus trip to the libraries of the American Museum of Natural History and the NY Historical Society on October 3, 2003. Tom Baione gave the group a very thorough tour of both the public area of the library (it is open to the public) and the “inner sanctum”, which is filled with incredible photographs and other relics of the past. The group also got to view the library’s digitization project in action. Nina Nazionale of the NY Historical Society Library gave the group a great overview of the library’s holdings of precious materials from New York’s early days. The committee would like to thank the SCLA Board for its support of the trip, especially Joe Loughren who went out of his way to get the necessary checks. The committee also wants to recommend Sunrise Coach Lines to anyone considering a bus charter. They provided top-notch professional service. 

ELSA: Gail Pepa sent the following report. As reported last month, the ELSA winner was selected by unanimous decision. Elyse Hayes and Gail will be notifying the winner in person next week. On that day, official letters notifying the winner, the winner's director, and nominees will be going out. Subsequently, publicity will be sent to the SCLA newsletter, the SCLA website, the winner's local newspapers, and Newsday. Gail will contact Cynthia Guzzo next week to arrange for the winner's place at the annual dinner, paid for by the association. The members of the committee are looking forward to next month's presentation of the ELSA award and the opportunity to acknowledge our most worthy nominees.

FALL DINNER: Cynthia Guzzo reported via e-mail that the annual dinner flyers will be sent out on October 18th.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: No report.

LDA AWARD: No report.

LEGISLATIVE: Laurene Tesoriero reported on the Legislative Breakfast, which had taken place at the Sachem Public Library on Sept. 19th. Approximately 100 people attended. There was discussion about the format of the breakfast. Joan gave a positive overview. C. Kelly, representing PLDA, had a different perspective, noting that the reaction from some legislators was negative. The Huntington Zone directors voted not to attend, and will hold a separate event. Joe Price made a donation of $2500 to offset the costs of the breakfast. Nassau County’s PLDA breakfast will be held in March. Carroll recommended that we attend the Literacy Volunteers Breakfast, as a good example to emulate. David suggested making Advocacy packets, highlighting the 21st Century Libraries Initiative. Cost is a concern, as LILRC funds the event.

LISTSERV: No report.

L.I. LIBRARY CONFERENCE: S. Johnson reported that the 2004 committee had its first meeting. A treasurer is still needed, and should be a Nassau person. More Suffolk people are needed for the various committees.

LONG RANGE PLANNING: S. Holden reported the committee is doing a great job with outreach to the library schools. On September 5th, 7 library staff from various Nassau and Suffolk libraries attended a Student Fall Semester Orientation at the Palmer School at CW Post. They spoke to approximately 60 students, and it was a very successful and well-attended session. A meeting will be scheduled for December at the Northport Public Library to plan for activities for 2004.

MEMBERSHIP: R. McEneaney reported that, at present, there are 713 members. There was discussion of what jobs are done by the various committee chairs that were previously done by Angie.

NEWSLETTER: No report.

NOMINATING: Cynthia Guzzo reported that election ballots for SCLA officers were going out today.

PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: No report.

PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY: No report. S. Ingram reported that the committee members are working on initiatives.

SCHOLARSHIP: A. Richards gave an overview of the process involved in reviewing the Scholarship applications, especially in light of Angie’s departure. A $100 gift certificate for a restaurant was obtained from Baker and Taylor. Angela agreed to continue to serve as chair next year. Mail pickup at SCLS needs to be checked on regularly, then distributed to the committee persons. Angela also requested the application forms be available on the web page.

STATISTICAL SURVEY: S. Atlas reported that all but 2 libraries had responded which is a great success. The data entry required is quite tedious. Carroll Kelly suggested the form be filled out online. We may have to hire someone to compile the data.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE: No report.

WEB PAGE: No report.

LIAISONS

CLASC: No report.

BOCES: D. Miller reported that Eastern Suffolk BOCES has a new web page in the works. On Oct 15th a liaison meeting was held. Advocacy packets were distributed. 

David also noted that LILRC’s Annual Conference at Dowling College was taking place today.

LILRC: No report.

LVA-SC: No report.

NCLA: L. Tesoriero reported that the NCLA Civil Service Committee is trying to ease the residency requirement for the position of Library Director. The new residency requirements would open up possible job opportunities to library staff in Suffolk and Queens. Irene Duszkiewicz of the Hempstead Public Library and Rhoda Orenstein of the Plainvew-Old Bethpage Public Library are the current co-chairs of this NCLA committee. The Nassau County Legislative Breakfast went well. Approximately 3 legislators and 2 representatives attended, with a few legislators who showed up towards the end of the breakfast. The NCLA Annual Dinner will be at the Sands Castle in Franklin Square on December 3rd from 5:30-10:30pm. The cost is $38 for NCLA members and $48 for non-members. This year, they will have a comedian rather than a speaker. The cost includes an open bar. The NCLA web page is up and running on the NLS server. Previously, the site was hosted at the LILRC server. The web address is www.ncla.info. Rocco Cassano is the webmaster for the page. The next NCLA meeting is on November 14th.

PLDA: C. Kelly reported that PLDA is concerned about CIPA, The Children’s Internet Protection Act, the USA Patriot Act, and the proposed Uniform Vote Day.

SCLS: No report.

SLA: J. Clemens reported for James Olney that SLA is planning their second Long Island Trivia Night.

OLD BUSINESS: None.

NEW BUSINESS: None.

J. Clemens adjourned the meeting at 11:50AM.

Respectfully submitted.

Suzanne Johnson & Patricia Thomson