Suffolk County Library Association

Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting

Friday, February 20, 2004

Location: SCLS Blue Room 

Present: S. Ingram, S. Gottesman, C. Gray, E. Cichanowicz, R. McEneaney, M. Fusco, E. Hayes, K. McCoy, V. Antonucci, K. Minschke, L. Hawrey, A. Richards, F. Byrne, B. Hoffman, W. Salas, D. Jones, S. Holden, A. Schelp, M. Bollerman, F. Altemose, P. Bornstein, P. Thomson.

Ingram called the meeting to order at 9:55AM. The January minutes were reviewed. K. Minschke made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected, M. Fusco seconded. None were opposed. 

TREASURER’S REPORT: J. O’Hare offered the Treasurer’s report. The report showed a fund balance of $40,909.09 as of the end of January 2004. C. Gray moved to accept the report as written, B. Hoffman seconded. Barbara asked if the $750 check from Joe Price to advertise in the SCLA newsletter was included in the January report. It wasn’t reflected in January’s report, but Janet did receive it, and it should appear in the February report. P. Thomson asked if the Reimbursement/Request for Payment Form could be posted online on the SCLA web page. S. Ingram said that it could, but there were other items he felt should be added first. Stephen felt there was no problem adding forms, and he asked for all suggestions for forms that should be considered for inclusion. Janet asked for a motion to approve a bill for $450 for the tickets purchased for the Writers on the Vine fundraiser event. Stephen made the motion and F. Altemose seconded. There was no opposition. Janet handed out a list of outstanding transactions. She noted that she has arranged to stop payment on the few outstanding checks that exist and will issue new checks. Janet also reminded Division presidents that she needs financial reports from each of them, and she might be calling requesting that information from each of them in the near future.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: S. Ingram offered a report in C. Guzzo’s place. He thanked F. Byrne for allowing him to sit in on the SSD meeting. Stephen intends to coordinate a meeting in March with membership officers of each division. He commented that SSD had some great ideas for promoting membership that should be shared. Stephen asked everyone to start considering when they can be available to volunteer at the SCLA table. He also asked for suggestions as to what to hand out the day at the conference. He asked for assistance from the Members At Large in coordinating the handouts for the conference. Many people offered suggestions as to what their divisions/committees have offered in the past. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. M. Bollerman agreed to look into plastic magnifiers. Stephen said he’d like to be ready to order whatever is agreed upon after March’s SCLA Board Meeting. Everyone agreed that having candy at the table is also a good idea, and is relatively inexpensive. Stephen also asked everyone to request approval to attend the conference from his or her supervisors as early as possible. A. Schelp reported that the Long Island Library Conference committee is making a concerted effort to get the registration form out earlier this year. Regina asked about the mailing schedule, as she thought that last year reminder cards went out in February and registration forms went out in April. Alan reported that print reminder cards would not be used. Rather, the listserv will be used for notification. Stephen also reminded everyone that there will be a presentation by Jerry Nichols about Library Advocacy on March 8th and is open to anyone interested in learning more. 

DIVISION REPORTS

DASL: K. McCoy offered the following report. On February 6, 2004, DASL had their monthly meeting at the Long Island Library Resource Council. After the meeting, attendees toured the new Wang Center. Everyone seemed to enjoy the tour of the new facilities. Upcoming activities for DASL include a web publishing series on Fridays, March 12th, 19th and 26th. Topics include an overview of web publishing using three different web editors: Homesite (taught by Kevin McCoy), Dreamweaver (taught by Kim Owens) and FrontPage (taught by Scott Mandia). These workshops will be held at SCCC, Selden Campus. Also, DASL will be sponsoring a program at the Long Island Library Conference on May 5th. The program is called “As Time Goes By: Creating an Oral History of Your Community or Institution” and will be presented by Elly Shodell, Director of the Port Washington Public Library's 15-year-old oral history program and author and editor of many local history books. The program will address how to preserve your institutional or community memory with an oral history project. S. Ingram asked if the information appearing on the web page could be updated, and suggested using the listserv to promote the web publishing programs. B. Hoffman also asked for something from Kevin for the newsletter, which he agreed to submit. Stephen asked how many people could attend the web publishing workshops. Kevin said 16, and that they deliberately kept registration low to measure interest. A larger program will be offered if necessary. RASD: S. Gottesman offered the following report. C.A.R.E. will sponsor the tour of the One-Stop Career Center in Hauppauge on March 18 and there will be a limit on the number of participants. Rona Dressler reported that the Health Concerns committee held their meeting on January 29 at Patchogue-Medford and they have chosen Macular Degeneration for this year’s bibliography and program. Cynthia Sciacca and Cathy Ball of the Long Island History committee sent word that they are seeking a new speaker because Story Corps did not respond to their inquiry. Jo-Ann Carhart reported for Membership that RASD currently has 328 members. She distributed letters to be used at meetings to encourage people to join SCLA/RASD. The next meeting for the Multicultural/Multilingual committee will be on March 23. Edana Cichanowicz reported that they are finalizing a trip to the Brooklyn Public Library to observe their multilingual services/collections later this spring. Cindy Miller reported that OARS would not be able to participate in the Long Island Library Conference this year. They hope to do “The Story Begins at Home” next year. Rose Marut of the Programs committee has been working with Nassau County on a genealogy program entitled “Digging up Roots: Tracing your Family Tree”. Nassau will do the artwork and the African-American and Jewish genealogy bibliographies. The Genealogy Federation of Long Island will be doing the Irish, Italian and German bibliographies. Suffolk is creating a basic "Getting Started" bibliography, including websites. The Reader’s Advisory committee met on January 22 and covered Long Island Authors and Settings. They will be meeting on April 22 to discuss Short Stories. The committee is producing new bookmarks to be distributed on the Conference in May. Diane Eidelman reported for the Long Island Reads committee that they have not heard from Pete Hamill so they are proceeding under the premise that he will not be available during National Library Week. The bibliography and the books have gone out. Diane is still waiting to hear from Astoria Federal about publicity expenses. Grace O’Connor held a workshop at SCLS on February 18, 2004 called “How to Do a Book Discussion for Snow in August”. M. Bollerman said there were approximately 25 people in attendance for that workshop, and that it was a great program. The next meeting is March 2, 2004 at Brentwood Public Library.

CATS: L. Hawrey offered the following report. The CATS Executive Board met on Tuesday, February 10, at Sachem Public Library. Registration is underway for both the PowerPoint 2-part workshop on March 5 and April 30 and the Tech Services Open Forum on March 22. The CATS Board decided to move the Open Forum to Sachem after anticipated participation from Nassau County fell through. Panelists will include Sue Ketcham, Regina McEneaney, Della Bucher, Kathy Irish, Mike Aloi, and Sue Goldman. Cindy Guzzo will moderate. Plans were finalized for the Dewey Number Building workshop in April. Discussion ensued regarding the Long Island Library Conference. CATS was informed on January 20 that their program had not been given a time slot for the Long Island Library Conference. The reason given was that they missed the deadline. The committee feels that, if that did happen, it was not by much – but whatever the reason – they feel they were not informed in a timely manner. On looking over the program schedule, the Division feels there is not a single program devoted to computer or technical services. CATS believes that the Long Island Library Conference Committee should try to try to present a balanced program that has something to appeal to all segments of the library community. A letter requesting that this should be kept in mind for future conferences will be sent to the Committee from CATS. S. Ingram mentioned that there is concern about having a balanced slate of programs, and that SCLA will continue to work on a resolution to the issue for future conferences. SSD: SSD met on January 20th and February 10th. They were happy to have S. Ingram attend the February meeting, and they hope that it was as productive for him as it was for the SSD Board. SSD has finalized all of the paperwork for the Suffolk Federal Credit Union to include all signers to their account. They felt that more paperwork was necessary this year than in past years. Anne McCaffrey will be chairing SSD’s Membership Committee. They spoke to Stephen about revising the SCLA membership application. Follow-up letters and applications to join SCLA were sent to all those who attended the Library Clerk Exam program (approximately 125 people). SSD also sent a letter to Patricia Pankowski, a member of SSD, congratulating her on winning the 2003 ELSA Award. B. Hoffman noted that an announcement also appeared in Newsday. 

YASD: D. Jones offered the following report. On Thursday, Feb 12, 55 people went to Half Hollow Hills Community Library in Dix Hills for the workshop “Anime 101 for Librarians”. Jasmine Potter, head of Anime Track at SUNY Stony Brook I-CON spoke. This was the annual joint meeting of Nassau and Suffolk YASD and was well attended. In addition to YA librarians, many media & A/V librarians attended. Two roundtables are scheduled for Thursday, April 8 and Thursday, May 13. The location for each of these roundtables will be announced. The April roundtable will discuss collection development challenges and the May roundtable will focus on new books for young adults. Another future activity will be on Friday, April 2. It will be an evening get-together to discuss adult books with young adult appeal. Dave also mentioned that the Young Adult Division would not be presenting a workshop at the Long Island Library Conference this year because they hadn’t submitted their proposal on time. According to Mamie Eng, their proposal was submitted on time. YASD hopes for more discussion on the matter. In the meantime, Dave reported that C. Guzzo mentioned the possibility of a compromise that may involve funds for a program. S. Ingram said that if SCLA can do anything to promote YASD and CATS efforts to have a unique program during the year since they won’t be having a program at the Library Conference, that SCLA would go above and beyond to help. SCLA wants all members to value their involvement in SCLA and to have the opportunity to attend relevant programs that address their specific interests. YASD also asked for time during the keynote address to present the BEST Award. Discussion was tabled until the Long Island Library Conference report later in the meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS ARCHIVES: No report. CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS: No report.

CONTINUING EDUCATION: C. Gray offered the following report. The Continuing Education committee hadn’t met since the last SCLA Executive Board meeting. They are in the process of accepting registration for their workshop called “How to Run a Meeting”. They have 27 people registered so far, which is enough to cover their expenses. They do still have room for people to attend. S. Ingram suggested a posting on the SCLA listserv to let people know that there is still time to register.

ELSA: E. Hayes reported that the 2003 ELSA winner was featured in Newsday’s “Winners” column on Sunday, February 8th. S. Ingram is helping to update the ELSA brochure for 2004. There is a full complement of committee members for the 2004 ELSA Award. S. Ingram asked who is the contact person at Newsday to send information for publicity. K. McCoy pointed out that contact information is listed at the bottom of the column. Stephen mentioned that it would be great to have publicity for the Long Island Library Conference, the BEST Award, and other events and awards throughout the year. FALL DINNER: No report.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: K. McCoy reported that the committee sent out an electronic survey January 16th and that 18 responses were returned. Of the 18 responses, there are 7 people who indicated they were interested in serving on the committee. The survey was publicized again on February 19th. The committee will meet in early March to analyze the survey results determine priorities.

LDA AWARD: P. Bornstein reported that she received the LDA Award brochures, printed this year by NCLA. She mentioned that it cost $100 less than it does for SCLA to print, but that the quality of the brochure isn’t as good. Brochures will be sent to members this week. Nominations are accepted throughout the month of March. Paula asked that Irving Toliver, 2003 LDA Award winner, be given a 1-year membership to SCLA, as it is stated as one of the prizes awarded. Paula will send Mr. Toliver’s information to R. McEneaney for membership. Paula will also need reimbursement for the USPS mailing of brochures at the March SCLA meeting. She anticipates the cost to be approximately $30. S. Ingram asked everyone present to nominate at least one person for the LDA Award. Paula also said she would get a copy of the brochure to D. Zubiller to post on SCLA’s web page.

LEGISLATIVE: P. Thomson read the following report. S. Johnson attended a meeting of the LILRC Legislation Committee on January 22 as SCLA liaison. Art Friedman (who is also NYLA President) informed those in attendance that the governor has proposed a $4.4 million cut in library aid (which totaled $89 million in 2003), a 5% cut. This is essentially the entire amount granted to academic libraries last year. It would result in operating at 1997-98 funding levels. It is imperative that everyone speak to his or her legislators and let them know this is unacceptable. They heard us last year and they need to hear from us again. The “Save the Date” postcard has been mailed for Library Legislation Day in Albany, which is Tuesday, March 16th. NCLA will send two buses and SCLA has contracted for one. The flyer has gone out and reservations are due March 11th. The cost is $8, which includes bagels in the morning on the bus, and sandwiches and beverages on the return trip. There may be a reception with the legislators between 11am and 12 noon. Jerry Nichols will present an overview of legislative issues for those who are Albany bound at SCLS on Monday, March 8th at 2pm. J. O’Hare asked for a motion to approve a $50 expense for a bus fee implemented by Albany police for additional security. B. Hoffman made the motion, S. Gottesman seconded. None were opposed. Suzanne also passed along extra flyers to all those in attendance at the meeting, and sent additional flyers with M. Bollerman for PLDA members. Suzanne asked about the possibility of buying a stamp for SCLA to be used for mailings. S. Ingram approved it, saying discussion wasn’t necessary for the purchase. V. Antonucci asked about the Library Legislation Breakfast. She wanted to know if SCLA was still interested in co-sponsoring an event with LILRC. Matthew reported that PLDA has already begun plans to host their own event, separate from SCLA and LILRC. He and Tom Tarantowicz have already begun planning the PLDA event, and are moving to have their own legislative breakfast. They will have a decision about the specifics of their event at the next PLDA meeting. V. Antonucci asked if there was concern about library administration supporting a second event if those administrators are already having a similar event of their own. She also raised the concern that the usual venue, Sachem Library, may not be available due to construction. LILRC is inquiring because of budgeting reasons. S. Ingram said that, while it appeared that feedback was positive about having an event co-sponsored by SCLA, that key people, including C. Guzzo and S. Johnson were not present and that more discussion was needed before making a commitment. Stephen will talk to Cindy, and the issue will be discussed again at the March SCLA Board meeting. 
LISTSERV: K. McCoy reported that after adding the new members and cleaning up old e-mails, we currently have 892 people subscribed to the SCLA-LIST.
L.I. LIBRARY CONFERENCE: A. Schelp reported that the last meeting was held on February 12th at the Sachem Public Library. As of that meeting, there was a tentative program schedule compiled and 23 vendors registered with a total of 26 tables arranged for. Discussion centered on the selection of a keynote speaker and the logistics of running the conference. Joan Trabane, a photojournalist, has agreed to attend the conference, take pictures of the event, and to write a piece to be submitted to several local newspapers. She has been published in the Smithtown Messenger, Ronkonkoma Review, and other publications. Her fee will be $200. Alan and Ruth Westfall have compiled a list of possible venues for future conferences and will arrange visits to assess them. The job table will be offered in electronic format, with at least 1 PC available for assisted searches. LILRC is providing the computer, and their job site will be used to access some job postings. Brochures from the Long Range Planning Committee and Civil Service forms will also be available at the job table. Two people have volunteered to help on the set-up and conference day. They will be used. The committee has planned for two information tables and a concierge for directing people on the day of the conference. The concierge will also check in program speakers, which should offer them a more pleasant experience. In lieu of sending print reminder cards, the reminders this year will be sent through the SCLA listserv. This will be allow for financial savings as well as allowing for an earlier availability of the registration form to ease the approval process from each library’s administration. Alan also addressed the concerns about some divisions not being able to have a program. He assured the SCLA Board that the conference committee has always aimed to have the best conference possible, and never would intentionally or willingly ‘snub’ any group. S. Ingram reiterated the concern for a balanced slate, and Alan said he understood. A. Richards stated that one concern to be aware of is that many administrators review the relevancy of programs before approving staff to attend the conference. Alan said he would be willing to bring back all suggestions and comments to the conference committee for discussion for future conferences. Alan reported that there was a good possibility that Laura Bush might commit to being the keynote speaker, but the committee recently learned that she was not available. At this time, they were still looking for a keynote speaker. Stephen asked if there was any concern about finding someone, as SCLA could help if necessary. Alan said he was not concerned about finding someone for the keynote speaker. Stephen asked how many tables maximum the Crest Hollow could accommodate for vendors and associations. Alan thought the count was approximately 108. Alan also announced that, beginning this year, non-profit organizations would be offered vendor tables at a discounted rate of 50%. P. Thomson asked which venues were being considered. Alan didn’t know off hand. Stephen asked about the need for additional volunteers. Alan said that he would be willing to accept help from additional volunteers. Alan also said that offering time to YASD to present the BEST Award during the keynote address was not a problem. 
LONG RANGE PLANNING:S. Holden reported that the January visit to the Palmer School Student Orientation was very successful, with approximately 35 students and 10 librarians attending. Thanks were offered to K. McCoy, S. Ingram, W. Salas, John Bosco, Sheryl Sessa, eva efron, Lisa Herskowitz, James Olney, and Jo-Ann Carhart, who joined Sue in attending the Spring Semester Orientation. R. McEneaney reported that these visits do increase membership. Regina had 8 new members sign up from CW Post.
MEMBERSHIP: R. McEneaney reported that, as of February 15th, there are 749 members of SCLA. There are 405 members who have already renewed for 2004. Reminders go out at the end of March to those people who haven’t renewed for 2004. Non-paying members are purged May 1st. S. Ingram suggested that each division remind those attending a meeting to renew their membership. Membership lists were handed out. A. Richards asked when Regina needs the scholarship raffle tickets. Regina said that, last year, raffle tickets were available at the library conference, but hadn’t been mailed out to members at that time. The raffle tickets were mailed to members in June last year. Angela reported that new raffle booklets will be printed, as the prizes have changed since last year. She will have them ready for the library conference in May. She also found that sending 2 raffle books to each member worked very well last year, and that she will do that again this year. Angela kept the raffle coupons, and sent the money to the Treasurer. F. Byrne asked how she could tell from her membership list who has renewed for 2004 and who hasn’t. Regina said there was no way with the way the format used to print the list for anyone to tell that information. Stephen reported that he is trying to get a room to have the March meeting for membership chairs. Also, the membership form will be redesigned for next year. Stephen asked for any ideas anyone had regarding the redesign be brought to the March meeting.
NEWSLETTER: B. Hoffman reported that the current newsletter is 75% done and that she is on target for meeting her deadline. She complimented Laurene Tesoriero for the great job she did in securing the first advertisement, which generated $750. There is a second company that is ‘on the hook’, if not for this issue, then likely for the next issue of the newsletter. She is still looking for articles regarding the Long Island Library Conference, DASL, Legislative Information, and the Statistical Survey. She asked if there are any statistical surveys left, and S. Ingram said he would talk to Sandy Atlas to see if there are any still available. He mentioned that he would like 2-3 people to work on the survey, and that work typically begins in June. D. Jones expressed an interest in working on the survey. Barbara reported that she had some jobs from the listserv to print in the newsletter, but she is accepting any announcements for libraries looking to hire or from people looking for employment. Stephen recently talked to Aurora about printing the newsletter directly from a computer file. Stephen suggested that he, Barbara, and Aurora all sit down together to talk about the possibility. Stephen feels that a PDF file would make printing easier.
NOMINATING: S. Ingram reported that he is taking suggestions and is starting the process to compile a slate.
PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: K. Minschke reported that there are people, often students and people new to the field, who don’t fully understand Civil Service rules and regulations. A. Schelp mentioned that each school typically has their own listserv that may be available for communication. P. Thomson mentioned that in Nassau County, there is a Civil Service Committee that discusses issues relating to Civil Service and sometimes meets with the Civil Service Commission to make recommendations. S. Ingram said that Jerry Nichols is available to answer questions. Someone else thought that Bill Cicola of Mastic-Moriches-Shirley Community Library was somehow connected to Civil Service here in Suffolk County. 
PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY: Salas thanked all involved with the C.W. Post Student Orientation visit for allowing him to attend and speak to the students. Will also reported that he was working with Dr. Pollicino of St. John's University to arrange for a visit to the university's Oakdale campus. Will suggested that the same format used during the C.W. Post visit be used for the St. John's colloquium. Will announced that
he will be asking those who volunteered for the C.W. Post visit to volunteer once again for the St. John's visit. He will be in contact with the volunteers with possible dates for our visit. Will also asked if people who are involved in awards committees could share their publicity contacts with him. This would allow him to develop a media contact list for future SCLA promotions. He also suggested that perhaps all the people involved with publicity from various divisions and committees could get together to share ideas. B. Hoffman mentioned the Connection Day Conference as being a great place to meet people that could help with publicity. E. Cichanowicz suggested a new column in the SCLA newsletter designated for publicity.
SCHOLARSHIP: A. Richards reported that a flyer informing students of the SCLA Scholarship was included in packets distributed at the Palmer School Orientation. Candidates return the flyer to indicate interest, and Angela then sends an application packet. She needs committee members to help her. She is currently working on securing donations for prizes, but would gladly take any suggestions for prizes.
STATISTICAL SURVEY: No report. D. Jones expressed an interest in participating in this committee. He requested more information, but seemed willing to help. F. Byrne reported that she has one person in SSD who expressed an interest in learning more about helping with data entry if it is a paid position.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE: M. Fusco thanked all libraries who have recently sent materials, and asked everyone to continue to send non-violent paperback books to either the Riverhead jail or the Yaphank jail. Items can be sent through the SCLS system bad. Items must be marked with the location in which they are to be sent.WEB PAGE: No report. S. Ingram asked that everyone use the web page more to advertise upcoming programs. He also thanked D. Zubiller for all of her help with the web page.
LIAISONS
CLASC: No report. 
BOCES: No report.
LILRC: V. Antonucci reported that upcoming programs include a MLA Teleconference called “Roles and Essential Skills for the Expert Searcher” on March 10th at 1PM at North Shore University Hospital. She reminded everyone of NYLA’s Library Lobby Day in Albany on March 16th. On March 24th, LILRC’s Serials Committee will present “Union Listing Basics” at the Nassau Library System at 9am. On March 25th at 9am, LILRC’s Committee on Services to Health Sciences Libraries and MEDLI co sponsor a program on health and libraries at Southside Hospital. And on June 15th, the 2nd “Symposium on Digitization” will be offered at the Farmingdale Public Library. Liz Bishoff and Tom Clareson from OCLC will speak. Liz is a former Project Manager of the Colorado Digitization Program. Anyone interested in these or other programs can visit www.lilrc.org for more information and to register. Virginia also announced that LILRC membership has also been opened up to historical societies.
LVA-SC: No report.
SLA: Two flyers were distributed to announce upcoming programs. One program is called “Thriving on Career Change” scheduled for March 2nd at 7PM at the East Northport Public Library. Another program is a jointly sponsored breakfast with MEDLI, scheduled for April 21 at 9:30am at Farmingdale Public Library. The topic is “Getting Your Message Across”. Details detailing registration are available on each flyer. Members-At-Large: F. Altemose has ordered 150 Ducks tickets for Tuesday, August 10th. This is the first of three home games against the Somerset Patriots (who won the South Division in 2003). Tickets will cost us $8, but will be sold for $10 as a fundraiser. Fran will submit an article to be published in the newsletter about the event. Sunrise Coach will provide transportation to Albany on Lobby Day, March 16th. There will be a 6:30 pick up at Exit 58 of the LIE and a 6:45 pick up at Exit 49 of the LIE. The coach fee is $975 dollars, and that has already been paid. Fran has sold 5 more SCLA t-shirts this month at the reduced price of $8. 
OLD BUSINESS: No report
. NEW BUSINESS: C. Gray asked for a motion for $200 for a speaker for a Continuing Education program. K. Minschke made the motion, and R. McEneaney seconded. None were opposed. S. Ingram adjourned the meeting at 11:52AM.