Friday, July 16, 2004
Present: J. Clemens, E. Hayes, W. Salas, K. Baudouin, E. Cichanowicz, S. Johnson, H. Biblo, R. McEneaney, T. Firestone, D. Zubiller, S. Gottesman, J. O’Hare, M. Bollerman, F. Byrne. S. Ingram, P. Thomson.

S. Ingram called the meeting to order at 10:08AM. It was determined that there was a quorum for the meeting. The June minutes were reviewed. S. Gottesman made a motion to accept the minutes as written, R. McEneaney seconded. None were opposed. 

TREASURER’S REPORT: J. O’Hare offered the Treasurer’s report for June 2004. The report showed a fund balance of $50,177.13 as of the end of June 2004. Janet noted that most of the General Fund income was due to Membership. Stephen complemented everyone on the good job they were doing to increase membership. Janet asked all of the Division Presidents to give her their Treasurer’s Reports and their December 2003 Report. It is critical supporting paperwork needed to rectify the situation with the IRS. Everyone was reminded that we can be penalized for each day that the necessary paperwork is not filed, so it is important that she get those reports as soon as possible. At the very minimum, she needs the December 2003 Report right away. Janet presented two bills for reimbursement. The first was a bill for $6.83 to reimburse Barbara Hoffman for Avery mailing labels for the newsletter. F. Byrne made the motion. J. Clemens seconded. None were opposed. The second bill was for $117.60, also for Barbara Hoffman for mailing some newsletters via US Postal Mail. R. McEneaney made the motion. S. Gottesman seconded. None were opposed.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: S. Ingram reported that LILRC is planning their annual Archives Week and has asked if we would consider co-sponsoring the event again this year. They are asking for $300. C. Guzzo suggested (to Stephen prior to the meeting) contributing $100. J. Clemens suggested that the same amount that was offered last year be the amount again offered this year. Nobody present at the meeting was certain how much SCLA contributed last year, so the issue was tabled until the August meeting. Stephen reported that he went to the Long Island Library Conference meeting and spoke about the concerns that SCLA has. He felt that they were well received. One concern in particular is the number of program slots. The committee is concerned that there may actually be too many next year, so Stephen suggested that not only should everyone start planning now what program they would like to sponsor next year, but that perhaps Divisions should consider sponsoring more than one program. Stephen also said he is very impressed with the members of the committee and how well they work together. He expects that someone from SCLA will attend the next LILC meeting, scheduled for August 10. However, the attendance at their meetings does not eliminate the need to have an official representative attend the monthly SCLA meetings. It was agreed on by everyone there that their presence at our meetings is necessary as well.

DIVISION REPORTS

DASL: R. McEneaney offered the following report. DASL has a business meeting planned for Friday, September 10 th at the Brookhaven Labs. A program called ‘Outcomes Assessment for Middle States’ is scheduled for Friday, September 24 th at SUNY Farmingdale. It will be co-sponsored with LILRC’s Continuing Education Committee. At this workshop, successful assessment techniques to meet the Middle States Accreditation will be demonstrated. DASL’s Annual Luncheon will be on Friday, December 10 th at NYIT, Central Islip Campus, when new officers will be installed and the luncheon will take place in NYIT’s Culinary Art’s Institute. There will a speaker from the Suffolk Center on the Holocaust, Diversity and Human Understanding who will discuss the new archive at Suffolk Community College. DASL members where saddened to hear that the Southampton campus of LIU might be closing after the 2004-2005 academic year. The librarians at Southampton College were excited to be moving to a new library building on the Southampton campus this fall. Now it appears that they will have to commute to the Brooklyn Campus in 2005 if they want to keep their jobs.

DASL has started planning for the Legislative Breakfast that it will host in February. We are also looking for people to run for the DASL board. If you are interested, please contact Virginia Antonucci.

RASD: S. Gottesman offered the following report. The Health Concerns meeting met on June 17 th at SCLS. They are starting to put together their annotated bibliography on Macular Degeneration. OA RS had a meeting on June 9 th at the Huntington Library. They held a discussion regarding adult summer reading clubs. Sandy Atlas told the group that Smithtown is doing their own ‘Get Caught Reading’ display by taking pictures of their patrons reading in the library (with the permission of the patrons). Articles for Ramblings, the RASD publication, are still needed for the next issue. There were no other reports. The next RASD meeting will be on September 7 th at the The Smithtown Library.

CATS: P. Thomson read the following report. The CATS Division has had no activity since the last SCLA meeting. Their next meeting is scheduled for July 29 th at SCLS.

SSD: F. Byrne offered the following report. The Support Staff Division met on July 14 with all Board Members in attendance. Anne McCaffrey reported that as of June, the final count of members for the Support Staff Division for 2004 was 126 members. They have the names of many people who attended the last two programs. Anne will be comparing the list to see if there were any attendees who are not members of SCLA and will reach out to them. On or about August 10 th, SSD will be sending out flyers for the annual meeting and breakfast, which will be held on September 22. The speaker will be Jean Maloney of EAP, who will talk about developing awareness of personal safety. On October 26, the Division is co-sponsoring an All Island Heads of Circulation meeting with the Clerical Division of NCLA at the Farmingdale Library. Details will follow. Members-at-Large Vinny Rodgers and Marsha Greenspan are looking into the possibility of placing a coordinated order for all libraries interested in purchasing good quality American flags. The hope is to obtain a better price by ordering a large quantity. Fran will report back with their progress. SSD has reviewed their Constitution and By-Laws and feel there are no changes necessary at this time. Fran was happy to report that all members except Marie Mueller are interested in running again for 2005. The search will focus on filling the ever-important Vice-President/President-Elect position. Marie, as Past President, is finishing a 3 year commitment to the Division. The next SSD meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 10 at 7:05 at the Ducks Stadium. Nine of the 10 Board Members are able to attend.

YASD: T. Firestone offered the following report. A network meeting is scheduled for July 8 at the Hauppauge Library. A fundraiser is scheduled to help fund Battle of the Books for August 25 th at Sports Plus. The tickets will be sold at SCLS. A meeting is scheduled for September 23 rd at the NYIT Campus, with lunch to follow. A teen ‘One Book, One Island’ program is being considered. More will be reported about this venture at a future date.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

ARCHIVES: S. Johnson has been talking to D. Bucher regarding her need for boxes for archival purposes. S. Ingram asked if there is an Archival group within RASD that might be interested in a project he has in mind. He would like to reorganize and index all the items included in the archives. Stephen would like everything pulled out, itemized, and reorganized. Stephen asked about a file cabinet in the area that isn’t being used and Suzanne said that there is a black file cabinet that belongs to SLA. SCLA mistakenly used it once before and had to remove everything in it. Stephen thought there was still one drawer that is available. It was suggested that money could be designated for a new file cabinet next year. H. Biblo suggested that V. Antonucci be consulted regarding the best way to preserve the items in the archive, and Suzanne agreed that her expertise would be very valuable. J. Clemens suggested that, with many libraries undergoing construction, perhaps there is an older file cabinet that a library could donate to SCLA. Stephen thought that was a good idea, and a request will likely be posted on the listserv. Stephen said he would also ask SCLS if they were discarding any cabinets if they would keep SCLA in mind.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS: No report.

CONTINUING EDUCATION: K. Baudouin read the following report. The committee met on July 13. John Richardson attended to represent the CATS Division. They discussed the ongoing need to establish a Continuing Education calendar that represents all of the events scheduled by the Divisions and Committees of SCLA. A fall bus trip was also discussed, and it was decided to visit the libraries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday, October 1. Various pricing scenarios were discussed and it was decided that they would be presented to the SCLA Board. Karen discussed each scenario, and requested $400 from SCLA to help offset the cost of the trip. With $400 to offset costs, they would charge $32 for members and $38 for non-members. Karen explained that they might not need as much as $400, that it could be as little as $175, depending on how many people go on the trip. K. Baudouin made the motion that SCLA contribute a maximum of $400 to help fund the fall trip, R. McEneaney seconded. J. Clemens praised the idea of a member/non member fee schedule. She asked if there were any conflicts that anyone knew of. Nobody knew of any conflicts. She also asked what would happen if fewer than 20 people were interested in going. Karen responded that they are confident that they will get 20 people to attend. E. Hayes asked if a bus was necessary, and asked if taking a train would be easier and cheaper. Karen said that they thought about that option, but it seemed easier and cost approximately as much to rent the bus as it would to take mass transportation both ways. Karen said that they might need to add on postage costs as well. S. Johnson suggested advertising in the newsletter. T. Firestone asked about cross-posting the announcement, and asked about advertising the trip to non-members. R. McEneaney said that the trip is advertised to non-members via the listserv. J. Clemens suggested using the listserv exclusively, which would minimize costs from flyers. Regina said that if it was needed, she could generate labels for members who have indicated that they don’t have e-mail. A vote was taken to contribute $400 for the trip. None were opposed. The Continuing Education committee also discussed how to get more people involved with Continuing Education and the value of hiring skilled trainers to present programs. Topics that they thought would be of interest included hiring/firing, performance evaluation, and retention of employees. They did not schedule another meeting date at that time. Karen also asked how Continuing Education could get a line in the budget. Stephen said that it should be brought up at the budget planning meeting in October, and that a proposal is needed.

ELSA: E. Hayes reported that they are very pleased to have received more nominations this year than last year, and from varied libraries. They have received 11 nominations. Special, academic, school and public libraries are all represented. Committee members will receive copies of all the nominee packets in a week or so and they will meet in September to make the final decision. They thanked the SCLA Board for encouraging their colleagues in their divisions, committees and libraries to participate. Elyse also reported that the committee could use more money in their budget to promote the award. Various ideas as to how to best promote the award were discussed. And, it was suggested that the request be suggested for consideration during the Fall Budget meeting.

FALL DINNER: No report.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: P. Thomson reported that the committee met June 29 th. A subcommittee will work on drafting a letter to local legislatures concerning the Patriot Act resolution the SCLA Board passed in their June meeting. Along with the Patriot Act resolution, the committee would like the SCLA Board to discuss and vote on the “Suffolk County Bill of Rights Defense Campaign resolution. This was tabled in the SCLA’s June meeting. Work has begun on an Intellectual Freedom web page and we would like to conduct an all day Intellectual Freedom workshop in Spring 2005. Copies of the resolution were distributed, and those in attendance reviewed the resolution. It was decided to table the vote until the August meeting, when Kevin could answer questions about the proposal.

LDA AWARD: No report.

LEGISLATIVE: S. Johnson passed around a form letter to the Governor drafted by NYLA asking for support of the Love Your Library License Plate Bill and Statutory Authorization for Library Aid. Suzanne asked that everyone bring copies back to their library and encourage their patrons to sign the letter showing their support. Suzanne suggested that patron’s include their address as well, as often legislators like to mail an acknowledgement of their communication.

LISTSERV: P. Thomson reported that currently, there are 938 people subscribed to the SCLA newsletter.

L.I. LIBRARY CONFERENCE: No report.

LONG RANGE PLANNING: No report.

MEMBERSHIP: R. McEneaney reported that SCLA currently has 666 members.

NEWSLETTER: P. Thomson read the following report. Another check was received for advertisement in the newsletter. The June/July/August newsletter was distributed. Performers and workshop leaders are being solicited for newsletter copy for future issues. The deadline for the September/October/November newsletter is August 1. Barbara also sent extra copies of the newsletter intended for college libraries or student lounges. She asked for volunteers to drop newsletters off at Stony Brook, Suffolk Community College, St. John’s (Queens and Oakdale), Queens College, and C.W. Post. Enough people volunteered to get copies to each campus.

NOMINATING: S. Ingram reported that he received responses to his request for nominations, which was posted on the listserv. He will also be asking some people to consider positions. He asked for input and suggestions from the Board, and that the suggestions be made as soon as possible. More information will be available at the next Board Meeting.

PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: No report.

PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY: W. Salas reported that the October 21 st date set for the Civil Service workshop was not good for J. Nichols. A new date will be chosen, and publicity will be created. Will suggested that some of the publicity be sent to the schools with programs in library science.

SCHOLARSHIP: P. Thomson read the following report. Members of the Scholarship committee will be receiving copies of the packets of information submitted by the two candidates applying for the scholarship. Committee members will report and discuss the fulfillment of requirements during the month of August. The candidate will be selected by the end of August. Regina suggested that, in addition to posting information about the scholarship at schools with library science programs, that she include information about the scholarship to students who join SCLA when their membership card is sent to them. Everyone agreed this was a great way to advertise the scholarship at no cost.

STATISTICAL SURVEY: No report. It was mentioned that a colleague mentioned the availability of the Statistical Survey for purchase in her posting.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE: No report.

WEB PAGE: D. Zubiller reported that she is now at the Brentwood Public Library. She mentioned that she is considering ways to improve the effectiveness of and centralize the SCLA web page. A variety of suggestions were discussed, including the changing of the monthly report that includes a section that collects information to be included on the web page. Efforts on many fronts will be made, and Danielle will report back on any changes at the next meeting.

LIAISONS

CLASC: No report. 

BOCES: No report.

LILRC: H. Biblo reported that the NCLA Legislative Breakfast will be held on October 1. Herb discussed a variety of group purchase options currently available, including CheckPoint security, the Long Island Union List of Serials, and variety of medical databases. There are 3 digitization programs scheduled for this summer. They are a repeat of last year’s programs, which were popular. There are many continuing education opportunities, including LILRC’s Annual Conference and the LILRC Annual Business Meeting.

All are encouraged to attend . LILRC is also looking into finding a location for a social event during NYLA in Rochester. He reported that there are open seats for the LILRC Board, although most seats are for Nassau County representatives. LILRC’s Annual Budget is being published in next month’s newsletter. S. Johnson asked if there is a fee for attending the LILRC Archives Conference. Herb said there was, but it’s a modest fee. Lunch is included.

LVA-SC: No report.

NCLA: E. Cummings-Young and R. Dressler both reported, via e-mail, that NCLA does not meet during the summer and, therefore, there is no report.

PLDA: M. Bollerman reported that there was some confusion regarding the Librarian I Civil Service Exam. The test will be given on October 23 rd, and Library Trainee and Librarian I lists will be generated from the results of that exam. The search for a Director of SCLS has begun and PLDA has a representative on the hiring committee. Interviews have begun this week. PLDA will meet on July 21 st and will discuss their Legislative Breakfast on October 8 th at the Brentwood Public Library.

SCLS: No report.

SLA : No report.

Members-At-Large: E. Cichanowicz reported that there are still tickets available for purchase for the Writers on the Vine Series. The cost is $15 a ticket. J. Clemens reported that her library purchased 6 tickets for prizes for their adult summer reading club, and suggested that others consider doing the same. R. McEneaney reported that she and her husband attended a Writers on the Vine session and were very pleased and impressed with the speakers. She encouraged everyone to attend at least one session.

OLD BUSINESS: No report.

NEW BUSINESS: No report.

S. Ingram adjourned the meeting at 11:58AM.