Friday, October 15, 2004

Suffolk County Library Association

Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting

Friday, October 15, 2004

Location: SCLS Blue Room

Present: W. Salas, D. Bucher, P. Bornstein, K. Baudouin, N. Sherwood, S. Johnson, F. Altemose, H. Biblo, E. R. Capitanio, H. Costello, A. Richards, F. Byrne, D. Jones, L. Squires, J. O’Hare, S. Ingram, C. Guzzo, P. Thomson.

S. Ingram called the meeting to order at 10:07AM. The September minutes were reviewed. C. Guzzo made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected. D. Jones seconded. None were opposed. 

TREASURER’S REPORT: J. O’Hare offered the Treasurer’s report for September 2004. The report showed a fund balance of $48, 184.58 as of the end of September 2004. F. Byrne made a motion to accept as written. W. Salas seconded. None were opposed. Janet asked for approval for the following bills: $23.73 to Regina McEneaney for paper and labels, $1000 to SCLS for the printing of the SCLA Handbook and Membership Directory, $525 to SCLS for the printing of the September/October/November newsletter, $132 to Barbara Hoffman for postage for the newsletter, $100 to A. Richards to reimburse the donation from Midwest Tape for a Scholarship raffle prize (to be converted to a mall gift card), $500 check to be made payable to the Continuing Education Award winner (winner to be announced at the Fall Dinner), $1500 check made payable to the Scholarship winner (winner to be announced at the Fall Dinner), $250 check to DASL to reimburse expenses from the Long Island Library Conference, $250 check to CLASC to reimburse expenses from the Long Island Library Conference, $150 check to RASD to reimburse expenses from the Long Island Library Conference. A motion to approve all above bills was made by L. Squires, seconded by D. Bucher. None were opposed. Janet announced that she has created a new Treasurer’s Report for all Divisions, and she asked that a copy of each division’s bank statement be attached as well. Janet also announced that she had extra copies of reimbursement forms for anyone who needed them.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: C. Guzzo reported that everyone should be thinking about programs for next year, including programs for the 2005 Long Island Library Conference. Cindy announced that she had a pre-budget hearing that was well attended. She had a draft copy of a proposed budget, but announced that it is still in the works. One notable change is that a line was added that allows for prior year’s reserves to be requested for supplemental program funding. S. Ingram said there is still time for anyone wishing to make a request. The final budget proposal will be distributed at the December meeting, and it will be voted on at January’s meeting. F. Byrne asked if money was allocated specifically for publicity flyers for programs. Cindy said no, because additional money is being allocated for programs in general. Stephen said that he anticipates that there will be more conferences likely in the future.

Note: As was suggested a few months ago, the Agenda was reversed at this meeting so all representatives eventually be given equal time at meetings. It was agreed upon by those in attendance to reverse the agenda for this meeting.

PUBLIC AWARENESS/PUBLICITY (out of sequence): W. Salas announced that a meeting addressing Ethics and Librarianship is in the planning stages. The program is likely to be sometime in November, and flyers will be sent out soon. S. Ingram asked if there is only one speaker arranged for this program. Will said yes. Stephen suggested that John Bosco, director of the Jericho Library, be contacted as a possible second speaker. John is an instructor of Ethics at Post and Stephen thought he would be a good second speaker for that program. Will said he would look into it.

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE: F. Altemose reported that she has reserved 2 buses for the 2005 Library Legislation Day in Albany.

LIAISONS

SLA: P. Thomson reported that SLA will be co-sponsoring their 3rd Annual Trivia Night, along with DASL. This year’s event will be held at Jillian’s on Thursday, November 18 th from 7-10PM. The cost is $20 for students/unemployed/retirees, $25 for SLA and SCLA members, and $30 for non-members. Stan Newman is the Master of Ceremonies. Stephen mentioned that he has attended in the past, and that it is a fun evening. He encouraged everyone to attend.

SCLS: No report.

PLDA: No report.

NCLA: P. Thomson read the following report. The new secretary of NCLA is Regina Masica. Michelle Young resigned due to a maternity leave. Academic and Special Libraries: On April 25, they will sponsor a workshop called Evolution in Librarianship, which will be part of their Annual Meeting. Children’s Services: On October 18, Laura Figaro-Sieger, author of the Hidden Alphabet will speak. Media Services: On November 16, Suffolk County and Nassau County will have a joint meeting. On November 3, the Media Services Division will host a workshop on How to License Movies for Public Libraries. On December 7, there will be the Media Service’s Annual Brunch (their 15 th Anniversary). RASD: On November 10, RASD will host a panel discussion with 3 editors from different review journals titled “Review Journals Review” at the Port Washington Public Library. They will discuss how different sources get their reviews and to which types of libraries they would be used by. Programming: This division had a panel discussion on “Programming for the Latino Community”. They are looking at doing a similar program at the L.I. Library Conference. Young Adult: On October 15, Richard Peck will speak at the Port Washington Public Library. Also, on December 9, the YASD’s Annual Meeting will be held at the Garden City Public Library. On November 9, there will be a program called “Using Assistive Technology at the Library” at NLS. On November 13, there will be a program “Wireless for Dummies” at NLS. There is discussion about having Steven Wishniak do a program on “Think and Do: Improving Customer Relationships”. The Intellectual Freedom committee is having an essay contest called “What Does Freedom to Read Mean to You?” There are presently 982 members of NCLA. The guidance counselors in the Nassau high schools have been contacted regarding their Career Day programs. A representative from NCLA attends to discuss libraries and the careers available. The Library Management Course addresses Facilities Management this semester. NCLA is considering using HealthPlex for their dental plan. All that’s needed is Board approval and an administrator to handle the checks. Discussion ensued regarding different libraries doing it on a rotating basis. On December 1st, NCLA will host their Annual Dinner at Sand Castles in Franklin Square. The cost will be $45. So far 30 surveys have been returned for the Statistical Survey.

LVA-SC: No report.

LILRC: H. Biblo reported that LILRC participated in the Nassau Legislative Breakfast on October 1 st, which was very successful. LILRC’s Annual Conference is scheduled for November 4 th and November 5 th. The theme is Libraries and the Future, and there has been exceptional registration numbers thus far for the conference with early-bird registration being implemented for the first time this year. LILRC’s Annual Meeting will be on November 18 th, where Michael Borgess will speak. Herb also reported that 6 Historical Societies have joined LILRC. Herb also announced that LILRC would be sponsoring a social event in Rochester Thursday evening from 6-8PM at a brewery. The cost will be $15 per person.

EASTERN SUFFOLK BOCES: No report.

CLASC: H. Costello thanked everyone for allowing her to have a “learning curve” as she begins so many new endeavors at once. I officially assumed the position of President of CLASC in April. CLASC had board meetings in September and October, setting future board meeting dates at the September meeting and discussing logistics for our upcoming SCLS/CLASC children’s literature conference at the October meeting. “Pictures Worth a Thousand Words: Visual Literature For All Ages” is the theme of the conference, which is to be held Friday, October 29 at The Sheraton Long Island Hotel, Hauppauge. Also, a General Membership Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 30, to be held at Longwood Public Library. The theme of this meeting is “Stress Management,” and will be facilitated by Neva Hacker form the Employee Assistance Program.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

WEB PAGE: S. Ingram reported that Aurora Tiffany is redesigning the page for us. Stephen has set January 2005 as the target date for completion. Stephen suggested having one SCLA events page to post all events. That way, there can be some uniformity and everyone can try to keep conflicting programs to a minimum.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE: M. Fusco has thanked everyone for their donations, and she encouraged future donations of non-violent paperback books to be sent to either the Riverhead or Yaphank Jails.

STATISTICAL SURVEY: D. Jones reported that he had received 25 responses thusfar. He receives 1-2 completed surveys a day. He has had the responses returned directly to him, rather than having them returned to SCLS. Dave has found this to work very well for him, and he recommends this practice for the future. Dave will follow up with phone calls to libraries that haven’t returned surveys in the next few weeks. Stephen reported that he has had a few people look at the existing file, and he cannot find anyone who is willing to work with it in its current form. He anticipates the need to recreate the file in the near future.

SCHOLARSHIP: A. Richards announced that a winner was selected unanimously for the Continuing Education Support Staff Award. The winner was notified, and will attend the Fall Dinner. Angela will describe the winner’s accomplishments and have it published in the next newsletter. Angela stated that she now realizes that Angie did much of the work that needs to be done for the awards. She now has a handle on it, but she feels that publicity needs to be increased to raise awareness of the awards. Angela also feels strongly that the awards for the Continuing Education award and the Scholarship award be increased in future years. After some discussion, Lorraine Squires made a motion to increase the Continuing Education award to $750 for 2005 and the Scholarship award to $2000 for 2005. S. Ingram seconded. None were opposed.

PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: No report.

NOMINATING: S. Ingram reported that the ballot for the 2005 officers has gone to press, and that people should receive their ballots next week. Ballots must be returned by November 10 th. Stephen will post an announcement on the listserv as well.

NEWSLETTER: No report.

MEMBERSHIP: P. Thomson read the following report. SCLA currently has 675 members for 2004 as of October 10th. Renewals will go out the first week in November. Patty distributed membership lists to each Division President for Regina.

LONG RANGE PLANNING: No report. S. Ingram reported that Sue Holden was finalizing plans for a Civil Service workshop for a date in November (he wasn’t certain of the date). Publicity should be sent out next week .

L.I. LIBRARY CONFERENCE: N. Sherwood wanted to address some problems and concerns that she has been made aware of. Nancy has asked for suggestions for possible venues from both Cindy and Chris Penna, President of NCLA . There will be a buffet lunch for the 2005 conference, but lunch will be served in 2 rooms to alleviate congestion and to allow for more serving stations. There will be a concierge assigned to each program room to better attend to the needs of each program immediately as they arise. There will be 6 rooms, 3 program slots, each program will run for 1 hour and 5 minutes. There will be a program before lunch to attempt to alleviate the crowd that typically forms during the exhibit session before lunch. There will only be one program person to speak to this year, and that person is Sue Ketcham of LIU – Southampton. All questions should be directed to her, and she is responsible for coordinating all programs. Letters inviting divisions and committees to sponsor programs have been sent out, and information can be found on their web page as well (www.suffolk.lib.ny.us/lilc). The deadline for program registration is December 31 st, and that deadline is absolutely firm. Any A/V needs need to be stated as early as possible as well, to best slate the program in the best room. Also, it is essential to let the committee know what the program is about; a program title is not enough information. The $250 that is issued for each program is to reimburse expenses. Receipts are necessary, and divisions and committees are reimbursed the amount spent up to a maximum of $250. The registration form will be available on the web page. Next year, handouts will be available on the web page for a limited time. Everyone is asked to encourage companies that they deal with to exhibit at next year’s conference. Each association was given $4000 from the proceeds of the 2004 Long Island Library Conference. F. Altemose asked if a vendor registration form is available presently. Nancy said that the form will be available online soon, but anyone needing a form can contact Debbie Antolini at Longwood Public Library for a vendor registration form. D. Bucher asked if the web page address is well advertised in the SCLA newsletter? S. Ingram said that he knows that there is a link on SCLA’s web page. Nancy also said that it is their goal to have publicity appear in every newsletter up to the time of the conference next year.

LISTSERV: No report.

LEGISLATIVE: S. Johnson reported that the NYS Budget is not finalized yet. The Governor’s veto may still be overwritten. There is a compromise bill that is floating around which includes money for libraries, but there is not enough support at present to pass that bill. There are reassurances from our local legislators that libraries have not been forgotten about. The NYS Higher Education Committee is scheduled to meet at the Sachem Library on October 26 th from 10AM to 1PM. Suzanne encouraged anyone interested to attend, and said she would post a notice of the meeting on the listserv.

LDA AWARD: No report.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: No report.

FALL DINNER: D. Bucher reported that the flyers about the Fall Dinner were sent out this week. There was a problem with the labels, which caused the flyers to go out later than she had intended. She apologized for the delay. The menu is set, and a vegetarian entrée is available. The dinner will be at Captain Bill’s in Bay Shore; directions are included on the flyer. Music will be provided by Bruce Aronson. The cost is $400 (down from $450). A female singer can perform as well for an additional $100. The music will be both dinner music and dance music. The theme is ‘On Moonlight Bay’. Decorations and favors have been ordered and have already arrived. The final price is $50, and should be sent to Della at Harborfields. Stephen said he would post an announcement on the listserv as well.

ELSA: P. Thomson read the following report. The committee is pleased to announce the winner of this year’s ELSA: Eleanor Koller, Head of Technical Services at the Riverhead Free Library. Ms. Koller is the second recipient of our award from the Riverhead Free Library, as Frances Johannemann was our winner in 2001. Elyse Hayes visited Riverhead last week and notified Ms. Koller in person. A formal notification letter was sent to the winner and her director as well. The deserving nominees for 2004 are: Theresa Madonia, Islip Public Library, Celia Vollmer, Brentwood Public Library, Catherine Rickert, West Babylon Junior High School, Ramiz Chaudhry, Stony Brook University Health Sciences Library, Eileen Vargas, Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library, Jean Pollak, Sayville High School, Barbara Slater, Sayville Library,

Barbara Moore, Mattituck-Laurel Library, Ryan Athanas, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, and Carolann Lorenz, West Islip Public Library. All nominees have been notified and invited to attend the Annual Dinner next month. The US Savings Bond, award certificates and ELSA plaque arrangements are underway.

CONTINUING EDUCATION: K. Baudouin reported that there was a meeting on September 28 th, and that a CATS representative attended. The bus trip on October 1 st was successful. There were 25 people who attended. The entire trip paid for itself. The next meeting is scheduled for November 16 th in Selden at 9:45AM. Karen also announced that Carol is expected to retire next year, and Karen has found that having a co-chair has been very helpful. Anyone interested in serving as co-chair should contact her.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS: No report.

ARCHIVES: S. Johnson met with V. Antonucci and Virginia is looking for an intern to work on our archiving project.

DIVISIONS:

YASD: L. Squires reported that YASD had a very successful luncheon. The Division wanted to thank S. Ingram for his work on their web page. A planning meeting is scheduled for November 3 rd. A Teen Library Chat and Chow Social is scheduled for tonight at 7PM at Borders in Stony Brook. On Thursday, November 18 th, Pnina Moed Kass, author of Real Time is slated to speak. YASD is also working on their 2005 Teen Book and trying to get Nassau YASD to participate as well. Two books will be selected – 1 for middle school readers and 1 for high school readers. The selections will be announced at the Fran Romer Conference in March.

SSD: The Executive Board of the Support Staff Division met on Tuesday, October 12, 2004.

Programming : Their annual general meeting and breakfast was held on Wednesday, September 22 with 36 people in attendance. Thanks to Jean Maloney of EAP for an informative program on personal safety. This meeting also afforded an opportunity to promote SCLA and six membership applications were submitted that morning. On October 12, Sue Siegel and I met with Chris Penna of NCLA where they worked out the final details for our co-sponsored All-Long Island Heads of Circ Meeting, to be held on Tuesday, October 26 at the Farmingdale Public Library. With two weeks to go, they already had 50 people register so they are anticipating quite a turn out for this program. Dottie Curto, our Programs Committee Chairperson, was unavailable to attend the last Continuing Education Committee meeting but is looking forward to attending future meetings. With the December deadline right around the corner, Dottie is also following up on some programming ideas for the 2005 Long Island Library Conference. Regarding their 2005 election, all ballots have been returned and tabulated. The new officers will be announced at the SCLA annual dinner. New Business: The 2005 calendar was reviewed and SSD Executive Board meetings will be held the second Wednesday of each month. Fran asked about the Savings Bond Award amount for this year for ELSA (it is $200). She suggested that the ELSA Award also be increased next year. She also asked why a savings bond is issued. She suggested a cash award be issued instead. S. Ingram said he would arrange to have a publicity sized check for each award given at this year’s Fall Dinner for pictures.

CATS: The CATS Executive Board met on Tuesday, October 13 at SCLS. The Blogging Workshop, co-sponsored by SCLA, was held on September 29 th. Fifty-five people attended an enlightening presentation by Steven Cohen. Registration for the FRBR workshop is underway, and so far about 50 people have indicated that they will attend. Plans have been finalized for the Annual Meeting on December 7 at 2 p.m. The presentation of In-House Solutions will be given by four of Suffolk County’s finest systems administrators and computer technicians. Plans are being finalized for the LILC and we have booked our first program for next year: LC For Dewey Users.

RASD: RASD has not had a meeting since the last SCLA Executive Board meeting. The next RASD meeting is on October 27, which is their annual breakfast at SCLS. It is also our Health Concerns meeting.

OLD BUSINESS: J. O’Hare had two more bills to present. One was for $69.18 for paper and stamps, the other for $53.19 for Stephen Ingram for refreshments for the SCLA Executive Board meetings. C. Guzzo made a motion, P. Bornstein seconded. None were opposed. LILRC had requested that SCLA sponsor part of their Annual Conference. C. Guzzo made a motion to give LILRC $300 to help sponsor the event. L. Squires seconded. None were opposed. S. Johnson asked if SCLA has considered sponsoring any aspect of the Long Island Reads program. She thought that NCLA should consider doing so also. S. Ingram said he would speak to Diane Eidelman about it.

NEW BUSINESS: D. Bucher asked if anything was finalized regarding J. Nichols’ retirement gift. S. Ingram said a lifetime membership to SCLA would be presented at the Fall Dinner.

S. Ingram adjourned the meeting at 11:40AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Patricia Thomson