Minutes

Friday, January 16, 2004
SCLS Blue Room

IN ATTENDANCE:
C. Guzzo, S. Ingram, J. O'Hare, S. Holden, K. McCoy, B. Hoffman, F. Altemose, S. Johnson, E.R. Capitanio, F. Byrne, G. Pepa, K. Baudouin, S. Gottesman, E. Cichanowicz, P. Thomson.

CALL TO ORDER:
S. Ingram called the meeting to order at 10:15AM. The December minutes were reviewed. S. Johnson made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected, F. Altemose seconded. None were opposed.

TREASURER'S REPORT:
J. O'Hare offered the Treasurer's report. The report showed a fund balance of $36,603.09 as of the end of December 2003. S. Ingram asked if Janet was comfortable with the accounting procedures used, and Janet said yes. C. Guzzo asked about the budget line that addressed the need to deduct outstanding checks. Janet wasn't sure what checks were outstanding, but said she'd look into it. Janet also reported that checks for each division were about to be sent. Cindy made a motion to accept the Treasurer's report as stated. K. McCoy seconded. None were opposed. Janet asked for a motion to spend $900 for the cost to print 750 'SCLA Handbook of Committee Charges' booklets. S. Ingram made the motion to expend the money, and B. Hoffman seconded. None were opposed. Kevin reported that the Intellectual Freedom Committee had spent $1579.87 for the Patriot Act program and was requesting $500 for expenses. S. Ingram made a motion, E.R. Capitanio seconded. None were opposed. Janet then presented the 2004 Proposed Budget and reported that she spent considerable time with Joe Loughren to review accounting procedures and discussing specifics about the SCLA Budget. S. Johnson asked if there was anything other than the Library Legislation Bus Trip and the Legislative Breakfast that was included in the Legislative budget line. F. Altemose asked if there was money allotted for gifts for legislators for Library Legislation day. Cindy said that need was accounted for. Cindy made a motion to accept the report as presented. R. McEneaney seconded. There was no opposition.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT:
C. Guzzo welcomed everybody to the new Board, and thanked each one for their commitment to participate. One thing that Cindy stressed is the need to have representation from every Division, Committee, and Liaison. There are some positions that are still open, and Cindy is aware of the need to fill those positions. She and Stephen are working on filling those positions.

DIVISION REPORTS:
DASL:K. McCoy offered the following report. On February 6, 2004, the monthly DASL meeting will be held at the Long Island Library Resource Council at 10am. After the meeting, members will tour the new Wang Center at 12:00pm. A publishing series that will offer an overview of web publishing using three different web editors is scheduled for the following Fridays: March 12th, 19th, 26th of 2004. Announcements will be going out shortly. And on Wednesday May 5th DASL will present "As Time Goes By: Creating an oral history of your community or institution" at the Long Island Library Conference. Elly Shodell, Port Washington Public Library will speak about how to preserve your institutional or community memory with an oral history project so history doesn't die as people retire, die, or move away. Ms. Shodell is director of the Port Washington Public Library's 15-year-old oral history program and written and edited many local history books. S. Ingram asked who will be presenting the 3 web publishing workshops. Kevin is offering one, and two other instructors from Suffolk Community College are offering the other two.

RASD:S. Gottesman offered the following report. RASD last met on January 13th. CARE was scheduled to have a meeting on Thursday, January 15th at the Brentwood Public Library. S. Holden reported that the meeting was rescheduled for February 5th. A tour of the One-Stop Career Center in Hauppauge is scheduled for March 18th. CARE's bibliography for career development has been posted to their web page. The Health Concerns Committee has a meeting scheduled for January 29th at Patchogue-Medford Library. Ideas for this year's topic for will be discussed. The Historian had no report. The Long Island History Committee's new co-chair, Cathy Ball, reported that a survey was sent to help the committee decide how to best proceed with their mission. The Media Committee had no report. Membership for RASD is currently at 322 members. Jo-Ann Carhart is still filling in for Mary Soergel. She has drawn up a letter that will be e-mailed to each committee chairperson to use at their meetings to 'encourage' those in attendance who may not be members of SCLA/RASD. The Multicultural/Multilingual Committee held their first meeting on December 19th at the Brentwood Public Library. Jean Kaleda and Mary Kelly discussed their trip to the Guadalajara Book Fair. Nan Chen has done a demographic profile for all Suffolk County libraries. The committee would like to arrange with CARE a visit to the job center at the Brooklyn Public Library and also sponsor a non-English book fair at SCLS. The next meeting is scheduled for March 23rd at the Huntington Library-Huntington Station Branch. OARS had a meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 15th at the Central Islip Public Library. Barbara Hoffman will be doing a program at the Long Island Library Conference titled "The Story Begins At Home: Grandparents sharing stories with grandchildren." The next Reader's Advisory Committee meeting will be on January 22nd at the Huntington Library-Huntington Station Branch. Members will discuss Long Island authors and settings. Diane Eidelman suggested that they update the list of Long Island books created a few years ago by John Patton. The committee will be doing a Reader's Advisory reference workshop at SCLS on March 31st. New RASD Board members were introduced. The next RASD meeting will be on February 10th at SCLS.

CATS:CATS met on Tuesday, January 13th. Upcoming meetings include a 2-part PowerPoint workshop is scheduled for March 5th and April 30th from 2-4pm at SCLS. Ceil Hearn of Sharper Solutions will be offering the presentation. The cost is $15 for members and $20 for non-members. On March 22nd, there will be an Open Forum for Technical Services at the Half Hollow Hills Community Library. And on May 5th, CATS will be sponsoring a program at the Long Island Library Conference on Security and the Invasion of Privacy. 

SSD:Since the January SCLA Executive Board meeting of SSD will not be held until January 20th, there was little to report. F. Byrne has announced that all subsequent SSD Executive Board meetings are set for the Tuesday before the SCLA Executive Board Meetings. The SSD website has been updated and now shows all current information. They wish to thank Joe Loughren who will continue to chair the SSD website committee. The Long Island Library Conference Committee has accepted the program proposal that SSD submitted entitled "Serving People With Disabilities." Committee member Valerie Lewis will present the program. SSD looks forward to a very informative and helpful presentation at this year's conference.

YASD:No report.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
ARCHIVES:S. Johnson reported that, while looking for something completely different, she read a few facts that answer questions she heard people mention recently. The Library Conference has been held since 1946, although she heard it was decided to use 1964 as the official start date. It was called the Spring Institute since 1946 and attendance the first year was 60. By 1964, 360 people attended. Also, from Stanley Ransom's history of SCLA "The initiation of an annual financial and statistical survey of Suffolk County libraries...was first undertaken in 1960 by Mrs. Joy Meisels, director of the West Islip Public Library."

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS: No report.

CONTINUING EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS:K. Baudouin offered the following report. The committee met on January 13, 2004. The committee has expressed an interest in having a Continuing Education calendar on SCLA's web page. The committee has a workshop scheduled for February 26th at 10am at SCLS titled "How to Run an Effective Meeting" to be presented by Walter Matthews. The committee wants to offer Mr. Matthews a $250 honorarium. The committee plans on charging a registration fee of $10 for members and $12 for non-members. With those fees, they would need 30 people to attend to be able to cover all expenses. If they have less than 25 people, they would need money for refreshments. Karen asked if she should make a motion to request money. C. Guzzo suggested that the committee wait ntil February's SCLA Executive Board meeting, as it will still be prior to the workshop, and at that point, there will be a clearer idea as to how many people will be interested in attending. S. Ingram suggested that if the committee could cover at least half of the expenses, that SCLA is likely to vote to cover any necessary additional expenses. S. Holden reminded everyone that a Board Action would be needed, and Stephen said that he was aware of that, but wanted to give the committee a general idea as to what they might be able to expect the SCLA Board to support. The committee has a program scheduled for the Long Island Library Conference that will address personality types. They plan to have a follow-up session with a registration fee to follow up on the information offered at the Conference. There is a trip being planned for Fall of 2004. Stephen suggested that one possibility that might want to be considered is the Suffolk County Police Department Library. He had occasion to speak to the librarian there and found it fascinating. B. Hoffman also mentioned the Suffolk County Police Department Museum in Yaphank. The committee is also focusing on e-mailing information to interested people, rather than flyers in order to save money. The next meeting is scheduled for March 9th.

ELSA:G. Pepa reported that she and Elyse Hayes are the official co-chairpersons of the committee for 2004. They have invited our 2003 committee members to sign-up for another term and Gail has heard from several members to date who will continue on. If there is anyone who would like to join us or if people have checked off ELSA on their SCLA membership forms, please let either Gail or Elyse know. The committee is working with Rona Dressler, unofficially, on updating the brochure for this year but they think there needs to be a better method to get this done from year to year. In the past, Angie took care of this and then passed it on to Paul at SCLS to print. A more formal arrangement needs to be set up by which the layout and editing is done. S. Ingram volunteered to help out with the existing file, and also suggested creating a central location for files such as these. C. Guzzo asked if the SCLA web page could be used more for brochures such as this one, and Stephen said he would look into it, and that he would touch base with Rona to discuss how he could help. Gail also announced that the ELSA plaque will now be displayed in the winner's library for the year of the award.

FALL DINNER: C. Guzzo reported that Della Bucher and Marjorie Fusco will be the co-chairs for the 2004 Fall Dinner.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: K. McCoy reported that an electronic survey to gather input from librarians to see what issues and activities they would like to see the committee involved with is currently being conducted.

LDA AWARD:No report.

LEGISLATIVE: S. Johnson reported that there was a meeting on January 6th, but because there was no quorum, there was no official action taken that day. There was, however, a lively discussion about Library Legislation Day and the Legislative Breakfast. One request that was made was that there be one flyer that is used for Library Legislation Day for both NCLA members and SCLA members with the same basic information. Upcoming events include Library Legislation Day (the annual bus trip to Albany) which will be on March 16th. The cost will be $8 per person, and will include refreshments. Flyers will be sent out soon, and there will be two pick-up locations in Suffolk County for people to choose from. S. Ingram asked if there were any specific issues to be addressed, and Suzanne emphatically answered that there are. The primary issue is the proposed New York State Budget, which once again attempts to cut state aid to New York Libraries. It was reported that legislators found the postcard campaign of last year very effective. Suzanne asked for a motion for a check for $250 for the deposit for the bus company. Stephen made the motion, C. Guzzo seconded. None were opposed. F. Altemose agreed to help with the arrangements with the bus company, and Fran asked for suggestions. K. Baudouin recommended Sunrise, and Fran said she would look into it. Suzanne said the future of the Legislative Breakfast was also discussed. PLDA did vote to have their own breakfast in 2004. Stephen asked if this hurts SCLA, and people seemed to agree that it does. It is feared that numerous breakfasts will cause sponsoring groups to compete. Cindy asked if Suzanne was at the breakfast last year and, if so, what her impression of the breakfast was. Suzanne was there, and she did acknowledge that there were glitches, but she felt that those issues didn’t necessarily warrant 'throwing out the baby with the bathwater.'

LIST-SERV:K. McCoy reported that there are currently 849 members. He also noted that there are more people on the listserv than SCLA has as members. Kevin will update the listserv once Regina compiles the list of new members.

LONG ISLAND LIBRARY CONFERENCE: P. Thomson read the following report. The committee met on January 12th at the Crest Hollow Country Club in order to continue planning for the conference and to walk through the venue's facilities. The issue was raised about the decision of the committee to not include those program proposals that were incomplete by the posted deadline. The decision to adhere strictly to established deadlines was made at the start of the 2004 committee's planning year, and is important in order to maintain the flow of work necessary to successfully plan for the annual conference. All program slots were filled as of December 17th. The committee and Alan Schelp, the 2004 Chairperson, regrets if any group or groups felt overlooked or slighted, and wanted to reassure everyone that no disrespect was meant in holding to the decision of honoring deadlines as posted. The next planning meeting is scheduled for February 11th at the Sachem Public Library. C. Guzzo relayed what, specifically, had occurred to the best of her knowledge. S. Holden said she felt it was a real concern that a division was not going to be presenting their program that the conference. Sue also noted that, because the venue for the conference had been changed a few years ago, the number of programs has been cut almost in half. She felt that was a problem that needed to be addressed and that the SCLA Executive Board should get involved with addressing the issue. The issue of having regular representation at SCLA Executive Board meetings was noted as a problem and that this particular situation illustrates some consequences of a lack of representation and communication at SCLA Executive Board meetings. F. Altemose suggested that perhaps the program that was ultimately created for the 2004 conference could be used for the 2005 conference instead. B. Hoffman expressed a concern about the timeliness of the topic. P. Thomson said that, due to the limited number of program slots, that the responsibility should ultimately fall on each division or committee to submit their proposal as early as possible. The consistency of the deadline for program proposals should be used to each division or committee's advantage. However, if there is to be any following-up on the progress of program proposals, Patty felt that the SCLA Executive Board should make it their responsibility and inquire in late summer or early fall about each committee and division's progress. B. Hoffman mentioned the Best Award, and it was suggested that the Long Island Library Conference committee be contacted for any ideas or suggestions specifically dealing with the conference.

LONG RANGE PLANNING/PUBLIC RELATIONS:S. Holden reported that the committee met on January 4th at the Northport Public Library to discuss goals for 2004-2005 and to make final arrangements for the Palmer School Spring Orientation Visit, scheduled for January 23rd. Various librarians from Nassau and Suffolk libraries will be attending the spring orientation representing different fields of library science, and R. McEneaney was thanked for agreeing to attend to discuss opportunities available in the academic field. One of the goals mentioned at the January meeting was to increase the membership of SCLA, and to that end they suggested that Regina meet with all membership chairs in one place to share ideas and to become more cohesive. S. Ingram said he would also attend, if invited. Stephen also suggested using SCLA's web page as the central source of information, and asked each division to be mindful of sending relevant information to the SCLA Webmaster to be posted. B. Hoffman also mentioned that she would like to have the newsletter posted to the web page, but she has problems with the pictures.

MEMBERSHIP:P. Thomson read the following report. As of January 8th, there are 731 active members. Many renewals are coming in daily. Division membership lists were distributed to division presidents.

NEWSLETTER:B. Hoffman reported that there were problems printing the December/January/February newsletter. Barbara will talk to Aurora to try to prevent the problem in the future. She also will ask Paul Miner if she can proof the newsletter one additional time before it goes to print to prevent errors. The deadline for articles for the next newsletter is February 1st. The information that S. Johnson reported for Archives will be included in the next newsletter. Suzanne asked if an article about Library Legislation Day could appear on the front page. Barbara said that would be okay, as long as she receives an article. Suzanne said she would make sure that Barbara got a copy of the flyer that will be sent to all members. Barbara also asked for pictures, and reminded everyone that pictures cannot be returned. She also said that if program information for the newsletter isn't submitted prior to a program, she would gladly print articles about programs after they have occurred. Barbara is trying to get the newsletter out by the first week of March. She mentioned that they are actively working on advertisements, and that Laurene Tesoriero is the Advertisement Manager. They haven't made a major push yet to get articles, but hope to publicize the availability of advertising space in the next newsletter. E. Cichanowicz asked about the rates, and Barbara said that they were discussed and approved at a prior board meeting. P. Thomson suggested creating a flyer for the vendors who participate at the Long Island Library Conference, and Barbara said she would pass the suggestion to Laurene. S. Ingram said he would contact D. Zubiller to see if the newsletter can be posted to the SCLA web page.

NOMINATING:Cynthia Guzzo reported that S. Ingram will now chair this committee and that he will be working on this throughout the year.

PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: No report.

PUBLIC AWARENESS/RELATIONS:

SCHOLARSHIP: No report.

STATISTICAL SURVEY: No report. C. Guzzo said she was still looking for someone to fill this position. E.R. Capitanio asked what needs to be done. S. Ingram said the most important thing is that the person really knows Excel. Stephen also said he would work on a way to have an electronic form that could be posted on SCLA's website to make data collection easier. Forms need to be sent by June in order for printing to take place on time.

SUFFOLK COUNTY JAILS LIBRARY SERVICE: No report.

WEB PAGE:No report. C. Guzzo said that she was aware that there were problems with SCLA's web page, but they are now fixed.

LIAISONS:
CLASC:No report. S. Holden reported that CLASC will also send a member to Palmer's Student Orientation.

Eastern Suffolk BOCES: No report.

LILRC:No report.

LVA: No report.

NCLA:No report. C. Guzzo reported that she appointed Rona Dressler for this position. After she made that appointment, Laurene Tesoriero asked if she could continue her position. S. Holden asked if both could co-chair, and that having two people might be ideal. Everyone seemed to agree. Cindy agreed to have both Rona and Laurene share the position.

PLDA: No report.

SCLS:No report.

SLA:P. Thomson read the following report. SLA-LI is making arrangements for a number of upcoming programs. One is called "Change is Critical" scheduled for March 2nd. Another program will be a jointly sponsored breakfast with MEDLI. The third program will address budgeting issues, and is planned for the Spring. More information will follow as the details are finalized.

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE:
E. Cichanowicz has already started planning for the 2004 Writers on the Vine fundraiser. Last year, she spent $445 for tickets, and SCLA made $675. This year, she suggests that we purchase 100 tickets. SCLA's cost would be $600, but we would have the potential to raise $900 if the cost per ticket were to be increased to $15. F. Altemose made a motion to expend the necessary money for the purchase, B. Hoffman seconded. None were opposed. Fran said she is going to look into the purchase of Ducks tickets, making arrangements for the bus for Library Legislation Day, and asked about approaching King Kullen to have publicity on their shopping bags. In the past, the problem was we were recognizing National Library Week. Fran suggested asking for publicity in September, when libraries celebrate Library Card month. Everyone agreed that September was a better month to ask for publicity.

OLD BUSINESS:
No report.

NEW BUSINESS:
B. Hoffman mentioned that she has authored a book called "My Nana's a Librarian." Barbara owns the rights to the story, and wants to keep the copyright for the text, but she has offered to make the book available for outreach or fundraising purposes. Some discussion as to how to best take advantage of this offer took place. Suggestions included using the text on the SCLA web page and to apply for a grant to have the book published. S. Ingram said he would look at the text of the book as an outreach tool.

S. Ingram adjourned the meeting at 12:03PM.