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Approved on February 20, 2026
Suffolk County Library Association (SCLA) Minutes
Friday, January 16, 2026
Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
In attendance: Rachel Cecchini, Zachary Sogluizzo, Sue Kandle, Bob Johnson, Anthony Giansante, Tim Spindler, Jackie Narkiewicz, Amanda Hayman, Katie Brand, Rebecca Goldstein, Rita Alfano, Sam Alberts, Tim Sicurella, Tory Young, Liz Hughes, Jen Conlon, Abby Aszwed, Alexis Camarda, Nicole Malley, Steve Alcalde
Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 10:11 AM by Bob Johnson. Seconded by Rebecca Goldstein.
Announcements:
Motion to approve the December 2025 meeting minutes by Steve Alcalde. Seconded by Nicole Malley.
Presidents Report – Bob Johnson reported:
Thanks to Anthony Giansante and the entire 2025 SCLA Board and members for everything they did last year and their continued support.
Bob would like to include a monthly raffle (not from SCLA funds) at the meetings, to honor all board members for their commitment, both during work hours and off work, spending time away from their family to accomplish SCLA goals. The idea is to use the winnings with your family. Our January winner is Zach Sogluizzo from Half Hollow Hills. He was asked to report back in February.
Treasurer’s Report – Wonda Miller reported:
December Finances:
SCLA began with a combined starting balance of all our accounts on December 1st of $96,025.77.
The income for December was $13,019.01, primarily from LILC proceeds, membership renewals, and RASD & YASD Annual luncheons.
The expenses for December total $9,821.22, primarily for Advocacy buses, and reimbursements for event fees.
The closing balance for December was $99,223.56 with $599.13 in pending checks.
|
Income |
Expense |
Net |
Closing Balance |
|
|
January 2025 |
$5,881.91 |
$6,581.88 |
-$699.97 |
$99,617.61 |
|
February 2025 |
$4,218.83 |
$3,480.11 |
$738.72 |
$100,356.33 |
|
March 2025 |
$3,361.64 |
$1,350.33 |
$2,011.31 |
$102,367.64 |
|
April |
$5,010.97 |
$6,826.85 |
-$1,815.88 |
$100,551.76 |
|
May |
$2,996.76 |
$2,262.97 |
$733.79 |
$101,285.55 |
|
June |
$1,948.81 |
$3,856.02 |
-$1,907.21 |
$99,378.34 |
|
July |
$658.44 |
$808.49 |
-$150.05 |
$99,228.29 |
|
August |
$891.36 |
$1,019.56 |
-$128.20 |
$99,100.09 |
|
September |
$1,765.43 |
$2,535.08 |
-$769.65 |
$98,330.44 |
|
October |
$6,582.98 |
$12,013.37 |
-$5,430.39 |
$92,900.05 |
|
November |
$4,515.93 |
$1,390.21 |
$3,125.72 |
$96,025.77 |
|
December |
$13,019.01 |
$9,821.22 |
$3,197.79 |
$99,223.56 |
Division Reports
DASL – Bruce Seger reported:
We are awaiting a response regarding a program submitted for the annual conference. In addition, I will be coordinating with LILRC and ASLD regarding our spring invitational. I should have updates for both at our next meeting.
RASD – Jackie Narkiewicz reported:
RASD offered a very successful program on Intro to AI for Librarians on January 14 that was attended by over 50 people. MOSAIC wants to offer the “Best Plus 3.0” training through Literacy Suffolk for librarians in early February. Long Island Reads has a new website! Find us at www.longislandreads.org. The Programming Guide for the 2026 pick can be found there, and we’ll be directing everyone to the website for tickets in March. Information about the coordinated order should be coming soon, with the Reader’s Guide to follow. The next meeting for the Readers Advisory Committee is Thursday, January 29, 2026 at 10 a.m. at SCLS. Our topic is Healing Fiction.
CATS – Nicole Malley reported:
CATS is planning a Women in Tech panel, along with the EETC. Location and date is still being determined. We have 4 panelists and a moderator participating, and are looking for a Tech services and Children’s librarian to join the panel, ideally from the East End.
We have appointed Alex Cranshaw as our Emerging Tech Chair, and I have been appointed co-chair of TIF, as of our last meeting.
We have scheduled our board meeting dates for the first half of the year, which has been posted to the SCLA website. They will take place in person at SCLS, on the first Wednesday of the month, except for February which will be on the 11th.
SSD and CATS are currently coordinating a Vega Discover training. This will be held February 23 from 2-4pm at the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library.
SSD – Alexis Camarda reported:
SSD and CATS will co-host a Vega meeting in February at the Mastic Library. PALS will join us for part of this session to review the latest features and additional technical aspects of Vega.
We are also looking into hosting a second annual Virtual Library Gallery Meet-Up soon, as we did last January.
SSD has its monthly board meetings scheduled for the last Tuesday of each month in 2026. We hope to make a motion to appoint Abigail Szwed as Secretary and Hailey DeVaul as Treasurer.
Bob thanked CATS and SSD for reigniting the SSD division, as it was struggling for a while and now has a new board and lots of ideas to move forward.
YASD – Amanda Hayman reported:
YASD just held its successful 2025 Luncheon on December 15 at Toast in Patchogue with guest speakers Veronica Agarwal and Lee Durfey-Lavoie, coauthors of the middle-grade graphic novels Just Roll with It and Sink or Swim. We will be having our first board meeting next Wednesday, January 21 at SCLS at 10AM and following will be our first event of the year: our Vision Board Workshop and Meet the Board event!
Committee Reports
Annual Dinner – Melissa Sutter reported:
No report, but is possibly looking for a new venue.
Archives – Bruce reported:
No report.
Civil Service: No report.
Community Service – Liz Hughes reported:
No report.
Continuing Education – Jen Conlon reported:
She was finally able to access the email account that she needed.
ELSA – Zach reported:
No report, but was shown where all of the ELSA supplies are kept at SCLS.
Intellectual Freedom – Bruce Seger reported:
As mentioned previously, I do have a speaker, Kelsun, and we hope to have him scheduled for mid-February.
LDA Award – Liz Hughes reported:
Prep work has begun for this year’s LDA award. Nassau County is in charge of collecting this year’s nominations and buying the plaque for the winner. We have just finalized the new brochure and it should be ready for distribution in the next week or so. Like in year’s past, SCLA will only be sending it out via the listserv, but if anyone would like physical copies sent to them, please let me know, ehughes@elwoodlibrary.org, and I am happy to send them to your library.
Legislative – Sam Alberts reported:
Advocacy Day is Feb 3, 2026. There are 2 buses scheduled to go up for Advocacy day. The first bus is now full. The 2nd bus currently still has seats available. Please consider attending and registering to take the bus. There are two Advocacy Information trainings scheduled for January 27th at 10 am and January 29th at 2 pm.
LEOC – Tory Young reported:
First meeting of the LEOC Roundtable will be held in-person at SCLS on Wednesday, February 11 at 9:30 am. Currently we have 10 attendees signed up.
First webinar in partnership with LILPA: Microaggressions in the Library presented by Charles Fox from Legal Aid Society of Suffolk. This will be Thursday, March 12 at 10 am.
Bob asked about setting up a Zoom meeting to discuss the possibility of doing a podcast.
Long Island Library Conference: Registration is underway. Programs submitted will be decided upon at the end of January and those selected will be notified..
LILPA – Katie Brand reported:
Mock Stonewall will be held virtually on Thursday, January 29th at 10:00am. Titles have been announced and registration is underway.
We are collecting LGBTQIA+ books to give away at this year’s Pride Parade in June. Please send any titles you may have to Katie Brand at Smithtown-Commack.
Long Range Planning/Marketing:
Membership: No report.
Networking – Tim Sicurella reported:
There will be a networking event at James Joyce in Patchogue on Thursday, February 26 for 37.50 per person. Tim asked for a motion to approve $500 for the deposit at James Joyce. Jackie made the motion. Anthony seconded. All in favor. Tim has submitted the Disbursement Request Form; invoice from James Joyce forthcoming. Flyers for the event have been sent out to the listserv.
Scholarship – Rachel Cecchini reported: No report.
Student Outreach – Rachel Cecchini reported:
I am compiling a list of library science schools to send materials out to. I’ll be using the SCLA Canva account to make an informational sheet that will be sent to the schools. I’d like to send a copy of the sheet to each Suffolk County library, with the hopes that it could be posted in a staff area.
Newsletter – Carole Lingg reported: No report.
Nominating – Rebecca Goldstein reported:
It’s never too early to think about nominating the next executive board. Please get the word out and send Rebecca any suggestions.
Web Page – Steve Alcalde reported:
He updated both SCLA and Wild Apricot websites to reflect the 2026 SCLA Board.
He added all available SCLA, CATS, and TIF meetings to the SCLA calendar, and asked other divisions to provide him with information when possible.
Also, upon request from Liz Hughes, he updated the YASD link on the SCLA page.
He has updated admins on Wild Apricot, and has asked all divisions to verify their incoming secretaries so he can ensure they have necessary access.
Finally, he asked all board members to submit any information to him that they would like posted on the SCLA page, Wild Apricot, and SCLA’s Facebook page.
Liaisons
CLASC: No report.
LILRC – Sally Stieglitz reported:
LILRC has the advocacy day schedule up on its site. This is still being updated and times may change. LILRC’s spring intern Elisha Feliz will start her internship next week.
NCLA: No report.
PLDA – Shauna Scholl reported:
Registration is still open for the two-day advocacy bus. Register by January 30th to reserve your seat. A check for $75 made out to Suffolk PLDA may be sent to Shauna Scholl, PLDA Treasurer @ Mattituck-Laurel Library.
SCLS: Samantha thanked everyone for their Advocacy support.
NYLA – Tim Spindler reported:
Advocacy Day is February 3.
Members-at-Large:
Old Business – Bob Johnson reported: No report.
New Business – Bob Johnson reported:
On behalf of Wonda Miller: Every year in January the Divisions are awarded $500.00 from the SCLA general fund, per a resolution that was passed in 2023. Bob asked for a motion to disperse $500 to each division, for a total of $2500. Rebecca made the motion. Jen seconded it. All in favor.
On behalf of Wonda Miller: I’d like to propose a resolution to hire Al Coster again this year to be our accountant for filing our tax returns and providing us with a Financial Report (it is an overview of our activity, rather than an audit which would be much more expensive). Last year it cost $1750.00, the proposed cost for this year is $1950.00. Bob asked for a motion to hire Al Coster. Rebecca made the motion. Amanda seconded. All in favor.
Other ideas for SCLA this year:
Meet SCLA Night – date TBD, possibly the second week in March. Bob asked for a motion to approve funds not to exceed $2000 for this event. Nicole made the motion. Alexis seconded. All in favor.
Sponsorship program – Bob is working on specifics for a sponsorship program where vendors/companies would pay for advertisements that will appear in our newsletter. Ideas are $250-$750 per year; program would be open to all but possibly can do an exclusivity for a certain amount of time (ex: Roofing company would be the only roofing business to be listed for a set period of time). If you have contacts that might be interested, please let Bob know. He will provide more specifics at the February meeting.
Broadway with SCLA – This would be a bus trip for a day, which includes lunch and a Broadway show. More information at the February meeting.
Please send Bob any additional ideas for programs, membership, funding, etc.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 am by Anthony Giansante. Seconded by Alexis Camarda.