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Present: Zahra M. Baird, Aurora Cruz, Kate Colquitt, Ann-Marie Cutul, Ed Falcone, James Leftwich, Opal B. Lindsay, Cathy Paulsen, Carolyn Reznick, Judith Rovenger, and Karen Zielinski

Excused: Tim Baird, Diane Batemarco, Karyn De Luca, Maxine Grandison, Harriet Huang, and Srivalli Rao

The meeting was called to order at 10:25 A.M.  Motion (Reznick/Lindsay) to accept Minutes from the September 11 meeting passed with two minor corrections.

President’s Report:

• President Leftwich welcomed new board member  Kate Colquitt, Co-Chair of the Youth Services Section. Leftwich further announced that Marybeth Kendrick will be her companion Co-Chair. John Monahan has also agreed to be a BOCES representative, as well as a WALDO Co-Chair along with Karen Vanterpool from  the Westchester Community College. Leftwich has also checked out a number of possibilites for special events to be held by WLA.

Treasurer’s Report:

• Falcone reported that as of September 30, 2008, the Checking Account had a balance of $18,446.62 and the Savings Account $19,855.39. Falcone had investigated putting some money into a short term CD, but reported that the shortest term non personal CD that Chase offers is a nine month CD. Falcone will check with other banks.

Membership Report:

• Leftwich reported on behalf of Rao who was excused. Rao will contact Trudy Katz and ask her if she can speak to her library school class about WLA, same as last year. She will ask Kathy Mannino to accompany her. Rao also wonders if Eugene Howell will help us again in reaching out to Queens students in Spring 2009. Rao would like to do the same for Pratt and is looking for any recent Pratt graduates to assist her.
• Rao would like to increase the membership to the 2007 level which was around 285. She wonders if we are going to bring back the Mid-Winter Conference which always would bring in new members.
• Rao welcomes the idea of using Paypal to register for the Annual Conference. Leftwich reported that Paypal would charge a small transaction fee for each person. Leftwich and Falcone will research how to set up a Paypal account for a non-profit.

Web Administration Committee:

• Zahra M. Baird reported on behalf of Tim Baird who was excused. Tim has posted the Robert Trudell Public Library Scholarship Award information on the WLA homepage.
• Tim would also welcome any pictures from the WLA Annual Conference for the website.

Reference Section:

• Paulsen reported that Cutul had suggested Brewster Kahle as a possible speaker for the Annual Conference. Kahle is the founder of  the Internet Archive, and he is also spearheading the Open Content Alliance. Kahle is a Scarsdale High School graduate, and he is a very dynamic speaker. Co-Chair Reznick will contact Kahle.

Youth Services Section:

• Kate Colquitt and Marybeth Kendrick are the new Co-Chairs. Zahra M. Baird reported as a member of the section about tentative plans for the Mock Awards program and the Performers Showcase. The Mock Awards program will most likely be held the first week in January at the White Plains Library and will be more formal this year with authors present. The Performers Showcase is a joint program with WLS and will tentatively be held at the Scarsdale Public Library in March.

Public Relations Committee:

• Leftwich will contact Shelby Monroe, currently at Peekskill, to see if she would be interested in chairing the committee. Cutul will also contact library school student Rachel Frank.

Legislation Committee:

• Leftwich will check if Juarbe still wants to chair the committee.

Professional Development Committee:

• Zielinski has been in touch with James Mahoney at the Nyack Public Library for information regarding the Robert Trudell Public Library Scholarship Award. The award is $1000 and open to current or prospective Library School students. Deadline is March 31, and the award will be announced at the WLA Annual Conference. Complete information and application have been posted on the WLA website.

Annual Conference 2009:

• Cruz has polled Board members and announced that the preferred date was May 8. She has secured the date with the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown with a $500 deposit.  Cruz reported that we will have more break-out rooms this time and will also be allowed to bring our own equipment which will keep costs down. Breakfast charge will be $12 per person, and, hopefully, we will be able to secure a sponsor.
• Zielinski strongly urged a discounted early bird registration fee to discourage last minute sign ups.
• This year we will also have the Washington Irving book awards, and we should aim to have a list of winners well in advance for adequate publicity.
• Leftwich will look for a keynote speaker, preferably an author.
• Zahra M. Baird distributed a sample LARC Conference Registration and Program leaflet which has an attractive format.
• Rothman, Zahra M.Baird and Paulsen suggested that the Conference theme be Making a Difference: The Changing  Look and Feel of Libraries.
• Zahra M. Baird, on behalf of Vice President Sharon Rothman,  also proposed the following workshops: 151 Quick Ideas to Deal with Difficult People with speaker Carrie Mason-Draffen; Defy the “Librarian Image:” Dress Professionally and Fashionably on a Budget with speaker Pamela Parisi and Gadgets and Gear: Helping the Public Get a Grip on New Technology with speakers Bob Johnson and Dominic Iadiccio.

December event:

• Leftwich discussed the various venues he has explored, such as the Westchester Arts Council, Purchase College and Barnes & Noble. The B& N event would involve WLA members making purchases at the store a particular day with a percentage of the money spent coming back to WLA. The Committee decided that the “Book Fair” at B& N should not be pursued at this time.
• Zahra M. Baird also reported on a possible event to be held at the Jacob Burns Film Center: Read the Book: See the Movie. A film screening committee will preview The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency slated to be released in 2009. If the committee accepts the film, Jacob Burns is willing to arrange a private screening for WLA with refreshments afterwards. The Board members all endorsed this idea.

Late Winter-Early Spring event:

• Reznick proposed an evening of live entertainment and refreshments at O’Malley’s Bar and Restaurant in Mount Kisco. She will investigate further.

The meeting was adjourned (Falcone/Cruz) at 11:50.

                                                Respectfully submitted by Ann-Marie Cutul

Next WLA meeting:

Date: November 13, 2008
Place: Yonkers Will Library
Time: 10 A.M. - Noon