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WESTCHESTER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
Summary of the Meeting of the Board of Directors
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Scarsdale Village Hall

Present: Z. M. Baird, Canuelas, Cutul, Dressler, Herzberg, Lindsay, Monahan, Murphy, Ransom, Rao, Rodgers, Smith, and Tannenbaum

Excused: T. Baird, Hesler, Hopkins, Huang, Jackson, Juarbe, Mannino, Mecca, Paulsen, and Rovenger

Meeting commenced at 10:10AM.  Ransom noted that there was no quorum. Cutul will investigate if rules regarding a quorum allow for flexibility with regard to the number that constitutes a quorum.  Summary of November 9 meeting was approved with two corrections.

President’s Report:

  • Ransom summarized discussions from our last meeting about the Support Staff program at the Midwinter Conference and subsequent developments.  For practical reasons, Warren Graham’s all day workshop Black Belt Librarians: Security that Works has been postponed until the Annual Conference.
  • Rachel Charny from WLS has agreed to run a hands-on computer workshop on successfully using Windows-Based Computer Programs. She has also agreed to WLS co-sponsoring Warren Graham’s workshop at the WLA Annual Conference May 11.

Treasurer’s Report:

  • Rodgers has e-mailed Board members the November statements of the Checking and Investor’s Choice accounts. Balance in the Checking account is currently $14,340.31, and balance in the Investor’s Choice account is $9,723.69. The interest rate in the Investor’s Choice account is 8.4%.
  • Cutul asked about withdrawal rules and possible penalties for the Investor’s Choice account. Rodgers will investigate.

Membership Report:

  • Rao reported that 2007 membership checks are coming in daily. She reported that so far we have 143 members for 2007. 113 have renewed from 2006 and 18 from 2005. There were 12 new members. Her membership goal is 300 members. There were 246 members in 2006.
  • Contributions toward Professional Development amounted to $213.00. Z. M. Baird will check on how much money is available in the Professional Development Fund, and Rao will track scholarship amount.
  • Rao has asked Rodgers and Jeff Ault to post WLA membership information on the PLDA listserv, and she asked Monahan to post to School Librarians. Monahan answered that he will send membership information by mail to School Media Librarians in Northern Westchester.
  • Rao will contact local library schools later in December with help of several board members. Library school teachers will be approached for the most effective membership recruitment. It was also suggested that we have one or more Library School representatives at the Midwinter Conference depending upon space.
  • Rao will share a membership table at the Midwinter Conference with chair of the Legislation Committee.
  • Rao will enter the 2007 membership information into the Membership database during Christmas vacation.
  • Rao will e-mail a list of 2007 members to Mecca, Lindsay, Herzberg, Ransom and Cutul before January 1, 2007.

Youth Services Report:

Z. M. Baird reported that the Committee had received many nominations for the mock awards to be given out at the Midwinter Conference. She will to talk to Hopkins about room needs for the various program groups.

Support Staff Report:

Smith will confer with Rachel Charny about the workshop that she will run at Midwinter.

Midwinter Conference:

Funding:

Z. M. Baird is waiting to hear from EBSCO and Baker & Taylor for breakfast sponsorship. She needs menu and dollar amount from vendor.

Breakfast:

Herzberg has booked a deluxe breakfast for 75 people ($5 per person).  She is waiting for the menu and will check if price includes coffee refill. Herzberg will e-mail Z. M. Baird with details to give to potential sponsors.

Registration:

Mecca reported via Ransom that we have one registrant for the Midwinter Conference so far. After discussion, it was suggested we extend the registration deadline to January 5 which will be announced on the WLA Web site December 21. Rao will send out reminder e-mails January 2 to members who have not yet signed up.

Equipment & Signage

  • Programmers should contact Hopkins with program equipment needs (with a cc to Lindsay) by December 21 as last minute arrangements are difficult to make.
  • Ransom will ask Hopkins to prepare appropriate signs for the January 12 Conference.
  • Lindsay will approach Hopkins to offer her assistance with arrangements at WCC.

Annual Conference:

  • The Annual Conference will be May 11 at the Yonkers Riverfront Library. Parking will be tougher this year as one parking lot close to the River will not be available. Herzberg will inquire about the parking garage capacity. We can also encourage car pooling or suggest that attendees take the train.
  • Rao will include preliminary Conference information with her reminder mailing to members who have not yet renewed their membership for 2007.

Deadlines:

  • Deadline for preliminary Conference information is March 5 with a final deadline of March 15 in order for Rao to send out her Conference mailing the first Monday in April.
  • Herzberg reminded program chairpersons to limit program descriptions to 2-3 lines for the flyer on the Web because of space considerations.

Washington Irving Award:

Murphy stated that it would be best if award winning authors sat together with Conference attendees at lunch time. Lindsay suggested that we set aside the Community Room for “Lunch with the Authors.”

Snow Chain:

Z. M. Baird distributed a Snow Chain list. The master list was circulated, and she will e-mail a revised copy to Board members.

Miscellaneous:

  • Cutul reported that many documents and an audit are required for WLA to get bulk mail rate for mailings. The idea of applying for bulk mail rate will be reconsidered if we can get a pro bono audit from a CPA.
  • Monahan recommended two speakers who recently had programs at BOCES: Michael Sullivan “Connecting Boys to Books” and Robert Lackie, who was WLA’s Reference Section speaker on the Invisible Web at the Annual Conference in May of 2002.

Meeting adjourned at 12 Noon.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted by Ann-Marie Cutul

Next Board meeting:
Date: Thursday, February 8, 2007
Time: 10 a.m. to Noon
Place: Scarsdale Public Library

 





Last modified on 12/19/2006 by the WLA Web Administration Committee