Summary February 8th, 2007

 

WESTCHESTER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
Summary of the Meeting of the Board of Directors
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Scarsdale Public Library

 

Present: Z. M. Baird, Tata Cañuelas, Ann-Marie Cutul, Marci Dressler, Lois Herzberg, June Hesler, Tracey Jackson, Cathy Paulsen, Jennifer L. Ransom, Sara Rodgers, and Karen Zielinski

 

Excused: Timothy Baird, Harriet Huang, Opal B. Lindsay, Lisa Mecca, John Monahan, Janet Murphy, Srivalli Rao, John Smith, and Ellen Tannenbaum

 

The meeting commenced at 10:10 A.M. Ransom noted that there was no quorum. Summary of the Minutes from the December 7, 2006 meeting was approved.

 

Quorum issue: Cutul agreed to join the Bylaws Committee (Rodgers and Z. M. Baird with Ransom as an ex officio member) to study quorum requirements and propose changes to the existing Bylaws. Changes will be voted upon by members at the Annual Conference.

 

President’s Report:

2007 Midwinter Conference: Ransom reported that there were 106 attendees. Ransom had e-mailed evaluation forms to every 2007 WLA member with an e-mail address (over 200) and got 24 responses back which, generally, were positive. Comments and suggestions from the evaluations: Get an “outside” keynote speaker, i.e., someone who is not in the library profession; suggest the slant for a particular topic to speaker and emphasize the importance of sticking to that topic; have several workshops throughout the year; run leadership training workshops; and explore the topic of collaboration. Practical suggestion: get a coat rack.  Ransom will summarize the findings.  Jackson volunteered to use SurveyMonkey (which Ransom researched, based upon a suggestion by Siobhan Reardon, and found that the free Basic Subscription includes up to 10 questions and 100 responses per survey) to generate a survey for the 2007 Annual Conference.

 

Treasurer’s Report:

Rodgers reported that WLA has $9,729.37 in the Investor’s Choice account and $16,801.45 in the Checking account. Adding deposits from January, WLA should have roughly $19,000 in the Checking account.  She estimates that WLA may have made a $500 profit from the 2007 Midwinter Conference but will report the actual figure in the near future.

 

Membership Report:

  • Prior to the meeting, Rao emailed the Board her report, which is detailed below:
  • There are 244 WLA members for 2007.
  • Rao will mail out membership reminders Monday, March 12 to all 2006 and 2005 members who have not yet renewed. She can include a preliminary Annual Conference Flyer in this mailing and would need 150 copies by March 8.
  • She can also send the final Conference flyer with registration form by e-mail, if provided, or by mail, if she has no e-mail address. Suggested date for this mailing is April 1.
  • Scholarship contributions so far amount to $393.

 

 

Youth Services Report:

The Youth Services Section is co-sponsoring a Performers Showcase with WLS March 20 at the White Plains Public Library. Flyers are being distributed.

 

Legislation Committee:

Jackson has been working with Elise Burke at WLS to co-sponsor a bus for Library Lobby Day, March 13. She has reserved a 29 passenger bus with Leprechaun Lines. Details are posted on WLA Web site with legislator links. The bus will be free. WLS will pay the bulk and WLA will contribute $200. Z. M.  Baird and Jackson will try to get a sponsor for refreshments aboard the bus.

 

Professional Development Committee:

Z. M. Baird asked, on behalf of Chair Zielinski, if previous award recipient M. Alcott could receive an extension for her award. It was agreed upon that Alcott would have through December 2007 to take a course for her award money.

 

Annual Conference:

The WLA Annual Conference will take place May 11 at the Yonkers Riverfront Library.     Z. M. Baird is trying to engage Alton Brown whose show Good Eats airs on the Food channel as a Keynote Speaker.

 

Reference Section:

Hesler reported that she has contacted Ken Fujiuchi of Buffalo State to talk about blogs, wikis and other social networking web sites. Depending upon circumstances, the Board agreed to reimburse him $200-300 for travel expenses and lodging.

 

Support Staff Section:

WLS will pay for Warren Graham’s all-day Black Belt Librarian program. The Board agreed to pay WLS $15 per person for each non-WLS employee who attends.

 

College Section:

Ransom will ask Chair Mannino if she would like some assistance identifying a speaker/theme for the College Section program.

 

Washington Irving Awards Committee:

Murphy was excused.  Z. M. Baird is asking Murphy about details regarding how the Committee planned to give out the awards and if there will be a panel discussion or book signing.

 

Publicity:

Being that the next Board meeting is scheduled for March 15, it was agreed that the final draft of the Annual Conference flyer will be ready by March 23 rather than by March 8 (Rao’s deadline for receiving the flyer if it were to be mailed with membership reminders on March 12) and will instead be distributed by April 1st via email (or postal mail to those without email), unless Rao wishes to change the date for mailing membership reminders.

 

The meeting concluded at 12:00 noon.

 

Next WLA Board meeting:
Date: Thursday, March 15, 2007
Time: 10 A.M. to 12:00 Noon
Place: Chappaqua Public Library