CONNECTICUT LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

Executive Board Meeting

November 1, 2007

The Canton Public Library

 

 

I.                    The meeting was called to order by President Carl Antonucci at 10:10. Library Director Kathy Cockcroft welcomed the Board to the Canton Public Library.

 

II.                 Board Introductions: members of the Board introduced themselves.

 

III.               Public Comments/Notes from CLA Office: Carl asked for a moment of silence to remember Jessica Rodriquez, a young woman on the staff at Hartford Public Library who recently passed away. 

 

IV.              Additions to Agenda: none

 

V.                 Votes Taken: Alice Knapp moved to accept the minutes of the October 4, 2007 meeting.  Peter Ciparelli seconded.  Motion passed unanimously.

Jay Johnson moved that our meetings in January (3rd) and May (1st) be eliminated from the schedule.  Peter Ciparelli seconded.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

Alice Knapp moved that the CLA Legislative Agenda FY 2009 proposal be accepted with the minor changes noted (see Legislative Committee report). Carl Antonucci seconded.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

VI.              President’s Report: Carl reported that the Conference committee core group continues to meet monthly.  He reminded committee and section chairs to submit their program proposals to conference co-chairs.  Carl continues to include highlights of the conference in his monthly CT Libraries column and offered Board members an opportunity to serve as a guest columnist in this space.

 

VII.            Treasurer’s Report: Jan Fisher distributed her monthly report.  She indicated that there is not much activity at this time.  A $5,000 check was sent to the Mystic Marriott for deposit on the April 2008 conference. She reminded the Board that when the Board is asked for a donation and the donation is approved at the Board Meeting, appropriate paperwork must be sent to the CLA office to process payment.

 

VIII.         VP/President Elect Report: Kathy Leeds informed the Board that Russell Library will not be available for our March meeting.  She is looking for an alternate location. She reported that the Development Committee discussed eliminating the January and May Board Meetings from the 2007-2008 Board Meeting Schedule.  See votes taken.

 

IX.              Past President: Barbara Bailey reported that she is beginning to accept nominations for 2008-2009 CLA Executive Officers.

 

X.                 Committee/Section/Roundtable Reports:

 

ACLB: Stan Siegel reported on the successful Trustees Boot Camp at Water’s Edge in Westbrook.  There were 189 attendees, 1/3 of who responded to the event survey. The Board will be meeting November 8 to begin revising the Trustee Handbook.  Stan thanked the Connecticut State Library and the CLA Board for their help and support.

 

ADA: Mary Engels reported on the successful of the workshop on services to the blind held at the Farmington Library.

 

BCALA: Vivian Bordeaux announced a membership reception scheduled for Thursday, November 29th from 6-8 p.m. at the New Haven Public Library.

 

Business & Economic Development: Michelle Foyt discussed the section’s plans for Conference 2008 which includes: the “blended librarian;” Robert Berkman’s update on Web 2.0 (including Facebook) and Onto 3.0 and ECSU library staff discussing the results of a survey on users of Facebook.

 

CLASS:  John Cayer updated the Board on the CLASS Conference scheduled for the next day, November 2nd at Manchester Community College.  Ninety-six people were registered to date.  He informed the board that the salary survey for participants will be distributed in each conference packet.

 

CLC: Chris Bradley reported on a new Adult Program Roundtable meeting 11/13 to discuss booking author visits.  She announced a 2 ½ day training session for catalogers presented by the Library of Congress November 28-30 at RPI in Hartford.

Chris reported on a partnership with New Haven Festival of the Arts for the “Big Read”. CLC received a grant for the program which selected Fahrenheit 451.  She reported on the development of an Open Source study group to help integrate into other library resources.

 

CSL: Ken Wiggin informed the Board that the bond package approved by the General Assembly on Tuesday includes a $10 million dollar increase over the next 2 years for public library construction - $3.5 million is earmarked for non-distressed communities and $5 million for distressed communities. His written report included information on new continuing education workshops in November and December; the CT Interlibrary Loan Activity Report for 2006-07 was distributed to all libraries in October; and the next round of LSTA grants for amounts will be distributed next week. A listing of categories approved by ACLPD for grants between $3,000 and $25,000 was included in the report.

 

Career Recruitment: Vivian Bordeaux encouraged LTA and MLS students to apply for scholarships available.

 

Children’s: Liz McKay asked the Board to consider increasing its contribution to Nutmeg from $500 to $750 in light of the profit generated from last month’s event.

 

College and University: John Leonetti reported on the social networking event held at Central Connecticut State University October 19th.  He added that his committee is working on a technology program featuring Meagan Fox for the April conference.

 

Conference:  Chris Bradley reported that a Certificate 112 has been filed by the CLA office and approved by the State of CT enabling us to be exempt from paying tax on food and beverage and lodging costs at the 2008 conference.  Pam Najarian noted that this exemption is only valid on food, beverage, and lodging billed directly to and paid by CLA. 

 

Alice Knapp announced that the co-chairs for 2009 Conference (she and Janet Woycik) will be submitting a draft proposal shortly after the first of the year.  She also reported that the Omni in New Haven is being considered for the site.

 

There was discussion regarding sponsorship of various conference activities.  Carl Antonucci suggested an Alumni Sponsor Program where CLA members could make a donation or sponsor in full the registration cost for a student (either LTA or Graduate) to attend the CLA Conference.  This sponsorship opportunity could be detailed on the conference registration form.

                 

Development:  Barbara Bailey reported that the committee will meet again in January and present a report thereafter.

 

Editorial: David Kapp reminded members that he is hoping to receive more book reviews for the December gift issue. He reported that the upcoming November issue is the 2nd annual technology issue; he is looking for someone to serve as the Obversion columnist.

 

Friends: Mary Engels reported on the success of the volunteer workshop featuring Anita Taylor on October 27th.  There were 50 attendees.  Friends are working on a conference program “Beyond the Book Sale.”

 

Intellectual Freedom:  Peter Chase spoke to the Connecticut Education Network who is looking at creating procedures to handle requests from law enforcement agencies regarding patron information.  The committee is planning a program on “The Library as a Limited Public Forum” for the 2008 Conference.  They are seeking an attorney who can speak about policies and laws regarding limited public forums.

 

Legislative: Peter Ciparelli presented the CLA Legislative Agenda FY 2009.  It was read and discussed and the following changes were made: the word “expanding” be removed from the paragraph on “Connecticut Library Consortium and InfoAnytime Program;” under “Public Library Construction Grants” $10 million changed to $8.5 million and the end of the paragraph reads: “CLA seeks to increase this funding to $10,000,000 in FY2009.” See Votes Taken.

 

Peter announced a Legislative Committee reception honoring 22 legislators who supported the increased funding for CLA programs during the last session. The event will be held November 7th at 4:00 at Capital Community College.

 

Membership:  Pam Najarian reported that membership is at 744; a second mailing/reminder letter sent to 302 individuals.

 

NELA: Mary Etter reported NELA is considering a program on privacy for the conference.

 

Personnel: Alice Knapp will report on the minimum salary requirement at the December meeting.

 

Publicity: Chris Bradley informed the Board that next month the committee will report on the Southeastern CT Community Foundation “One Book Every One Child” pilot program.

 

Tech Services: Tom Schadlich reported that Steven Abram has been contracted to speak at the conference and his committee is hosting an event Thursday, November 8th in Farmington.

 

YA: Katie Bunn reported that only 21 have signed up for the Chris Krutcher program November 13th. If they do not reach their minimum attendance number, the program will be cancelled.

 

Region 6 Representative:  Theresa Conley reported on the elimination of mini grants for Technology previously distributed by the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut. All libraries in the region have been affected by the decision not to fund technology with these grants. Four libraries including Bill Memorial Library, Stonington Free, Wheeler Library and Lyme Public Library have collaborated and written a letter to the Foundation regarding the issue.

 

New Business:  Jaime Hammond reported that ACLPD is looking to fill Board openings. If anyone is interested, they can contact her.

 

Adjournment:  The meeting adjourned at 12 noon.

 

Attendees: Kirsten Kilbourn, Alison Wang, Mary Engels, Jay Johnston, Theresa Conley, David Kapp, Stan Siegel, Tom Schadlich, Peter Chase, Alice Knapp, Michelle Foyt, John Cayer, Kendall Wiggin, Elizabeth McKay, Maura Deedy, Ted Wilmot, Peter Ciparelli, Chris Bradley, Vivian Bordeaux, Jaime Hammond, John Leonetti, Gerald Seagrave, Katie Bunn, Mary Etter, Barbara Bailey, Kathy Leeds, Carl Antonucci, Jan Fisher, Michelle Foyt.

 

                                                                  Respectfully Submitted,

                                                                  Pamela Najarian