NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF LIBRARY BOARDS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS' MEETING

NYSALB Board of Directors Meeting

Holiday Inn Turf, Albany, NY

Friday May 5, 2006

The meeting was called to order by President Norm Jacknis at 2:04 PM.

Present: N. Jacknis, R. Strauss, G. Stamatiades, L. Jorgensen, S. Patton, F. Picart, R. Presutti, N. Simaitis, S. Stockman, K. Achilles, and J. Taylor.  Also present were Association Manager, M. Malicki, Carol Ann Desch, and new director nominee, Mary Ellen O’Connor.

Absent: D. Kroggman, Excused: Joan Hurley

Minutes: The March meeting minutes were not distributed to the board due to Joan Hurley’s absence. Joan, please email the minutes to the board before the next board meeting for approval.

Carol Ann Desch: It should be noted that we need to thank the politicians for the $19.75 million in State funding. M. Malicki will draft a letter to be reviewed by N. Jacknis. This letter will be sent to key leaders in the New York Assembly, Senate, and Governor Pataki. The Board will also encourage trustees to write letters in support of the funding. S. Stockman asked about the “Make It Real Program”. There may be another round. N. Jacknis suggested that an article on Outcome Based Solutions would be beneficial. Carol Desch will write the article for editor.

Treasurer’s Report: R. Presutti moved to accept the report as presented. L. Jorgensen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.  In a related matter R. Strauss asked for a motion to adopt the newly elected Executive Committee members (and current NYSALB manager) with execution and signing privileges on financial accounts.  Specifically, this would include:  President N. Jacknis, lst V. P. R. Strauss, 2nd V. P. Suzanne Stockman, and Treasurer L. Jorgensen. The Executive Committee would have the authority to sign checks as well as move money within investment accounts. The manager would continue to have check signing privileges for up to $500.00. George Stamatiades moved to accept the proposal. J. Taylor seconded the motion. Discussion followed. The motion was approved with N. Simaitis dissenting. 

Committee Reports:
Velma Moore Award:  K. Achilles reported that two awards would be given at the Trustee Institute this year.  The 2005 Award Winner is Merry Sparano from the Guilderland Public Library, and the 2006 Award Winner is Carol Gleason from the Tully Free Library.  N. Simaitis suggested that the Velma Moore Award be a featured item on the program for the 2007 Trustee Institute.

Education:  It was noted that registrations for the 2006 Trustee Institute were slow to come in because of the late start and that we might have a net loss of about $3000.00.  The Trustee Certification Program is included in the Trustee Institute Folder.  Trustees will receive credit for attendance at this year’s Institute.  The Scholarship Program was explained. (If a library has a budget under $50,000.00 they are eligible to win.)  Two awards are granted each year.  The 2007 Institute was discussed at great length.  It will be held in Queens at the Crown Plaza Hotel.  The room rate will be $129.00 per night.  The schedule was discussed.  N. Jacknis suggested that someone from the Flushing Library speak about their success. G. Stamatiades said the Queens Library was totally committed to making this Institute a success.  F. Picart suggested that trustees from the area speak about their successes.  Perhaps tours to other libraries in the area could be arranged.  F. Picart then discussed the Trustee Manual Assignments to be used for the Newsletter.  It is a work in progress.  Please give feedback.  We will need to reassign David Krogmann’s article if he no longer wants to do it. F. Picart to contact David to learn status.

Executive: There was no report.

Legislation and Policy: C. Desch updated the board on this topic. N. Jacknis will attend a Regent’s Advisory Committee meeting May 23. This will be an opportunity to lobby. Please email Norm with your ideas. F. Picart explained that there will be a meeting with P. Eddington on May 12th. It will include 10 – 12 people. Francis noted that Ms. Eddington is very willing to work with NYSALB. Please send ideas to Francis before this meeting.

Membership: R. Presutti read parts of a letter from a library concerning their not joining NYSALB.  Discussion followed.  N. Jacknis suggested that we spend time at our next board meeting addressing this issue. 

Newsletter/Public Relations: Redesign of the NYSALB web was discussed. N. Jacknis has a quote of $2000.00 to redesign the website along with a fee of $50.00 per hour after that to maintain the site. He also asked again for other quotes. He would like to make the transition over the summer. A motion was made that the Executive Committee could make this decision during the summer. The motion passed unanimously.

Old Business: S. Stockman gave a report on indexing the Newsletters for the Website. Two interns are set to begin. N. Jacknis has already answered their questions. They need a structure for organizing the newsletters. The interns should be finished by August/September.

Nominating: R. Strauss presented the slate of officers to be voted on at the Organizational Meeting of NYSALB following the Trustee Institute:

R. Strauss discussed Trustee vacancies. David Krogmann has completed his term at library. There is a vacancy from the resignation of Erin Apostol.  Mary Ellen O’Connor from the Albany Public has agreed to serve. There are still two openings to be filled. Dick will ask Trustees at the Institute if anyone is interested. He will also contact System Directors for possible candidates. It would be beneficial to have representation from Brooklyn Public, the North Country, Ramapo Catskill. and/or Buffalo-Erie.

New Business: K. Achilles discussed moving the NYSALB annual meeting from after the luncheon at the Trustee Institute to during the luncheon at the Institute. This was put in the form of a motion. F. Picart seconded the motion. The motion carried.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 3:35PM       
Respectfully submitted,