NEW
YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF LIBRARY BOARDS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS' MEETING
NYSALB Board of Directors Meeting
Saturday, January 6, 2007
The meeting was called to order by President
Norm Jacknis at 9:08 a.m.
N.
Jacknis, R. Strauss, G. Stamatiades, A. Elman,
S. Swierczek, K. Achilles, Francis Picart.
Mary
Ellen O’Connor. S.
Patton, R. Presutti, J. Hurley, S. Stockman,
Jack Taylor, and Larry Jorgensen. Nancy
Simaitis.Association Manager, M.
Malicki. Carol Desch and Rachael Baum attended
part of the meeting.
Rachael Baum, President of NYLA
Rachael presented a positive report. She
reminded the board that March 13, 2007 is Lobby
Day. NYSALB is a co-sponsor of this event
in Albany. Norm J. reminded the board of
a talking point: It is important to come
to Lobby Day to speak with legislators but even
more important to visit at the local level which
often times is more effective. Rachael
B. is the NYLA liaison to NYSALB. Her new email
address is rachaelrbaum@gmail.com.
Carol Ann Desch, Coordinator of Library
Services, NYS Library State Ed Department
Carol discussed several points:
- The Governor was
positive about libraries in his State of the
State Message.
- Regents
Priority Legislative Initiative and Regents
Proposal on State Aid to School Districts for
School Year 2007-08. (See Handouts) M.E.
O’Connor asked about a Library Line in
the budget. C.A. Desch will
send a page from
the budget for M. Malicki to distribute to the
board. F. Picart questioned
a dedicated
funding stream in the budget for libraries. N.
Jacknis asked if NOVEL documents
are on the web in PDF form so that comments
could be made.
- The Deputy Commissioner
has retired and a search is underway to replace
him.
- The Library Services
and Technology Act Five-Year Plan (Draft) will
be posted next week. Comments are welcome. N.
Jacknis has included NYSALB’s thoughts
in the document.
- The Regents Commission
recommendations from 1999 are being reviewed. N.
Jacknis will
craft and send a letter to the board for review.
Please respond.
- Making
It Real Grant – There are 44 students
in phase I. The
grant application for phase II
has been made. In that proposal there are
some monies for trustee training.
- The NYLA conference
will be in Buffalo, NY October 17th – 20th.
A Legislative Panel will be co-sponsored by
NYLA and NYSALB.
The November Board of Directors meeting minutes
were presented for approval. A.
Elman moved the minutes be accepted. D.
Strauss seconded the motion. The motion
passed unanimously.
M.
Malicki gave an update in L. Jorgensen’s
absence. D Strauss made a suggestion that
2006 and 2007 Budget Reports be separated. The
2006 budget looks very good because of the excellent
membership response in December. These
monies are for 2007. A. Elman asked that
the rate of earnings be reflected in the report.
K. Achilles moved that the Treasurer’s
Report be accepted. M.E. O’Connor
seconded. The motion passed unanimously and will
be filed for audit.
No Report
In Suzanne Stockman’s absence M. Malicki presented
the Institute Agenda. The board discussed distributing Institute information
to Systems and how to get information to the Systems not represented on NYSALB.
M.E. O’Connor presented a letter which will be sent to vendors inviting
them to participate in this year’s institute. R. Baum stated that she
was concerned that the same vendors are used by NYLA, NYSALB, and NYLINK and
would find it difficult to be at all three conferences. Mary Ellen will
email the letter to the board for review. Responses are due by January 15,
2007. The 2008 Trustee Institute was discussed. Saratoga Springs
may not be a possibility. Board members should email suggestions for
2008 to Margaret. The LSTA grants for Trustee Training were discussed. Because
funds are not as readily available, NYSALB would need to partner with a System
for this training. A. Elman discussed the website “Trustee Source”.
He questioned if we might be duplicating services. D. Strauss volunteered
to draft a letter to Janet Welch to formalize regulations to train new trustees.
He asked the board to review the letter and make suggestions. Dick announced
that S. Patton would present a program again at the NYLA conference as part
of our partnership.
No Report
F. Picart gave a very detailed report. The meeting
with Assemblywoman Eddington has been rescheduled for January 25, 2007. Francis
feels we are making progress, but it takes time. N. Jacknis said we need
to look at the Executive Branch of our NY government. It would be beneficial
to have an open discussion with the current leadership. We have an opportunity
to make an impact on the governor’s staff. Mary Ellen offered to
set up a meeting with Ron Canestrari.
In R. Presutti’s absence. M. Malicki will check
to see which Systems are not members of NYSALB and forward those on to the
Board. Margaret reported that the new accounting process is working. A.
Elman wondered if we corrected the problem for this year. Please refer
to the hand-out dated 1/3/07. A lengthy discussion followed. It
was suggested that the board put together a brochure that would market NYSALB
positively. It could include success stories, trustee training, and the Velma
Moore Award. N. Jacknis will put the brochure together. Margaret
will send a board email asking for input on the brochure. It would be
beneficial if the board could obtain a list of trustee email addresses. S.
Swierczek said that the person from Utica National Insurance Company had not
returned her inquiry. The board discussed other options. Services
where we could get a discount would be beneficial. M.E. O’Connor
will include this in the vendor letter. Margaret will get a copy of our
charter. N. Jacknis said it is law and will get a copy of the statue.
D. Strauss reported that he will pursue finding a
replacement for N. Simaitis who has resigned.
Dick will also check to see if Jack Taylor wants
to continue as well as L. Jorgensen. They
have both had health problems. A. Elman
asked if there was a policy for attendance at
board meetings. There is. The board
will review that policy. N. Jacknis was
asked to chair the committee to select Officers
for the Board. He will have a slate of
candidates for the March 10, 2007 board meeting.
In S. Patton’s absence M. Malicki and N. Jacknis
both said the winter issue of thewas
almost ready for mailing. Norm
gave an update on the new Website. It should be up and running in about
two weeks. The new Topic Index was discussed: how to organize best for
delivery on the website. A lengthy discussion followed on the “Membership
Only” area. What will be accessible? Ideas were: Library
Policies, Newsletter Index (archive), Legislators and their districts, Form
letters, Trustee Handbook. Board members should send their policies to
Norm soon. The library could be anonymous or not anonymous. Sample
policies could be on the website as an educational tool not linked to a specific
topic. Any other ideas can be sent to Norm.
K. Achilles reported that all nominators had been
contacted from the past two years asking for an update on their nominee. The
committee has received two nominations for this year. (One more has arrived
this week.) One of the candidates has died. One has left the library
she was nominated by. If that person were a winner this year, the award
would go to the library that nominated her. The letter for submitting
nominations has been placed on the NYLA listserv twice, NYSALB listserv once,
and Norm will send it out again to the NYSALB listserv. K. Achilles asked
for a replacement for N. Simaitis who has resigned. S. Swierczek will
be the third member of the committee along with F. Picart.
N.
Jacknis reported on a letter concerning lobby
day. He responded positively to the letter.
There was none.
The calendar was discussed for next year. The
next meeting is March 10, 2007. We will meet at the Hampton Inn Downtown,
Albany, NY. May 4th is Institute. The fall meetings are scheduled
for September 8, 2007 and November 17, 2007 in Albany, NY. K. Achilles
asked if she could use the Trustee Handbook to write a short blurb explaining
what it means to be a trustee to be used by the Geneva Public Library to solicit
trustee nominations. The answer was yes.
There being no further business the
meeting was adjourned at 2:13pm.
Respectively submitted,
Karen Achilles
Secretary
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