• Spring

January 1999

• President's Memo
• The Library Circuit
• Editorial - Dynamic Duo
• Mark Your Calendars
• NYSALB's 50th Birthday
• Cyberliberties
• Legislation- '99 Task
• Web Site Correction
• 1999 NYSALB Officers
• Trustee Election Results
• The Trustee Institute
• Velma K. Moore Award
• Small Library of Nature
• The Balance Sheet
• The Evolution of the Book
• NYSALB Board & TRUSTEE Ownership

by Parry Teasdale, NYSALB President

Something strange is happening. Opportunities for libraries of all sizes to grow and improve have opened up as never before in recent memory. But like the economy that has helped spawn them, these opportunities are cyclical in nature and may not last long.

This time last year, we were hoping the state would make good on its long-delayed promises for basic library aid--the money from Albany that pays for our systems. That commitment has now been met, and though no additional money was allocated for technology, the increasingly assertive voice of the library community, including trustees, has emboldened the Regents and the New York Library Association to seek a far higher level of funding this year. The Regents recommend a $22.6 million increase in library funding: $12 million for technology and $10 million for public library construction. NYLA will press for much more. If even part of these packages is approved--a realistic goal in this economy--every library in the state will feel the impact.

Meanwhile, the long-promised, bureaucratically byzantine federal E-rate program has finally kicked in. Congress promised discounts in 1996 to help reduce the phone-line charges libraries (and schools) have to pay. Considering how quickly our libraries are moving to a dependence on telecommunications and the Internet, this troublesome program will probably have to be supplemented by some sort of state-level counterpart. But for the moment many libraries are about to receive a much-needed price break.

As for the private sector, I recently represented NYSALB on a committee that prepared an application to the Gates Foundation (that's Gates as in Bill Gates) for $5 million to augment computer systems in poorer libraries throughout the state. Although final word has not been received on this initiative, it is quite likely libraries will soon see this support--a small amount to spread over all New York, but, assuming we get it, the largest sum ever spent for public library computers statewide.

There also seems to be a growing appreciation by the public and the media of the crucial role libraries play as democratic institutions in the age of information. This progress in awareness and funding didn't just happen. It took hard work by the whole library community; and because good libraries are dynamic institutions there's still plenty to be done. Trustees in particular should not look at state and federal assistance or their library's share of any large-scale private grant as ends in themselves. Instead, we should consider this assistance a tool, as the financial specialists say, to "leverage" funds from sources closer to home: municipal government, service organizations, local foundations and the public we serve.

Has your library--or your friends group--asked a local funding agency to donate a dollar to the materials budget for every dollar's worth of outside-funded computer gear? Are there local matching funds to make your computers (and other services) accessible to people with disabilities or to upgrade staff salaries and professional standards? Have you thought about sharing your success stories with other trustees?

Our job as trustees is to seize this moment of opportunity to improve library service in our communities. We are not limited by the size of our libraries only by the extent of our imaginations.

Note: In the last edition of Trustee, I goofed, misstating our web address. The correct address is <http://www.nysalb.org>. Sorry for any inconvenience my error caused.

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When visiting Clayton, NY, stop in at the Hawn Memorial Library. Located a stone's throw from the St. Lawrence River and a short distance from the Canadian border, the library is the second largest in upstate Jefferson County. The village and a great deal of the library's service area has a large senior citizen population, one which the library proudly caters to with an outreach program, a modest collection of large print books and books-on- tape. Throughout the year, a library staff member also drives to area senior complexes to take reading/listening requests and deliver books that have been previously ordered. "In addition," according to Librarian Alice Barton, "the library participates in the Green Thumb program training seniors with library type work skills."

The library's total holdings amount to 22,827 and its annual circulation figure is 22,636. Hawn Memorial Library is presently in the process of trying to raise about $175,000.00 for a 31 foot by 41 foot addition to house a climate controlled archive section, a history room, a large computer station and office space. The current library building was opened in 1951.

Hawn Memorial Library

Clayton, New York

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by Edwin M. Field, NYSALB Director, TRUSTEE Editor

It's great when visiting or using a library's services to be met by enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff members and volunteers. The key is training! The secret is organization and today is the day to launch such a program!

Recently I spent a couple of days at a meeting in one of our large cities. A bit of free time provided me with the opportunity to visit the city's central library. It's a large, attractive building constructed of limestone and granite and probably occupies a city block square. Its shelves hold nearly 2,000,000 volumes. My visit to the library prompted this issue's editorial.

In the library's huge main lobby sat an individual at a small non-descript information desk. I asked if there were any exhibits at the library that I could see. With his two thumbs, the information volunteer pointed with his thumbs in each direction to areas on opposite sides of the desk ... no additional discussion ... no informational pieces ... no friendly smile.

The lackluster response reminded me that libraries, this one and probably many others large and small, could very well benefit from a sound customer relations program. Many staffers and volunteers might also benefit from a well organized training program. As it happens, the two exhibits, one about mystery writers and their books and the other a large interesting print display were terrific and extremely well prepared.

Why, then, not make it inviting for the rest of the population in this particular city and surrounding region to enjoy this viewing and learning opportunity? Why shouldn't the response of all staff and volunteers alike be alert to community relations opportunities like these exhibits posed?

Libraries are much like other successful businesses. Their borrowers or patrons are valued customers too. Libraries require sound marketing programs. They need continuous communications with the many publics that they serve. They call out for a well developed customer relations process to let people know, in a positive fashion, about library programs and activities that are specifically designed to meet the needs of the library's community.

Most important is the tack taken by library boards and their directors to educate the organization's staff and their very, very important volunteers. It should be organized, continuous and inspirational.

Incidentally, well trained volunteers can play a vital role in any library, large or small. Not only can they provide staff with hands-on assistance at a wide range of library services, but they can also represent the libraries in their home communities. They can assist in new building and fund raising efforts and they serve as library advocates in front of legislators and others.

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Keep the dates open! NYSALB's 3rd Annual Trustee Institute is scheduled for Friday, April 30, 1999 and Saturday, May 1, 1999. Don't miss this outstanding learning opportunity.

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In The Beginning....

by Harold Hacker

On February 25, 1999, the New York State Association of Library Boards (NYSALB) will celebrate fifty years of serving the library trustees of New York State. It was on the 25th of February in 1949 that the State Board of Regents granted a permanent charter to the Library Trustees Foundation of New York State (LTF). The name was selected and part of the purposes of the organization were developed by William Wallin, Chancellor of the Board of Regents. In 1947, Chancellor Wallin had been luke-warm about public libraries, but he reversed his position in 1949 and became a library booster.

The purpose of the Library Trustees Foundation included such vital areas as disseminating information to improve library services; promoting the development of library services throughout New York State; and aiding in the establishment of regional and county libraries.

In late 1948, the New York Library Association's Council voted to request its trustee section to take leadership in future library legislative efforts through an independent organization of trustees. A $2,000.00 start-up grant was offered for this particular purpose. The trustees accepted the responsibility, formed the New York Library Trustees Committee and applied to the Board of Regents for a charter.

The charter designated the following incorporators:

Thomas H. McKaig, Hamburg; Dr. Albert A. Berg, New York Public Library trustee; Anthony J. Cerrato, Yonkers; Henry Paynter, Peekskill; and Velma K. Moore, Kenmore. Mr. McKaig served as chairman and president; Dr. Berg was named vice-chairman; Mr. Cerrato was the organization's counsel and Mr. Paynter served as secretary. In 1950, Harold Hacker, Erie County Public Library, was elected secretary and treasurer.

On April 12, 1949, following the March organizational meeting, Mr. McKaig, Mr. Cerrato and Mr. Paynter plus NYLA President Neil VanDeusen met with Governor Thomas E. Dewey and his three top aides to discuss the formation of the first Governor's Committee on Library Aid. The committee was formed shortly thereafter with 10 of the 15 members nominated by the LTF. In 1949, working diligently, the committee produced the first library state aid law. In 1950 the law was enacted.

LTF trustees elected in 1949 and 1950 included: Harold Baily, Brooklyn; Dr. Neil Van Deusen, NYLA President; Ralph Beals, Director of the New York Public Library; Thelma King, Elmira; Judge Francis Bergan, Albany; Mrs. Eugene Brown, Scottsville; Dr. William A. Crawford, Monticello; E. Snell Hall, Jamestown; William Meyer, Queens; Carl Mickelson, Syracuse; Frank Morey, Glens Falls; Wells Ritch, Port Jefferson; Emmet Roach, Plattsburg; Mrs. Thomas Rudd, Clinton; Frank H. Ryder, Cobleskill; and Elliott Bell, Pawling. Mr. Beals and Mrs. King were nominated by the NYLA Council at the LTF's request. The Library Trustees Foundation shared office space with NYLA.

The organization met six times in 1949-1950, its first year of operation.

On September 21, 1973, an amendment to the Library Trustees Foundation charter officially changed the name of the organization to the New York State Association of Library Boards (NYSALB).

(Harold Hacker served as secretary (1950-1961) and treasurer (1950-1970) of the Library Trustees Foundation of New York State.

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In The Beginning....

by Harold Hacker

On February 25, 1999, the New York State Association of Library Boards (NYSALB) will celebrate fifty years of serving the library trustees of New York State. It was on the 25th of February in 1949 that the State Board of Regents granted a permanent charter to the Library Trustees Foundation of New York State (LTF). The name was selected and part of the purposes of the organization were developed by William Wallin, Chancellor of the Board of Regents. In 1947, Chancellor Wallin had been luke-warm about public libraries, but he reversed his position in 1949 and became a library booster.

The purpose of the Library Trustees Foundation included such vital areas as disseminating information to improve library services; promoting the development of library services throughout New York State; and aiding in the establishment of regional and county libraries.

In late 1948, the New York Library Association's Council voted to request its trustee section to take leadership in future library legislative efforts through an independent organization of trustees. A $2,000.00 start-up grant was offered for this particular purpose. The trustees accepted the responsibility, formed the New York Library Trustees Committee and applied to the Board of Regents for a charter.

The charter designated the following incorporators:

Thomas H. McKaig, Hamburg; Dr. Albert A. Berg, New York Public Library trustee; Anthony J. Cerrato, Yonkers; Henry Paynter, Peekskill; and Velma K. Moore, Kenmore. Mr. McKaig served as chairman and president; Dr. Berg was named vice-chairman; Mr. Cerrato was the organization's counsel and Mr. Paynter served as secretary. In 1950, Harold Hacker, Erie County Public Library, was elected secretary and treasurer.

On April 12, 1949, following the March organizational meeting, Mr. McKaig, Mr. Cerrato and Mr. Paynter plus NYLA President Neil VanDeusen met with Governor Thomas E. Dewey and his three top aides to discuss the formation of the first Governor's Committee on Library Aid. The committee was formed shortly thereafter with 10 of the 15 members nominated by the LTF. In 1949, working diligently, the committee produced the first library state aid law. In 1950 the law was enacted.

LTF trustees elected in 1949 and 1950 included: Harold Baily, Brooklyn; Dr. Neil Van Deusen, NYLA President; Ralph Beals, Director of the New York Public Library; Thelma King, Elmira; Judge Francis Bergan, Albany; Mrs. Eugene Brown, Scottsville; Dr. William A. Crawford, Monticello; E. Snell Hall, Jamestown; William Meyer, Queens; Carl Mickelson, Syracuse; Frank Morey, Glens Falls; Wells Ritch, Port Jefferson; Emmet Roach, Plattsburg; Mrs. Thomas Rudd, Clinton; Frank H. Ryder, Cobleskill; and Elliott Bell, Pawling. Mr. Beals and Mrs. King were nominated by the NYLA Council at the LTF's request. The Library Trustees Foundation shared office space with NYLA.

The organization met six times in 1949-1950, its first year of operation.

On September 21, 1973, an amendment to the Library Trustees Foundation charter officially changed the name of the organization to the New York State Association of Library Boards (NYSALB).

(Harold Hacker served as secretary (1950-1961) and treasurer (1950-1970) of the Library Trustees Foundation of New York State.

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by Kenneth E. Wilbur, NYSALB Trustee -

Legislative Chair

This article is designed to motivate every library trustee to become an advocate for the 700 libraries in NYS.

As we enter 1999, two strong factions have parallel interests. The Board of Regents, State Education Department, has established legislative priorities for libraries known as "Libraries 2000." The major item in this document is $12 million for Electronic Doorway technology and $10 million for public library construction.

The other group is the New York Library Association that created a legislative plan that includes the above items, expanding to include such funding as an additional $10 million in support of Chapter 917. Known as "Books, Bytes and Bricks" there are five major goals to this plan.

1. Maintain the infrastructure of support services to libraries and their users. Increased funding would be $21.1 million , all monies for the support of infrastructure of libraries - public, reference & research and school.
2. Insure New Yorkers access to technology through their libraries. Address inequities of the "Digital Divide." $18.9 million for electronic doorway access for a statewide data base and creating a New York State Digital Library.
3. Provide incentives to localities to build or rebuild their library or system headquarter's physical plant. $10 million for construction or renovation of libraries in a matching funds arrangement.
4. Enhance and maintain library collections and make them available to all New Yorkers. $7.3 million to increase collections and to provide a statewide materials delivery program.
5. Enhance and maintain library services to New York's special populations. $3.3 million to assist in expanding and increasing to correctional facilities, blind and handicapped, hospital libraries, Native Americans and other special groups, such as literacy and second language, etc.

The total cost of the increase requests is $60.6 million above the current level of Chapter 917 or $88.5 million. It sounds like a lot of money, but libraries in NYS have real needs. RIGHT NOW. This is a "busy" package, but the NYLA plan is broadly reflective of the library needs in our state.

Now the work begins. Letter writing to your assembly person and senator. Write one letter and send it two places. Just two letters from 7,000 trustees from 700 libraries in New York State. If you really want to help, ask your friends to write a letter and send it to their legislative people. Don't forget to visit your legislator's office in your community. As a reminder, mark and calendar and visit Albany on Tuesday, March 23, 1999 for Library Day.

Remember when you were recruited as a library trustee you were an individual who had an interest in the library, a prominent community figure or you knew how to get things done. Discuss this article at your board meeting and plan an advocacy strategy to go forward with. What do you have to lose - only more funding for your favorite library.

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Officers who will lead NYSALB in 1999 were selected at the organization's annual meeting held in Rochester, NY. November 1, 1998. The New York State Association of Library Boards serves library trustees throughout New York State providing communications, information, guidance, education and recognition of library trustee activities and accomplishments.

President Parry Teasdale

1st Vice-President Davis Crippen

2nd Vice-President Norman Jacknis

Treasurer Kenneth Wilbur

Secretary Martina Thompson

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Nancy Simaitis, Waverly Free Library, Waverly, NY and Audrey J. Smith, Bell Memorial Library, Nunda, NY were each elected to their first term. George Manitzas, Freeport Memorial Library, Freeport, NY; Dr. William R. Taber, Richfield Springs Public Library, Richfield Springs, NY, and Martina Thompson, Henrietta Public Library, Pittsford, NY were each selected to serve a second term on the NYSALB board.

NYSALB trustees serve without pay as a public service. Board members must be active members of a library board or library system in their home area.

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by Patty Paine, NYSALB Trustee

You are invited! NYSALB's 1999 Trustee Institute will take place in Albany on Friday, April 30th and Saturday, May 1st, 1999.

Friday evening dinner arrivals will have an opportunity to network with trustees from libraries of varying sizes. The theme of the evening will be "Success Stories." Trustees will briefly share successful ideas which have made a difference to their libraries. Plan to share your story and learn from those stories your hear about.

On Saturday morning there will be four workshops offered. These will be of interest to both new and experienced trustees. At 9:00 a.m., Malcolm Hill, Director of the Mid-York Library System will present Duties and Responsibilities of Trustees. Donna Meixner of Meixner Associations will discuss Using Focus Groups to Determine Patron's Needs.

At 10:30 a.m. a panel of trustees will address the topic of Making the Most of your Small Library. Concurrently, Constance Brace, Associate Partner in the firm of Quinlivan, Pierik and Krause, will talk about Library Space and Facilities Planning.

Bill Crumlish and Martin Gomez, co-vice chairs of the Regents Commission Library Services, will be the speakers at Saturday lunch. The purpose of the Commission is to recommend to the Regents a vision of library services for the people of New York State. The recommendation will provide a framework to guide the state's libraries into the next century. This will be the first broad examination of library services in New York since 1981.

You will be receiving an invitation to the Institute in February. Mark your calendars now! Remember - the NYSALB Trustee Institutes are designed to provide the education you need to maximize your role as a public library trustee. We look forward to seeing you in the spring.

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Recipient of 1998 Velma K. Moore Award

Margaret (Peg) McGowen who lives in Pittsford, NY was the recipient of NYSALB's 1998 Velma K. Moore Award. The presentation was made at the organization's annual conference in November held in Rochester, NY.

Richard Panz, Director of the Monroe County Library System, one of the individuals nominating Ms. McGowen for the award, noted that: "Margaret McGowen's contributions to library services in Monroe County spans 25 years, first as a trustee of the Brighton Memorial Library and more recently as a trustee of the Monroe County Library System. At Brighton, she spearheaded the formation of the first 'Friends of the Library' group in the early 1970's and has worked tirelessly on fund raising projects ever since. She served as a driving force behind projects to expand the library, first in the late 1970's and again in the late 1990's. A trustee of the Monroe County Library System since 1988, she was instrumental in obtaining support for the expansion of the Central Library and in creating a systems-wide legislative committee."

Susan A. Fowler who chairs the MCLS Legislative Committee, another person nominating Ms. McGowen, wrote that she has worked with Peg McGowen over the past fifteen years and attests to her leadership, vision and enthusiasm. "She is an inspiration for all," notes Ms. Fowler, "especially when heading up legislative visits to our elected officials to educate them on the benefits and needs of our public libraries."

Richard Panz concluded his nomination by pointing out that: "Peg never misses an opportunity to advocate for libraries and goes out of her way to send staff, trustees and legislators media clippings relevant to library services. Her efforts have ultimately resulted in increased funding for our library and improved communications with our elected officials. She certainly is a worthy candidate for this award."

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by Dr. William Taber, NYSALB Trustee

Last Sunday, the Sunday of Thanksgiving week, I took a walk in the woods. After my retirement a few years ago, I have returned to a form of exercise that I had enjoyed during my adolescence: hiking and exploring on foot. With a daypack filled with the essentials, once or twice a week I spend an afternoon in the woods either bushwacking or following trails just to see where they might go. The exploration and discovery (sometimes challenge) and the navigation keeps it interesting. It's a walk and a search; the hills make it a real exercise; the thousands of acres that I can enter hold many surprises, and the exit is an accomplishment. I am seldom more than three miles from a road of some kind.

Sunday was a day of bright sun and a cloudless sky of deep blue. I had been in the woods for only a few hours, threading my way through a network of faint trails that were new to me (although they were the traces of a couple of centuries of varied activities by humans and animals). The terrain was heavily wooded and hilly and rough, and I always chose the more easterly of the paths in order to maintain a general direction.

Unexpectedly, I saw the glint of water through a tapestry of leafless trees ahead of and below me. I carefully twisted down along a narrow path that eventually opened into one of those sudden scenes of nature that can remind our jaded souls of how beautiful and precious this earth really is, a thought easily concealed by the rush and distraction of the human-made world in which we must live most of our lives.

Deep in a hollow among steep forested hills lay a beautifully still lake. The brilliant sun, now low in the sky, showed a body of water about 3/4 mile across and a mile long to where, at my right and toward the sun, it seemed to join another lobe or bay hidden in the glare. I walked to a small open area softly paved with needles of pine and free from brush. I lay my stick aside and sat in the shade on an old log next to a huge leafless beech tree at the edge of the patch. Not a human sound penetrated to this scene, and the only indication of any human presence was the faint trail upon which I had walked and a rope that hung down before me over the water from the branch of an ancient pine that somehow lived right at the shoreline. A chickadee or two talked to me or to each other in the woods farther behind me.

I sat for a long time. I noticed the regular rows of a sapsucker's holes on a tree, maybe a maple. A circular ripple showed on the surface of the water. Too late in the year for bugs; it must be a fish. Somewhat to my left and near the opposite shore , also completely forested but with fewer scattered clumps of evergreen among the leafless trees, I could see a handful of geese and a small flock of ducks (too far away to be identifiable) resting contentedly and undisturbed in the water. I sat in awe, as though in a chapel, absorbed by the beauty, the quiet, the immensity of this small spot upon which I had stumbled, by the richness and pattern of life here, plant and animal, living in a kind of resonance with earth and hills and water and sun. Of course other humans had been here before me, but, this day, I was clearly the first ---clearly alone and highly privileged to be the only human being in this small, perfect world.

The air was completely still. The sun was almost warm. Three soft quacks drifted across the distance to me. One muffled honk from a goose followed them a while later. I looked at the water, at the hills around me, at the big tree in front of me, at the eye-painful brilliance of the sun on the water down the lake to my right. No more sounds.

Then I saw what had been hidden from my view by the tree trunk in front of me -- a large bird swimming steadily along the lake from the direction of the ducks, angling slightly toward my shore in the direction of the sun. "Goose," I thought. But the figure continued swimming---steadily and strongly eating up the distance. It did not stop, nor rest, nor take flight. It left a large wake which I could see even at a distance. As it drew closer to my side of the lake, I moved softly to put my head and body into the shadow of the large pine tree so that the sun wouldn't blind me. What an odd profile for a bird! It looked like the tail feathers were in front. Suddenly a glint of white just above the profile and a dark line behind it jolted my mind into a clear recognition. It was a deer, a young buck swimming powerfully along the lake. I hid behind the tree, fearful of intruding upon this operation of nature, of damaging somehow the perfection of the place and of the moment. As the buck drew more near, passing to my right, I could see and hear twin puffs of steam regularly blowing ahead of him out of his nostrils as his lungs kept up with the exertion. From the motions of the waves and the pulsating reappearances of the line of his back, I could feel and almost see the determined and ceaseless pumping of powerful legs below the water. His course was straight and strikingly steady. I was silent witness not only to beauty, diversity, reality, ---but to determination, will, and courage as well.

He drew closer to the blinding glare of the sun upon the water toward the southern end of the lake. I nearly held my breath so that he would not become aware of my presence and perhaps turn back toward the center of the lake. His self-appointed task (whatever it was) had to be respected. He disappeared into that shining silver, and I never saw him again despite my efforts to pierce the amazingly broad and intense band of brilliance which shielded the entire southern shore.

I stayed still for long minutes until I was sure that his trajectory and speed had brought him safely to land. Then I moved quietly away, treading carefully back up the darkening path that had brought me to this place. It was a special place, a place of virtue. For beauty is a virtue, and this place had a simple and pure beauty that was stunning. For knowledge is a virtue, and this place was a teaching display of the diversity of life surrounding me and living in delicate balance. For will and determination are virtues, and the strength and purpose of the deer was a clear and simple image of that force. For it is a virtue that the goals of one living being sometimes are a mystery to other living beings, and the deer's goal, hidden from me in that brilliant glare, was perhaps a vital need for him. For simplicity and clarity are virtues, and that bright little area was a gem, a small place telling much about the complexities of our existence. For good is a virtue, and the deer's course in such a sacred-feeling place brought out in me (a former deer hunter) a concern to cause him no interruption or harm, to help him if I could have.

I had entered a small library of nature, the kind of library experienced by humans long before the dawn of literacy or of what we arrogantly call civilization. There I had recognized in myself perhaps the true origins of the respect and awe that we often feel in a human library which also is filled with truth, with beauty, with diversity of experience, with options to learn of the lessons of life. To learn those lessons takes effort by the individual, but --first-- the places must exist where such efforts can be fruitful. Libraries, big and small, human and natural, must exist for all of us. As the library of nature gave the deer freedom to explore and to dare the future, the human library also gives freedom to explore and to dare the future even though the individual's immediate goal may be hidden from others in a glare of uncertainty or privacy.

That small library of nature is not one of the BIG libraries of nature (such as the rain forest or the oceans), but, when I left it last Sunday, I was definitely more wealthy than when I had entered it, despite only a limited bit of browsing that day. Likewise, the small human library is almost as beautiful, almost as rich in experience and roads to diverse knowledge, and -- to humans -- equally as vital and necessary. It also must invoke awe and respect and curiosity. Nature (perhaps God) and humankind share responsibility for the continued health of the libraries of nature. But you and I are solely responsible for the health of the small libraries of humanity.

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Making Sense Of Your Library's Financial Statements

by Davis Crippen, NYSALB Trustee

There are two major financial statements. One is a statement of Profit and Loss or Income and Expenses. The other, which is discussed below is the Balance Sheet. The library's balance sheet. What is it? As a library trustee, what am I supposed to do with it? The example below is a sample balance sheet that I've concocted for an imaginary library. Yes, fine, but what does it say?

_______________________________________________________________________

Tappan Slote Library Balance Sheet

as of December 31, 1997

A balance sheet is an inventory of the financial resources (assets) and obligations (liabilities) of an organization. How much do you owe? How much do you own and how much do you have coming in? That's what a balance sheet can tell you about the organization with which you're associated.

Let's see how a balance sheet is put together. First, keep in mind that a balance sheet does just that, it balances. As you can see in the above example, the total of the assets on the left is exactly the same as the total of the liabilities and the fund balance on the right.

What is a fund balance? It's a figure that's used by non-profit organizations to balance the two sides of a balance sheet. Hopefully when you count up all your assets on the left and match them against all your liabilities on the right, the total of what the organization owns and has coming in will be more than you owe. If it is, you have a positive fund balance. If, unfortunately, the opposite is true, you'll have a negative fund balance, but you still have a fund balance. For a for-profit organization like General Motors, the equivalent of the fund balance is their net equity.

The second point to keep in mind is that a balance sheet is a snapshot not a movie. It freezes and reports on the situation at a specific time -- in the above balance sheet example, as of December 31, 1997.

As you can see from the sample balance sheet, the assets side is divided into two principal parts---current assets and long term assets. There is a similar division of liabilities on the other side of the balance sheet. The current accounts are ones you expect to collect on, make use of, or pay in the relatively near future, often a year. In contrast, long term accounts are certain items that you work with over a long period of time such as your building and the mortgage on it.

There is much more to be said about balance sheets but there is limited room to review all of the material in this issue of TRUSTEE. If you want to know more about the process, the following book was helpful in preparing this article and will help you learn a great deal more about balance sheets. The book is Financial Management in Non-Profit Organizations by Richard F. Wacht. The book was published in 1984 by the Business Publishing Division of the College of Business Administration at Georgia State University. The book is probably a prime candidate for borrowing through your interlibrary loan system.

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The book in its modern form - separate sheets bound along one edge and encased between protective covers - is a development of the middle ages. In that dark age, every book was a valuable work of art, individually copied and illuminated by hand, then bound between boards encrusted with precious metals and jewels. The cost and time involved in producing each copy allowed only the wealthiest and most powerful to possess them. Gradually, as the Middle Ages lightened, an entrepreneurial class emerged with wealth enough to educate their children and to seek the luxuries and amenities of the ruling nobility. By 1450 there existed a larger market for books than hand copyists could fulfill.

THE FIRST PRINTED BOOKS

Demand creates supply so some ingenious printer (maybe Gutenberg, maybe not) invented moveable type. Printing presses already existed. Whole sheet woodcut prints of images and even text were being sold by itinerant street peddlers. But until moveable type was developed, the task of printing an entire book - of laboriously carving the text of every page onto wood blocks - was even more expensive than hand copying. Moveable (and therefore, reusable) type made it possible to set up a page, print it, then reuse the type to set up another page. And that made possible an explosion in the number of books that existed in Europe. It also made possible the broad dissemination of knowledge and political thought which produced the democratic revolution and our popular mass culture of today. If Gutenberg is the Father of Printing, we can also consider him the Great Great... Grandfather of Democracy.

INCUNABULA

Books printed from about 1450 to 1500, are referred to as "Incunabula" from the Latin for "cradle." During this period about 35,000 different titles were published! Despite their venerable age, most of them have much less value than you might expect. They deal primarily with obscure theological topics and are written in Latin by even more obscure theologians. Theology is not a hot collecting field, regardless of age. Many Incunabula can be had for a few hundred dollars or even less. This sad fact has led to the heinous crime of "tearorism" - the destruction of books by individuals who sell the separate pages for $50 or $100 each to naive collectors dazzled by the age of the leaf and ignorant of its true value.

THE 16TH, 17TH, AND 18TH CENTURIES

Printing quickly spread across Europe. By 1500, presses had been established in every major country. By 1530, the first press in the New World was operating in Mexico City. The first American press was established at Cambridge, Massachusetts about 1630. The early printers were also the publisher of the books they printed. Marketing consisted of word of mouth and an occasional ad in the local newspaper announcing that the pages

If you appeared at the shop to purchase the book, you were available at the print shop. were handed a bundle of loose sheets which you took up the street to the Bookbinder. The loose pages came complete with binding instructions but the binder sometimes ignored them, leading to all kinds of interesting variations. All the pictures might be bound at the front before the title page; the table of contents might be bound at the back of the book; the binding instructions might even be bound in. Each buyer specified the type of binding and the decorations to be used so the same book will be found in many different bindings. They were almost always bound in leather with hand-tooled gold leaf decorations along the spine and edges of the boards. The title and author are hand punched onto leather strips, usually of a contrasting color, and glued to the spine. The hand work is apparent - sometimes painfully so. I have a nice book with a spine that reads "the Livs of the Presidents."

THE 19TH CENTURY - DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASS MARKET

From the 15th to 18th centuries, books remained relatively expensive. Gradually, as literacy spread, the demand for books spread too. By the beginning of the 19th century, the demand for books was again outstripping supply. Steam powered presses replaced hand presses making it possible to print hundreds, then thousands of sheets per minute. Machine binding replaced book binders. Mechanical processes replaced hand type setting. All of this drove down the cost of books, making them ever more accessible to the ever growing educated population of America and Europe.

By the 1830s there were newspapers in every town, there were dozens of national circulation periodicals, and a robust book publishing industry. Books from this pre-civil war period are usually machine bound with cloth covers instead of leather with the title printed onto the binding. The boards often have very elaborate florid impressed decorative patterns, highlighted with gold. At this time, book publishers could be found in every significant town. Kingston, Hudson, Albany, Auburn and many other places were major publishing centers. By the 1860s, bindings had become much plainer, usually cloth, usually gray, sometimes green, with more restrained geometric impressed decoration.

The 1870s saw the introduction of elaborate pictorial images impressed into the boards and spines, usually with gilt highlights. The 1880s saw many bindings take on an "Eastlake" look to mirror the fashion in furniture and home furnishings. Elaborate floral and geometric designs fill the covers and spines of this era. We also continue to find many pictorial boards. The 1890s saw a return toward simplicity in binding with simple cloth covers in various subdued colors. You can, without much difficulty, date most books by their covers.

The production of paper to supply the exploding demand for printed material became increasingly difficult. From the earliest days of printing, paper had been produced from vegetable fibers such as linen, cotton, hemp, and flax. Plant fiber was collected from textile mills and from recycled paper and fabric. By the 1860s paper manufacturers began to introduce wood fiber into the process. By the 1880s, most paper was composed almost entirely of wood pulp. Unfortunately, wood pulp, unlike plant fibers, contains acids which, over decades, eat away at the paper, turning it brown and brittle and eventually leaving it a mass of powder. You can pick up an Incunabula from 1470 or a newspaper from 1830 and find the paper as supple and strong as the day it was made. But if you pick up an 1881 newspaper, be prepared to have it disintegrate in your hands. The deterioration can be minimized by keeping your books cool and dry. Never store your books and paper in the attic or the basement, and keep them out of direct sunlight.

(Next Issue- The Century, 20th Century and the New Millenium)

© 1998, Coxsackie Antique Center (Bill Johns, author of this article, is co-proprietor with his wife Diane, of the Coxsackie Antique Center, in West Coxsackie, NY)

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Vol. X No.1 January 1999

is a publication of

The New York State Association of Library Boards

NYSALB
3 Douglas Avenue
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Phone: 518-286-2150 FAX: 518-283-8085

NYSALB e-mail number: nysalb@sebridge.org
Editor's e-mail number: efield@catskill.net

Edwin M. Field EDITOR
Parry D. Teasdale PRESIDENT
Davis Crippen 1st VICE PRESIDENT
Norman Jacknis 2nd VICE PRESIDENT
Kenneth Wilbur TREASURER
Martina Thompson SECRETARY

Davis Crippen, Piermont
Edwin M. Field, Monticello
Dr. Norman J. Jacknis, Cortlandt Manor
Mary Jo Ketchum, Elma
George Manitzas, Freeport
Constance M. Paine, Willsboro
Mable Robertson, Brooklyn
Nancy Simaitis, Waverly
Audrey J. Smith, Nunda
Dr. William Taber, Richfield Springs
Parry D. Teasdale, Phoenicia
Martina Thompson, Pittsford
Kenneth Wilbur, East Syracuse
Christine Paulsen, Assoc. Mgr.

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