August 2000 issue
June Council Meeting
The VLA Council met in Charlottesville at the Northside Library on Friday, June 9, 2000. Carolyn Barkley, President, called the meeting to order.
Jeanette Friedman gave the Treasurer's report. VLA's financial situation is very stable right now. Total revenue to date is $181,186 including the $6,079 carry-over from 1999. The Paraprofessional Conference has already earned $62,578 in revenue, $7,578 more than budgeted. More expenses related to this conference are anticipated. Approximately 90% of the unit programs have taken place and, overall, have earned a net revenue. Jeanette also noted that the legislative fund has reached $23,965.
Carolyn Barkley presented the Executive Director's report. VLA has a total membership of 1,101 with 192 new members. 289 members from last year did not renew.
Julie James, Technical Consultant at the Library of Virginia, gave a presentation on the background and status of "Infopowering." The main focus of the initiative has been equipment, connectivity and content. 330 Gateway computers have been distributed, giving connectivity to libraries with no Internet access, and older computers have been upgraded. Goals for next year include moving libraries off of dial-up access, expanding content and developing benchmarks. For more information, see the Library of Virginia site at http://www.infopowering.lib.va.us.
Sam Clay, Co-Chair of the Legislative Committee, presented a draft of the VLA Legislative Agenda for the 2001 General Assembly session. The list, approved by Council, included the following items: state aid for public libraries, Infopowering, JLARC study of the state aid formula, library capital/construction funding, VIVA and other academic initiatives, UCITA, Library of Virginia budget, Internet access, Read Aloud Virginia, and public law libraries.
Scholarship Committee Chair, Marianne Ramsden, reported a proposal to change the application schedule for scholarship awards. With Council's approval, applications will now be due on March 1 instead of May 15. The paraprofessional scholarship award can then be given at the Paraprofessional Conference and announced at the Annual Conference. Other scholarship awards will be presented at the Annual Conference. The Scholarship Committee's awards will be kept separate from the Awards and Recognition Committee's consolidated awards brochure.
Ruth Arnold, 2nd Vice President, presented the Administrative Services Committee's proposed changes to the VLA Manual. The Committee looked mainly at Council succession, creating some term limits and facilitating the process of committee appointments. In this way, the Committee hopes to promote the opportunity for new members to participate in committee work without sacrificing the continuity provided by experienced members. In general, appointments will be made for two year terms, with a limit of three consecutive terms. New committee members will be solicited in the summer and early fall so that appointments can be made in December. Council approved the Committee's recommendations.
Treasurer Jeanette Friedman commented on the VLA financial plan and dues structure. The financial plan currently meets VLA's goal for financial stability. Programs for planned giving, sponsorship and an advertising plan will contribute to a growth environment. Major expenditures have been reduced, largely due to the skills of Linda Hahne in negotiating contracts related to the Annual Conference. This helps to keep both membership dues and conference registration fees down. The jobline is doing very well and the two yearly conferences are covering their own expenses and showing net revenues. The unit programs are also largely covering their expenses. Donations to the legislative fund are meeting projections. Membership dues fund approximately 80% of the operating budget; however, membership has dropped in each of the last two years and 50% of members pay less than what their membership benefits cost. Evaluation of the dues structure will be deferred for a year so that the effects of the new plans can be studied.
Barbie Selby, Chair of the Publications Committee, presented a draft for a new VLA advertising plan. Barbie discussed the goals of an advertising plan which include strengthening vendor relations, generating revenue and serving members. All advertising should closely relate to VLA's mission but should not dominate any VLA publication. The plan recommends that the VLA Executive Director serve as Advertising Manager and Linda Hahne has agreed to do this. A motion to accept the advertising plan and refer it to the Finance Committee for further study was carried.
Carolyn Barkley
announced that VLA and the Library of Virginia made recommendations for the
first-ever National Advocacy Honor Roll sponsored by the American Library
Association and ALA's Association for Library Trustees and Advocates. The award winners included: (living) Robert
Ball, Patricia Wilson Berger, Dean Burgess, Ida Patton, Carol Shackelford, and
(posthumous) Randolph Church, David K. E. Bruce, Thomas Jefferson, Mary A.
Marshall, and Earl Gregg Swem. Sally Reed, Director of the Norfolk
Public Library, received the Virginia and Herbert White Award for Promoting Librarianship. The award honors an individual for
contributing significantly to the public recognition and appreciation of
librarianship through professional performance, teaching and/or writing. The Executive Committee will draft a
resolution honoring these award winners and will present it at the VLA Annual
Conference.
Susan Keller, Chair of the Awards and Recognition Committee, distributed a draft of the new VLA awards brochure. All awards except for scholarship will be listed in this one brochure and the award forms will all have a similar layout.
President Barkley announced that Caroline Parr was appointed to the Read Aloud Virginia board and Ruth Kifer will be the VLA representative on the UCITA study committee.
President-elect Cy Dillon reported for the Membership Committee. The Committee plans to survey the 289 members who did not renew their membership this year to look for patterns and gather information. The Committee also drafted a document describing ten ways to be a VLA-friendly library. There should be at least one thing on the list that all libraries in Virginia could say they've done. VLA-friendly libraries will then be recognized at the Annual Conference. In taking over the New Members Round Table, the Membership Committee plans to initiate a mentor program and will hold a kick-off program at the Annual Conference.
Conference Committee Chair Morel Fry reported that 66 concurrent session proposals were received for this fall's conference. A preliminary program for the conference was planned to be ready in July.
Barbara Rittinger, Co-Chair of the Continuing Education Committee, announced that the Program Planners' Workshop will be held as a pre-conference of the Annual Conference this year. The Solinet group from last year will do their presentation on program planning again.
Mary Mayer-Hennelly, ALA Councilor, announced that Robert Kinney received an ALA Spectrum Scholarship.
Skip Auld, Federal Relations Chair, gave a wrap-up of this year's Federal Legislative Day. The event is scheduled for April 30-May 1 in 2001 with the VLA luncheon on May 1.
Following announcements of past and forthcoming programs, Council adjourned to a picnic lunch at Barbie Selby's house. Thanks Barbie! The next Council meeting will be held at the Central Library in Charlottesville on September 15.
VLA Newsletter Needs
an Editor
The VLA Publications Committee is looking for a new editor for the VLA Newsletter beginning in January 2001. The VLA Newsletter editor is responsible for putting out ten issues of the Newsletter each year. The editor attends and writes a summary of VLA Council meetings, receives reports from other meetings, solicits occasional short articles and reports, maintains the VLA calendar, works closely with the VLA web editor, and gathers information for the "People & Happenings" section of the Newsletter. As a former editor, I can say that it's a great way to get involved in VLA and to get to know librarians around the state.
Candidates for editor should submit a letter of application outlining relevant qualifications, resume, and samples of writing/editing to Barbie Selby, VLA Publications Committee Chair, UVA Law Library, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903-1789. Please e-mail or call Barbie with any questions at bms8z@virginia.edu, (804) 924-3504.
-- Barbie Selby, Chair, VLA Publications Committee.
Library of Virginia
Board Meeting
The Library of Virginia Board met in Richmond on June 19, 2000. It took action on the following major items:
1. It amended its circulation policy to prohibit patron use of library materials outside the building to those items published after 1925. It also allowed the Library to designate on a case-by-case basis individual volumes published after 1925 restricted to Reading Room use only. The purpose of these changes is to reduce the wear on older volumes and to contain replacement costs.
2. The collection development budget for FY 2000-2001 will be increased to $820,000 from $525,000. Half of the new monies will go for manuscript acquisitions and $60,000 will be devoted to online reference resources. Overall library attendance will be in the 125,000 to 130,000 range.
3. Public Library Development reported that the fully-funded State Aid appropriation of $20,485,543 will be apportioned among 90 public library systems. Waivers were granted to 17 libraries; the largest number (8) was for failure to meet state-mandated local funding expenditures. Database subsidy grants totaling $199,177.50 were awarded to 35 public libraries; 5 grant applications were denied. Assistive technology grants totaling $45,540.42 were awarded to 9 of the 13 libraries that applied.
4. The Library of Virginia Foundation will sponsor the third annual Library of Virginia Literacy Awards on September 16. It will also sponsor "An Evening with William Styron" on December 2 as a culmination of the All Virginia Reads program. The Foundation enjoyed a successful fund raising year, receiving $112,000, $24,000 more than its goal.
5. Library Board officers for FY 2000-2001 are Mary Ann Harmon, chair, and P. Claiborne Johnston, Jr., vice-chair. Leona Wilkins chose to leave the Board at the end of her first term.
6. Nolan Yelich, the State Librarian, foresees a period of slower and less monumental institutional growth and change that will allow the Library to digest, build upon, and refine the achievements of the past few years.
The next two Library Board meetings are scheduled for September 18 and November 13.
-- Alan M. Bernstein, VLA Observer to the LVA Board
People &
Happenings
F. Rob Tench has been selected as Support Services Manager for the Newport News Public Library System. Rob was formerly supervising librarian at the Pearl Bailey Library. Sherin Henderson has been promoted to the position of Supervising Librarian for the Pearl Bailey Library.
Connie Gilman has accepted the position of Branch Manager of Chinn Park Regional Library within the Prince William Public Library System. She had been the Sunday Library Supervisor at Bull Run Regional Library from its opening in 1994 and has been with the system since October of 1990.
Perry Library, Old Dominion University, announced the Staff Member of the Year Award at a reception held on May 3, 2000. Staff Member of the Year was awarded to Pete Bruce, Office Services Assistant in the Systems Department. He has been with the Library since 1990, first as a student assistant, then as an Office Services Assistant in Bibliographic Services from 1997-1999. Pete started in the Systems Department in June 1999.
Daniel McShane has joined the staff of the University of Virginia Library as the Electronic Cataloging and Metadata Coordinator. He will coordinate efforts in cataloging electronic and digital materials. Dan comes to UVA from the New York State Newspaper Project, where he was Preservation Coordinator. He is the technical editor for two online journals, Journal of Buddhist Ethics and Journal of Global Buddhism. Mercedes Quintos is the new Library Exhibits Coordinator for the University of Virginia Library. Before joining the staff of the UVA Library, Mercy was the Exhibition and Education Specialist for the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C.
Beth Perkins, Head of Circulation at Mary Washington College, was named Library Journal's 2000 Paraprofessional of the Year and honored at the ALA Conference in Chicago this summer.
Loretta O'Brien-Parham, Director of the university library at Hampton University, was elected to the SOLINET Board of Directors.
The Arlington County Public Library's Teen Advisory Boards was one of six public and school library programs chosen by the American Library Association as a model of excellence in afterschool programming for young adults. The programs were selected from a total of 30 entries submitted to ALA and the ALA Young Adult Library Services Association. Programs were judged on the basis of their adaptability by other libraries, creativity and effectiveness. Arlington County Public Library's Teen Advisory Boards meet to review and evaluate books and make recommendations about their quality and appeal to teens.
The Loudoun County Public Library in Leesburg was honored by ALA's Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) Public Relations Section Swap and Shop Committee with a Best of Show Award for its children's summer reading program. The awards are given annually to recognize the very best individual pieces of public relations materials produced by libraries in the past year.
The Tidewater Children's Foundation has awarded Norfolk Public Library two grants to finance two outreach programs, one titled "Live at the Library" and the other titled "Taking it to the Streets." The first program will feature author visits, a series of cultural performances, and traveling exhibits for library patrons. The second will provide a full-time librarian and a van to visit a variety of non-traditional venues such as pediatrician offices, grocery stores, shelters, hospitals and malls to offer information as well as storytime presentations.
The Kate Waller Barrett Elementary School Library in Arlington has been selected to win the first annual Lee Elliott Memorial Award offered by the Millbrook Press. The award was created to honor libraries which make a major contribution to the young people of their community through the utilization of the media center facilities and collection.
The National Endowment for the Humanities has selected the Newport News Public Library system and the Williamsburg Regional Library system as two of 40 libraries nationwide to host a travelling exhibit on George Washington. "The Great Experiment: George Washington and the American Republic" will be exhibited at the Main Street Library in Newport News from January 3 through February 14, 2002 and at the James City County Library in Norge from February 28 through April 11, 2002. As part of the award the two libraries will host public receptions and organize programming around the theme of the 1,000-square-foot 30-panel exhibition.
VLA Council Meetings
The next VLA Council meeting will be held in Charlottesville at the Main Library on September 15.
Library of Virginia
Board Meetings
The next Board meetings are scheduled for September 18 and November 13.
September 14
ePublishing and
Libraries
Sponsor: Region V
Place: Freedom Forum World Center, Arlington
Contact: Jo Murphy
(703) 248-5035
September 15;
September 29; October 11
Patchwork of Programs
Sponsor: Youth Services Forum
Place: Lynchburg Public Library; Tuckahoe Public Library; Bull Run Regional Library
Contact: Rebecca Purdy
(540) 372-1144, ext. 242
October 19-20
VLA Annual Conference
Norfolk