Council Meeting

April 3, 1998

Central Library, Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, Charlottesville

Present: Tom Hehman, President; Lis Chabot, Past-President; Sandy Heinemann, Vice-President; Stella Pool, Second Vice-President; Pat Howe, Secretary; Terry Sumey, Treasurer; Linda Hahne, Executive Director; Cy Dillon, Virginia Libraries; Mary Hansbrough, VLA Newsletter; Bill Goodrich, Region I; Sally Jacobs, Region IV; Carol Creager, Region VI; Carl Phillips, College and University; Barbara Severin, Trustee; Louveller Luster, Continuing Education; Scott Phillips, CYART; Sam Clay, Finance; Neal Wyatt, Intellectual Freedom; Linda Krantz, Co-chair Legislative; Sue Trask, Co-chair Publications; Sydney Simpson, Scholarship; Sandra Beehler, Collection Management Roundtable; Gail Tatum, New Members Roundtable; Ginny Dunn, Library Instruction Forum; Carolyn Barkley, Local History/Genealogy/Oral History; Lydia Williams, Co-chair, Paraprofessional Forum; Mary Fran Nash, Co-chair, Paraprofessional Forum; Steve Stratton, Public Documents; Elizabeth Sudduth, TSAR; Jo Ellen Opyoke, Volunteer Management.

1. The meeting was called to order at 10:20 A.M.. A quorum became present during the discussion about the dues structure. Reports were given until then.

2. Tom Hehman introduced Sam Clay, the Chair of the Finance Committee.

3. Treasurer's report: Terry distributed the 1998 budget stating that the report was up-to- date as of March 31, 1998. (Filed with official minutes) A substantial amount of income came in quite early due to registrations for the Paraprofessional Conference. The Paraprofessional Forum is now using the timely services of Linda Hahne.

4. Executive Director’s report: Linda Hahne announced that renewals were coming in after notices were sent and 965 have renewed membership for 1998. She will send a reminder postcard toward the end of April to those who have not yet renewed before dropping them from the membership list.

So far, twenty exhibit blocks have been signed up for the Annual Conference. She has mailed out 33 scholarship applications and listed 33 jobs on VLA’s WEB page which is very popular according to the activity of the page.

5. Finance Committee report: Sam Clay distributed and discussed the report: Committee Charge, Time frame, Methodology, Findings, and Recommendations. (Filed with official minutes)

6. Action item:

Linda Krantz moved, with Carolyn Barkley seconding, to discuss the recommended dues structure.

Discussion and comments included: publication cost for each member is $23, with services and benefits the cost is $71 to carry a member; other state models were looked at and they are higher; this is the first increase in 6 years, and we should expect a slight increase in the coming years; the dues increase does not solve VLA’s deficit and it will not balance the budget, but will help bring us up; members should understand what the benefits are with dues increase; make VLA a good organization worthy of the dues; there may be some drop off of membership with the increase; committees are more careful about spending and staying within budget; institutional cost is not a significant increase since they only want the publications and some institutions pay for individual membership; might consider rates by institutional budget in the future; the increase becomes effective January 1999 for the 1999 membership.

It was suggested that an article be written for the VLA Newsletter in order to make it easier for people to accept the increase in dues. Tom will write an article for the Newsletter. Tom referred Council to recommendation #9 of the Finance Committee that the Executive Committee should establish a committee and a process to examine VLA as to its purpose, goals, and structure to ensure that it is meeting the needs of its members. There will be a planning retreat with the Executive Committee and others with hopes of bringing any necessary changes for the structure of VLA to the June Council meeting.

Council then voted on the new dues structure. Passed in favor of.

7. Approval of February’s minutes: Cy Dillon moved, with Ginny Dunn seconding, approval of Council’s February 13, 1998 minutes. Passed.

8. Reports/Announcements:

a. Administrative Services Committee: Stella announced that Jean Tolbert is Region V Chair. She would like the chairs to review the manual and their sections for needed revisions or inconsistencies and to e-mail her with corrections.

b. Intellectual Freedom Committee: Neal Wyatt reviewed her committee’s charge to review and evaluate VLA’s official position on the Library Bill of Rights and Code of Ethics. Neal distributed and reviewed the committee’s recommended statements and a number of documents related to these issues, asking members to review the Code of Ethics, and focus on what we don't want which is Internet filtering. (Filed with official minutes)

It was recommended that the committee’s response be put on VLA’s website, printed in the VLA Newsletter and VLA listserv. The committee would like feedback from all VLA members by June 1 to present to Council as an action item at the June 12 meeting.

c. Legislative Committee: Tom summarized the report from the committee and it was suggested the summary be printed on the website or in the VLA Newsletter.

Public libraries received full-funding for year one and are in a good position to approach for the 2nd and then third year; VIVA received additional funding and the Friends’ tax exempt status was renewed. The Library of Virginia received 1.2 million dollars and 6 new positions. Delegate Marshall’s Internet filtering bill was referred to committee for further study and funding for technology was not approved. There was no attempt to help bolster Law Library funding, perhaps include next year with better funding strategy.

There was concern that the Library of Virginia is authorized to divert up to 30% state aid for administrative costs. A letter from Tom, on behalf of VLA, to Serf Guerra, Library of Virginia Board, expressed his opinion that this would not be in the best interest of VLA’s membership.

Barbara Severin stated that Sen. Chichester from Fredericksburg said he received more letters and comments on library issues than any other issues this year and made this comment to local businesses and the public.

Cy Dillon will contact Spencer Watts about a legislative summary and the work of VLA’s legislative liaison which could be the basis for an article in Virginia Libraries.

Tom suggested we thank Sen. Chichester, Lacey Putney, chief sponsor of the amendment, and Earl Dickinson, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee who were all key figures in the efforts for full funding. Lis suggested that this is a good time to contact legislators and thank them for their support, especially public librarians. Have an event and invite legislators, explain to them how much was brought into the system with this full- funding and how the funds are being spent, e.g., Bedford County received $21,000 with the result of thousands of books being purchased. Have recognition affairs, resolutions framed, and press releases with legislators.

Linda Krantz announced that Spencer Watts will not be co-chair for next year and asked Council to consider someone who can lead the committee next year. She is willing to remain as a “behind-the-scene” co-chair. Linda said the committee members were its real strength and more people have volunteered to serve on the committee.

Tom stated that Phil Abraham was very active this year and committed a lot of his own time.

Council was reminded about Federal Legislative Day on May 5. There should be a good representation from Virginia.

d. 1998 Conference Committee: All the General Session speakers have been signed for the Conference on October 15-17.

Opening session: Andrew Blau, Director of Communications Policy for the Benton Foundation which strengthens public interest efforts to shape the emerging communications environment through public education, outreach to nonprofit and community groups, and policy development.

Thursday night social: Dessert at the Virginia Marine Science Museum.

Friday General session: Dale Henry, motivational speaker. (*When these minutes were drafted, it was learned that Dale Henry was unable to speak due a scheduling conflict. Speaker is yet to be announced)

Friday night banquet: Kathy Reichs, North Carolina forensics specialist and author of Deja dead.

Saturday luncheon: Peter Roop, children's author.

Sandy Heinemann announced that she was trying to set up an Academic track at the Annual Conference with sessions that would appeal to academic personnel. Carl Phillips contacted Kathy Perry and there will be a VIVA Users’ session. The track could cluster around that session.

Concurrent session proposals need to be in by May 1. Both VLA and VEMA would like a balance of sessions.

It was announced that Gateway is donating 40 computers for use at the Annual Conference.

1999 and beyond: Linda Hahne stated that the Executive Committee is looking at developing a 3 year plan instead of a 5 year plan for Conferences. Five years is too long if changes to the contracts are needed. Council has already voted to go to the Homestead in 1999. The dates are Oct. 27-29. She was able to bring the number of rooms down.

Council approved Williamsburg for the 2000 Conference. Linda is currently speaking with the Marriott. VLA is still negotiating and hasn’t officially signed a contract. The structure will be an early start on Thursday ending late Friday afternoon, eliminating the Saturday morning activities. This decision was based on the membership survey and low attendance on Saturdays. Conference will include a Wednesday night meeting and food affair for Council. Linda is negotiating to bring the room numbers down for the 2000 Conference.

Linda will be sending out an RFP for the 2001 Conference in Richmond.

e. Unit announcements:

ALA Councilor: Scottie Cochrane sent a note via e-mail. There is no report other than what was published in March’s VLA Newsletter and that VLA’s annual contributions to the ALA Washington Office, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and ALA’s Spectrum Initiative were sent.

Region V: Jean Tolbert sent her report via e-mail. Region V met at Marymount University with 10 people in attendance. Appointments of a recorder and 6 committees were made. These committees will be planning a program tentatively scheduled for September 24 at Marymount. The Publicity Committee will be reaching out to members in the outlying counties to get them more involved in activities.

Local History, Genealogy and Oral History Forum with the NMRT: Carolyn Barkley announced their May 28 program at the Library of Virginia “Overcoming your greatest fear: serving your genealogy patrons and ... enjoying it” with Dereka Smith and Craig Scott. NMRT co-chair is Wayne Modlin.

LIF and Region VI: Ginny Dunn announced their June 9 program at Mary Baldwin College “Information Literacy 101: Guiding a new generation of information seekers.”

College and University Section with Community College Forum: Carl Phillips announced their workshop “Balance in turbulent times: strategies for success with stress” with speaker Dr. Mark Warner, to be held June 5 at the Central Library of the Jefferson- Madison Regional Library.

The Paraprofessional Annual Conference: “Making a difference: a shared responsibility” will be held May 18-19 and more than 400 have registered so far.

The Scholarship Committee will have their first meeting with Tom Hehman on April 24.

CYART: Scott Phillips announced their May 8 program “Developing a youth services web page” to be held at the Central Library of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. The Jefferson Cup Award Committee has received almost 300 titles for consideration. They have contacted the Library of Virginia about a youth services contact so there is a contact person for statewide advocacy.

Cy Dillon announced that Barbara Ford will be on cover of the next Virginia Libraries.

TSAR: Elizabeth Sudduth announced their program “Tracking a moving target: Internet resources in the online catalog” to be held May 15 at the Library of Virginia.

Region IV: Sally Jacobs announced their May 29 program to be held at VCU titled “Taming the wild wild west of the world wide web.” Emphasis will be in 3 parts: how and when to use a search engine, using them, and evaluating search engines. This is similar to last year’s program with hands-on experience.

Public Documents Forum: Steve Stratton anounced they will host a late summer program and the new Superintendent of Documents is interested in VLA’s Annual Conference.

Trustees: Barbara Severin announced that the Library of Virginia will be conducting workshops around the state for trustees. She asked Council members to encourage their trustees to attend these workshops to be held in October prior to the Annual Conference.

Publications: Sue Trask announced that they will be meeting this afternoon to discuss directory cost and inserts. She asked members to plan enough time to get inserts into the Newsletter.

The next Council meeting will be held June 12 at the Northside Branch of the Jefferson- Madison Regional Library.

The meeting adjourned at 12:07 PM

Submitted by,

Patricia Howe, Secretary