ILA General Membership Meeting Minutes

Friday, August 14, 1998

Sun Valley, Idaho

(Corrected minutes approved by the Board October 27, 1998)

The proposed Constitution and Bylaws changes, distributed in advance in the Idaho Librarian, were adopted in their entirety by a unanimous vote of those assembled.

Several members were thanked for their contributions to the association in the past year: Ollie Cossman, for local arrangements for the Sun Valley conference; Sandra Shropshire, ILA Treasurer; Camille Wood, Constitution and Bylaws revision; Dawn Wittman, conference planning; Susannah Price, ILA President; and Adrien Taylor, for years of service and legislative guidance.

We thanked ourselves, and librarians and library advocates throughout the state, for helping LiLI become a reality.

Mary Carr, ILA past President and chair of the Nominating Committee reported that all those nominated were elected to office: Larry Almeida, Second Vice President; Sandra Shropshire, Treasurer; Jennifer O’Laughlin, Trustees/Friends Division Chair-Elect; Robert Wright, Public Library Division Chair-Elect; and Rosmarie Fouad, Academic/Special Libraries Division Chair-Elect.

Charles Bolles, Idaho State Librarian, gave his "State of the State" report. He recognized the outstanding group of people at the State Library, who have done extraordinary work in the face of high turnover. The project to catalog state documents is progressing well, and may be finished after one more year. Thanks are due to Carol Silvers, Mary Campbell, and Candace Wittner for their work on the project. The high caliber of information service provided the legislature by Karin Ford and Jane Houston have done much to help make the funding for the LiLI project a reality. It is expected that the statewide database will be up and running around the first of December, thanks to the good work of Ann Joslin, Anne Abrams, and Rand Simmons. Legislators will be able to see what it covers and how it works, and we hope they will continue to fund it on a yearly basis. The Read To Me Project, part of the Albertsons Emergent Literacy Project, is on track, and five libraries will participate in it during the upcoming year. Thanks to Stephanie Bailey-White and Peggy McClendon for their work on the project. Rand Simmons is continuing to monitor the developments in e-rate and universal service, and answer questions for the Idaho library community. At this point, Bolles does not know what the year 2000 budget request for the Idaho State Library will be, but it will include continued funding for the statewide database, cataloging of Idaho state documents, funding for the field offices, and the Read To Me Project.

Ron Force, First Vice President and chair of conference planning for the upcoming year, announced that next the next annual conference will be held October 6-9, 1999, at the Doubletree on Riverside in Boise.

There were memorials for three members of the Idaho library community.

Stanley A. Shepard passed away on July 16 of causes related to age. In his three decades with the University of Idaho Library he was a cataloger, Head of Technical Services, and Head of Archives and Special Collections, retiring in 1984 as an emeritus professor. He was an active member of ILA, serving on numerous committees over the years.

William F (Bill) Hayes passed away May 22, 1997. He was the director of the Boise Public Library from 1966 to 1983. During his tenure, the library moved from the Carnegie Building on Washington Street to the old Salt Lake Furniture Warehouse on Capitol. Bill also installed the first automated circulation system in Idaho and formed the predecessor to the Lynx! Consortium. Bill was active in ILA, served as President of PNLA, and was a member of the ALA Council.

Darryl L. Huskey passed away June 17, 1998. He spent his entire professional career of nearly thirty years at the Boise State University Library as Documents Librarian. At various times he also supervised periodicals, maps, and microforms. Darryl was active in ILA, serving as Secretary, Conference Chair, and Chair of the College, University, and Special Libraries Division at various times. He was also a member of PNLA and ALA, and was active in the Boise Valley Documents Round Table. On campus, Darryl was chair of the Faculty Senate, and served on a variety of committees. He was also active in the Democratic Party, and his church. As his colleague, Adrien Taylor, said, "Darryl has touched the lives of quite literally thousands of students and through his good offices he has led them to better and greater understanding of themselves, their community and their place within their community. He has done this with no fanfare and with great devotion."

At the end of the meeting, President Susannah Price formally passed the gavel to Dawn Wittman, incoming ILA President. Wittman thanked the members of the conference planning committee, remarking that "Idaho librarians are the best."

Adjourned