Minutes: ILA Board Meeting April 17, 1998

Present: Susannah Price, Janet Strong, Ron Force, Larry Alameida, Jennifer Ashby, Kevin Booe, Charles Bolles, John Pool, Marlene Earnst, Dawn Wittman, Sandi Shropshire, Carol Gramann

Jan. 20 minutes were unanimously approved.

Nominating Committee Report (see attached slate of officers [1]): Price presented in Mary Carr's absence. The next deadline for the Idaho Librarian mailing is May 15. The by-laws are to be distributed with this mailing, in order to save money. There was discussion about mailing the ballots the same way. Because of the need to sort ballots by division, and the need to avoid offering non-members the opportunity to vote, the decision was to mail the ballots in a separate mailing (with Mary Carr directed to do so), and to mail the by-laws with the newsletter.

1998 Budget Input and Discussion (see attached revised budget [2]): Changes include separate lines for auction income and expense. We have a projected net loss noted (due largely to the amount budgeted for a lobbyist; also new is the line for Internet support). Bolles moved to accept, Almeida seconded. Approval was unanimous.

Audit: The By-laws had required the books to be audited at every treasurer change. This costs $1,000. Shropshire asked whether we want to have one done this year. Last year's treasurer instead had university accounting students perform a review under the supervision of a professor, saving quite a bit of money. Shropshire took over the treasurer position in the middle of his term. Since we've completed our first year using Quickbooks, she recommended a review. Bolles suggests that we defer to Shropshire's judgment as to whether we need a full audit or a review, in order to protect Shropshire as well as the organization. Shropshire says she is comfortable with the student review. Bolles moved we accept a student review; Wittman seconded; approval was unanimous.

Databases: Shropshire reported that we have multiple databases of mailing addresses used by this organization, including the state library's, the Idaho Librarian editors', the treasurer's, etc. Not all are being updated regularly and accurately, and mailing recipients are frequently asking the wrong database holder to make the correction. Some are getting multiple mailings. Some are annoyed. Shropshire asked whether the board wants to do anything to correct the situation. Bolles noted that the state library's database reaches a broader community than the others, and that each mailing may need a separate decision as to who receives it. The Board decided to keep the multiple databases in place.

Idaho Librarian editor honorarium: Shropshire said that payment used to be sent out quarterly (by issue). Now that we have two editors and six issues, she asked whether we want to disburse payment in the same way. Bolles suggested paying in one check for each editor at the end of the year if the editors are comfortable with that.

Membership chair report: Price presented Ruth Cocran's report (see attached [3]). Wittman suggested sending membership forms out with the conference registration packets.

Officer Reports

President: Price reported that the request for a Snowbird leadership conference recommendation comes too late for us to do anything about it. She suggested that we have a list of names ready so that we can respond. The board decided to try to bring names to the Sun Valley conference.

The ALA Chapter Relations committee is doing a survey seeking priorities for their strategic plan. Price asked whether she should send them the top few priorities from ILA's strategic plan

Legislation -- Ann Joslin will be going to D.C. for the state library. Bolles suggested that ILA send someone only for the years in which there is significant legislation. The legislation committee should monitor legislation.

Idaho Librarian -- It is too soon to evaluate the new format, but it should be put on later agendas.

Intellectual Freedom: Price presented the report from Rand Simmons. The committee consists of Nancy Henden - Fort Boise Alternative School , Lori Keenan - Latah County Free Library District, Robert Wright Lucy Boyle Public Library (Blackfoot), Susan Green - Burley Public Library, Rand Simmons - Idaho State Library, Vicki Kreimeyer Brown - Boise Public Library. Law Revision Task Force: The task force is disbanded, and is no longer an obligation of the past president. (Bolles noted that it was specifically public library-oriented, and that the legislative task force can manage it.)

Website discussion: (Site address: http://www.idaholibraries.org/). Pool, Wood, and Almeida worked on webmaster position description (see attached [4]). Dan Lester has spent $175 getting the site started, and anticipates a $10/month ongoing expense (ongoing charges would be higher if he did not already have a personal account set up with the ISP). In addition, there will be a $50/year renewal fee for domain name registration. The board has $1200 budgeted for this year. The board agreed to set a stipend for the webmaster, and to pay expenses separately. There was some preliminary discussion regarding the appropriate amount for the stipend, but the board decided to wait for Lester's arrival.

Pool moved, Bolles seconded that the board authorize the ad hoc committee to oversee and spend funds necessary to establish the webpage. The board appreciates the work the ad hoc committee has done.

Discussion of position description: The board should supervise the webmaster but does not need to approve every word. Many changes are expected, and approval is cumbersome. Bolles suggests a subcommittee.

Dan Lester joined the discussion. He clarified that all content must be sent electronically. The board will need to make policy decisions such as whether to publish the membership list on the web. Price will send an electronic copy of the ILA officers list. The legislative committee is responsible for submitting legislative issues. Wittman and Strong will submit annual conference information. Lester will ask the second vice president any time there's a question as to whether something submitted should be posted

Lester pointed out that much of the content that appears regularly in Idaho Librarian could appear on the website. The question is, should the web version appear instead of, or in addition to, the paper version. Strong pointed out the archival function of the paper version. Discussion: It could be printed off the web and archived. Lester asked whether LiLI could serve as an archival site. No final decisions were made at this time.

When asked about an appropriate stipend, Lester mentioned his desire to be a contributing member/servant, and pointed out the parallels between publishing on the web and publishing an association newsletter. He said he would leave the decision as to the amount up to the board.

After Lester left, Pool moved, Shropshire seconded to set the webmaster honorarium at $500/year, and to increase the Idaho Librarian editor's honorarium to $500/year. Approval was unanimous.

The webmaster position description was amended accordingly. Pool moved, Wittman seconded that we adopt the ILA webmaster position description. Approval was unanimous.

Almeida moved, Pool seconded to amend the budget accordingly. Approval was unanimous. (Shropshire will shift money from the website budget line to the Idaho Librarian line.)

Conference Planning (see attached preliminary schedule [5]). Wittman reported that the planning committee is on track, and still working on details.

Strategic Plan. Force proposed that the outgoing president and board review the plan each year, summarize accomplishments, and remove things completed or no longer relevant. The incoming president and board would then set the new plan. The plan would become a rolling 5-year plan. The second vice president would be responsible for e-mailing the plan and announcement to board members before the next meeting so everyone can come prepared. He noted that the second vice president's job description, policies and procedures would need to be updated.

Bolles moved, Pool seconded that the strategic planning review process recommended by Force be implemented. Approval was unanimous.

The Policies and Procedures Manual should be updated as necessary after each board meeting. This meeting's update should include an update to the position description for the second vice president and the new position description for the webmaster.

Organizational Restructuring: Price reported that Wood has volunteered to chair a committee to work on this after the conference.

Lobbyist: Price reviewed the October board meeting minutes, and noted that the board has taken no action on hiring a lobbyist after budgeting the funds to do so. Strong suggested forming an ad hoc committee to include Adrien Taylor as head, to identify candidates and put forward a list of names. Bolles suggested that the legislative committee take the lead. (It was done this way in Kansas. The lobbyist took direction from the legislative committee.) Price volunteered to talk to Taylor and possibly to help provide names. She will communicate with the board via e-mail.

Officer Reports, cont'd

Academic Division: Strong had no report.

Site Selection: Strong checked and found that there are no hotels in Twin Falls that can host a conference. We need 13,000 square feet. Schedule: 1999 Boise - Riverside 2000 Lewiston - Grand Plaza 2001 Pocatello - Park Quality Inn 2002 Boise - Grove 2003 Lewiston Force explored the University of Idaho option for 2003, and found it would be difficult to guarantee that our conference would fall during a non-football weekend. Coeur d'Alene Resort is too expensive. North Idaho meetings must therefore be held in Lewiston. Strong will pursue the November proposal to alternate conferences to Boise every other year.

There was some discussion about planning a joint conference, perhaps with Washington. Force and Strong reminded the board that ILA attendance and income is very low for joint conferences. (Attendance was less than half of normal for the Spokane conference.) There was some discussion around exploring interest with the Montana Library Association, possibly in Missoula, for 2003 or some other year that we wouldn't be in Boise and they wouldn't be in eastern Montana. Other possibilities: Triconference with Montana and Wyoming; Utah in Salt Lake after the Olympics. Strong will explore.

Public Libraries Division: Almeida reported that they discovered they are not operating under their own by-laws. They need to amend the by-laws, but this will take some time --it will need to be a mailed ballot. They are working on revisions to standards, particularly regarding electronic access.

State Librarian: Bolles expressed concern that we might be missing some people by assuming we're reaching everyone through the Libidaho listserv, when not everyone has access. ISL is striving to have the electronic database ready by the time school starts, but it is more realistic to expect it in January.

Trustees: Pool is making a push to get the board chairs to the conference.

Ed Media: Earnest is glad to be here.

Secretary: Gramann requested clarification of the desired distribution methods of board meeting minutes. She will e-mail them to the board for initial correction, then send them to Lester and the Idaho Librarian with a disclaimer that they are unapproved.

FYI items: Price informed the board of the Boise mayor's probable intention to pursue attempts to change current library law for the state or to gain a special dispensation for Boise. Such a move is likely to affect public libraries across the state. Price will update the board after the May 12 Boise city council meeting.

Albertson's Foundation is requesting Intent to Apply letters from groups that are seeking educational grant funds -- opportunity for health and academic libraries.

Anne Abrams from ISL came to talk about the Community-Library Advocate Project (see attached application [6]). She is applying for a grant for a 2-day workshop for library advocacy, and needs to be able to share training at one of the annual conferences. (She would be a free speaker at next year's conference.) She is looking to create relationship with ILA on advocacy issues, and to share information with advocates of other states. She requested that ILA allow her to name it as a partner in the project. Almeida moved, Pool seconded that ILA partner with Anne in the library advocacy project. Bolles abstained due to a conflict of interest. Approval was otherwise unanimous.

ALA Chapter relations strategic planning survey: Price will respond for ILA; membership issues survey is to be passed on the membership chair (Ruth Cochran).

Larry Ogden from Pocatello -- regional conference scheduled in 1999 in Pocatello.

Pool moved, Strong seconded that we adjourn. Unanimous approval.