Present: Larry Almeida, Jennifer Ashby, Kevin Booe, Ron Force, Karin Ford, Barbara Greever, Max Leek, Dan Lester, Lynn Melton, Jennifer O'Laughlin, Susannah Price, Sandi Shropshire, Dawn Wittman, Camille Wood.

President Wittman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

Announcements: On November 18, 1998, John Pool resigned as chair of the Trustees and Friends Division, since he is starting to pursue a Ph. D. and finds that his class schedule will not permit him to be absent in order to attend Board meetings or the annual conference. Jennifer OAELaughlin has agreed to finish out the remainder of his term, along with her own the following year. Wittman will be writing Pool to formally thank him for his years of service. OAELaughlin was welcomed to her first meeting as a Board member.

The draft of the ILA Communications Plan for 1998/99- will be discussed at the Board meeting on April 13.

Minutes: Moved (Wood/Ashby) that the minutes of the October 27, 1998 Board meeting be approved as submitted, passed unanimously.

FIRST PRIORITY RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Reduce total presidential term from 4 years to 3 years, eliminating the position of second vice-president. In conjunction with this, create a new (presidentially appointed) position for conference chair and chair-elect. Discussion ensued.

Advantages: continuity; learning the conference job as vice-chair before taking over as chair; can better take advantage of what youAEve learned in previous years; could plan for more than one conference at a time; gives first vice-president a chance to prepare for their presidency. Disadvantages: huge time commitment; would lose some of the present system's training by omoving upoe from 2nd v.p. to 1st v.p. to president since there would be one less ostep.oe Board consensus was to put this before the membership, and vote on it at the business meeting at the annual conference in October. Meanwhile, ILA will try to locate someone willing to fill the position of conference chair. If no one in the organization is willing to do that job, then the proposal could be withdrawn.

2. Abandon unwritten presidential candidate rotation among divisions and geographic areas; instead, ask each division to submit prospective nominees to the nominating committee. Board consensus was that diversity can be achieved without adhering to this policy, and geographic and division representation can still be encouraged. Since this has been an ounwritten policy, it does not require a change of any of ILA's documentation.

3. Encourage vital, active committees that accomplish meaningful work and communicate their activities to the Board and the membership. Ideas in addition to those mentioned in the document included blocking out a no-conflict time at the annual conference (3:30-5:00 on Thursday); listing committee members as well as committee chairs on the web page and in the Idaho Librarian; providing orientation at the annual conference for committee chairs; presenting some highlights of committee work in the past year at the annual conference; featuring a few committees and their progress in each Idaho Librarian issue; creating a committee interest form on the web page (and for the membership form?) listing the committees, their duties, and their projects for the past and upcoming year. The Board agreed by consensus to try these strategies.

SECOND PRIORITY RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Extend division chair terms from one year to two years (for those divisions not currently using this pattern. The Board agreed that this would be a good idea, but it is up to the individual divisions to decide if they want to do it. The Board can encourage, but not mandate.

2. Encourage divisions to promote roundtable activity. These function in ILA like interest groups. They are not mentioned in the policies and procedures, and don't have to be too formal. Ashby will do an article for the Idaho Librarian on roundtables explaining what they are and how to form them.

3. Merge the Trustees and Friends Division with the Public Library Division. There has been low attendance and interest by the members of the Trustees and Friends Division, despite attempts to entice them to conferences. Perhaps the time requirement of being a trustee or friend makes it hard to attend conferences, since attendance usually requires taking vacation time. Moved (Booe/Almeida) that Wood will draft a document proposing that the two divisions merge, passed unanimously. O'Laughlin will also be studying this. It would be good to have both pros and cons so that the issue could be sent to the ILA membership for their consideration, and voted on at the business meeting at the annual conference in October.

4. Information regarding the duties and responsibilities of board members, committee chairs and committee members will be available on the web page, and the nominating committee will ensure that prospective candidates have access to this information. Board consensus was to do this.

5. Incoming board members will be invited to the first board meeting at the annual conference. The Board will also do this.

Restructuring Committee chair Wood reported that there were some suggestions that were not recommended for immediate action (attachment #2), but that there were some good ideas there that could be kept in mind for the future.

President: Wittman reported that the newly revised membership forms (attachment #3) have been printed and mailed. All the feedback so far has been positive. Douglas Griffin and Anne Abrams helped with the creation and production of the form, and will be sent a letter of thanks.

The Montana Library Association proposal: ILA and MLA keep each other informed of program and conference information. Moved (Leek/Price) that we do so, passed unanimously. ILA and MLA offer reciprocal conference rates for members, and with a differential of $25 between members and non-members for the full conference, and $15 between members and non-members for one-day attendance. Moved (Booe/O'Laughlin) that we do so, passed with one dissent. It was the consensus of the Board that the printed conference registration form is already quite complicated, so notice of the reciprocal rates could be published in the newsletters of the associations and put on their respective web pages rather than adding to the form.

Stan Steiner, Associate Professor of Elementary Education & Specialized Studies at Boise State University, is in the process of writing a grant application to the Albertsons Foundation to establish an annual Idaho children's book award. It seems to be patterned after the (national) Children's Choice Award. Steiner's proposal is to choose a group of books (including at least one multicultural book) and provide them to the participating schools and libraries. The children would then choose their favorite. Steiner is concerned that his affiliation with BSU could interfere with this being perceived as a statewide award, so he has asked if the award could be sponsored by ILA if need be.

How would this relate to the Idaho Book Award? The question was deferred - Price will contact Ruth Funabiki (ILA Book Award Committee chair), and will try to find out more about what our sponsorship would entail.

First Vice President: Force announced that the Annual Conference Planning Committee had met from 8:00 to 9:00 (before the Board meeting), and many good ideas had emerged. The conference theme will be "Libraries Today: Vital, Virtual, Valuable." At previous Board meetings, the question of an equipment policy has been discussed, and Force will talk to the Doubletree before setting a policy for this conference. If ILA wants to publish the content of conference presentations in the Idaho Librarian, it should make that part of the contract for presenters. Then either the presenter can provide text, or an ILA member can attend the session to take notes.

It was moved (Price/Ashby) that the Annual Conference Exhibits Chair be added to III.D. in the ILA Policies and Procedures. The section would then read: "The President, Treasurer, Conference Chairperson and Conference Exhibits Chairperson are allowed full expenses for meals, lodging, and transportation for the duration (not to exceed a total of three days) of the Annual Conference, including the hospitality room." This would be in effect for the 1999 annual conference. Passed, with two abstentions.

Second Vice President: Almeida reported (attachment #5) that in November he held a conference call with the six regional conference chairs, Gard Hanks, and Shropshire.

Each region will set their own theme, with an emphasis on library advocacy. Seed money has already been sent out to several regions, and three budgets have been received. Even if a region does not plan to request seed money, it still needs to send in a budget. Each region should be reminded to have an ILA officer welcome regional conference attendees, talk about ILA sponsorship of the event, and invite non-members to join and support the organization.

Treasurer: Shropshire distributed the final 1998 budget figures and the proposed 1999 budget (attachment #6). For 1998 the net income was $13,559.12. This is mostly due to the fact that ILA did not hire a lobbyist in 1998, and the annual conference did well. The question arose about members who would like to belong to more than one ILA Division - could a member pay an extra fee to do so? The Membership Committee will explore the ramifications of this question. Moved (Price/Booe) that the proposed 1999 budget be accepted as presented, passed unanimously.

Past President: Price is working on getting nominations for the next ILA election.

Needed are: Chair-Elect for all four Divisions, Secretary (2 yr. term), PNLA Representative (2 yr. term), Second Vice President (4 yr. term). She has had some good suggestions, but would welcome more.

Frederick Belzer, an attorney in Pocatello, was sent to ALA's Lawyers for Libraries training in Chicago. (Funding came from both ILA and a grant through the Idaho State Library.) He was very enthusiastic about the training, which focused on the applicability of First Amendment law to library policies, procedures and problems, particularly those relating to the use of the Internet in libraries. He and Leek will give a session at the Pocatello regional conference (April 29, Pocatello, Cavanaugh's), and ILA Annual (October 6-9, Boise, Doubletree Riverside). Belzer will also make himself available to talk directly to local librarians, trustees, and library advocates as they face issues or incidents where he can help.

On the intellectual freedom front, the Loudoun case was defeated. Trustees can not say that all terminals must be filtered. Appeals will undoubtedly be filed.

All of ILA's nominees were accepted for ALA's honor roll celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom to Read Foundation.

(The nominees were Eli M. Oboler, Susannah Price, Joe Reiss, Rand Simmons, and Adrien Taylor.) Price is the only one able to attend the banquet honoring them during the ALA Midwinter conference in Philadelphia. Moved (Almeida/Ashby) the expenditure of ILA funds up to $500, to cover expenses the Boise Public Library does not cover, so that Price can attend the ALA Midwinter meeting and go to the banquet. Passed with two abstentions (Price and Booe).

State Librarian: Ford reported that Charles Bolles is in Seattle attending a meeting with the Gates Foundation, so she was representing him at this ILA Board meeting.

Governor Dirk Kempthorne recommended that the Idaho State Library FY2000 budget include a $265,000 addition to the base to support the LiLI databases. (Last year it was part of the Dept. of Education's budget - this moves it to ISL.) Kempthorne also recommended that, in addition to funding for current operations, $10,000 be added to continue retrospective cataloging of the Idaho state documents collection.

The LiLI databases are up, and may currently be accessed through the LiLI web page (http://www.lili.org/). Rand Simmons is working with the two vendors (Information Access Company and EBSCO) to set up individual accounts for all of Idaho's publicly funded libraries.

Academic and Special Libraries Division: Ashby reported that she plans to send a follow-up letter to those in the division who do not renew their ILA membership.

Educational Media Division: Marlene Earnest was unable to attend the meeting, but sent a written report (attachment #7). The division had been working with the State Dept. of Education to propose requiring that each publicly funded school in Idaho have a certificated library/media generalist. It has been decided not to pursue the requirement this year, but to develop a plan to increase the number of certificated library/media generalist positions in Idaho's elementary and middle school library media centers.

Public Library Division: Leek has put a draft of the revised division bylaws on the web page, but has received no comments from division members. The minutes of the August division meeting in Sun Valley are also up. Leek will post the proposed standards for public libraries, and is seeking comment. He continues to work with chair-elect Robert Wright on the new Public Library of the Year Award. They would like the winning library to get some monetary award, and are seeking sources for $500 to do so. Perhaps a corporate sponsorship is the answer.

Trustees and Friends Division: no report.

Pacific Northwest Library Association Representative: Booe submitted a written report (attachment #8). The PNLA Executive Board is working on an action plan, the position of editor of the PNLA Quarterly is now open, and Ben Wicks will be the keynote speaker at the PNLA annual conference in Calgary, Alberta, August 11-13.

American Library Association Representative: Wood reported that the ALA Midwinter meeting is coming up soon. A few issues have surfaced since the last ILA Board meeting. Council will be considering a resolution to be sent to the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

Council is concerned about the immense amount of paperwork required from those who apply for the e-rate, the slowness of the process, and the fact that very few libraries have actually received e-rate funding commitment letters.

Council is also concerned about the number of schools that have removed the word "Library" from their Masters degree titles.

Some librarians in Idaho are worried about the acquisition of Ingram by Barnes and Noble. The American Booksellers Association has already petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to look into the matter. Should ALA get involved? Wood expressed a willingness to raise the issue at Council Caucus.

Should ALA offer life memberships for sale? Amounts of $1500 to $2500 are being discussed, along with the possibility of spreading payments for a life membership over a five year period.

Ad Hoc Communication/Web Guidelines Committee: Almeida presented a draft of the proposed ILA web site guidelines (attachment #9). The Board felt that the committee was moving in the right direction, and asked that a revision be brought for consideration at the April meeting. Issues discussed other than those listed in the draft document lincluded:

Should the Idaho Librarian be up on the web site? Currently, one perk for membership in ILA is receipt of this newsletter. If it is all put up on the web, freely available to all, is that just one more reason not to join ILA? Should only past issues be put up? Should there be "teasers" for the current issue? The Board felt that posting the back issues to the web, but not posting the current issue could solve the problem.

The ILA Board meeting minutes that go onto the web site contain references to various attachments. These are the paper handouts that were distributed at the Board meeting.

Until now, the handouts have not been available in electronic format, so they have not gone onto the web site. Beginning with this Board meeting, everyone who distributes material to the Board should also provide the Secretary with a copy in electronic format (either a floppy or e-mailed), and the Secretary will forward them to the Webmaster along with the meeting minutes. Due to the extreme length of some attachments, the minutes published in the Idaho Librarian probably will not include them.

If anyone would like to compile lists of past ILA award-winners, the Webmaster would be happy to put the information up on the web.

Should the Conference Exhibits Chair also serve as the advertising manager for the Idaho Librarian and the web site?

Shropshire checked with an accountant on ILA's tax status as it relates to advertising revenue. As a 501c(6) organization, we are OK if revenue from our communication media matches expenses or doesn't exceed expenses by more than $1000. If we exceed that $1000 amount, ILA would have to file, but might not owe tax.

ILA's logo (adopted in 1991) looks almost identical to the Idaho State Library's logo (adopted in 1997). Do we want to change ours, to help people tell the two organizations apart? The Hewlett -Packard Library in Boise had several logos created by a Boise graphic arts firm. H-P is willing to donate the logo it decided not to use to ILA. Costs for changing the text to Idaho Library Association, etc., would run roughly $100. Moved (Price/Wood) that ILA accept the donation from H-P and decide soon whether or not to use it for our organization, passed unanimously.

Lester reported that he had done some log analysis for the ILA web site. The most common ways people get to the page are by searching under "Idaho Library" or "Young Readers Choice Award"

ILA Strategic Plan: Discussion was deferred to the April Board meeting. Not everyone has completed their reports listing what parts of the plan have been accomplished, and suggesting ways in which the plan should be updated. These reports should be sent to Wittman as soon as possible.

In connection with strategic plan goal one, Greever distributed a list of strategies for retaining current ILA members and recruiting new members (attachment #10). These were "brainstormed" by the Membership and Public Relations committees, and Board members were asked to review them and offer suggestions. The committees will incorporate these into a formal plan, to be considered at the Board's April meeting.

Mailing Labels: Cheryl Middleton, librarian at Oregon State University, contacted ILA to ask if she could do a mailing to ILA's members advertising a LAMA Institute: "Managing Education Services: Teaching and Learning in Libraries." The presenter will be Betsy Wildon, Associate Director of Libraries for Public Services at the University of Washington, and the institute will be held at Oregon State University (no specific date mentioned in the request). Moved (Price/Wood) that ILA make a set of mailing labels available to Middleton for the (minimal) cost of purchasing the sheets of labels to be printed. Passed unanimously. The understanding is that this ILA membership list would not be used her for any other purpose, nor passed along to anyone else.

Legislative Committee: Melton reported that she has investigated the question of ILA hiring a lobbyist (attachment #11). She consulted with a variety of people, and has determined that salary would probably vary by year, depending on the number of issues and their complexity. It is important to have good two-way communication between the lobbyist (or "legislative advisor") and the Idaho State Library as well, since officials often confuse ILA with ISL and contact the State Library on Idaho Library Association matters.

It is vital that the ILA membership knows what the lobbyist is doing for the membership and the organization. Important advantages of hiring a lobbyist include tapping their experience and contacts, as well as their knowledge of the legislative scene and ability to oreadoe what is going on/likely to happen. The lobbyist is also able to give the association a "heads up" when the unexpected arises. Melton asked the Board if they had any recommendations to add to her list of names of possible lobbyists. The lobbyist would report to Melton, who would take her direction from the ILA Board. Reports submitted to Melton by the lobbyist will be distributed by her to the Board. There should be an orientation session for the lobbyist, and this briefing should include a representative from the state library, Barbara Barrett, and Adrien Taylor. Moved (Booe/Wood) that Melton interview three candidates, send their biographies, salary requirements and her recommendation to Wittman, Almeida, Force, and Leek, and the four will decide whom to hire. The hiring should take place in two weeks, so that the lobbyist will be able to work for ILA during this legislative session. Passed unanimously.

Meeting dates: The next ILA Board meeting will be on Tuesday, April 13. It will either be at the Helm in Lewiston, or at Wittman's house. Agenda items will include the communications plan, the ILA logo, Snyder's book award proposal, the web guidelines, the strategic plan, and the membership plan.

Board meeting adjourned, 4:00 p.m.