Fox Valley Library Council
Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Board

March 7, 2005
Appleton Public Library

Present: Joy Schwarz, Pete Gilbert, Elizabeth Timmins, Evan Bend, Erin Czech, Judy Owen. Absent: Gretchen Raab who is experiencing a staffing issue. Guest: Rick Krumwiede

1. Call to order
   Joy Schwarz called the meeting to order at 1:35.
2. Additions to the agenda
   Evan asked that schools/school districts be added to the agenda.
3. Minutes of January 12, 2005 Board Meeting
   Joy Schwarz motioned approval of the January 12, 2005 minutes. Judy Own seconded and the motion carried.
4. Treasurer's Report
   The treasurer's report is through January 31, 2005. Pete expects a chunk of dues to be deposited for February. Other note: WLA membership was reduced for institutions such as ourselves. Judy Owen motioned acceptance of the Treasurer's Report. Erin Czech seconded the motion. The motion carried. Thanks Pete!

Guest: Rick Krumwiede

5. Rick came to speak to our group about the WLA foundation. It is separate from WLA in that is a charitable organization with ten board members. Rick is one of the board members. However, if you are a member of WLA, you are a member of the foundation. Some of the things that the foundation provides are scholarships for new and current professionals, co-sponsorship of sectionals at conferences, and recognition of colleagues. The foundation is thinking about, "What can we do that is really significant?" They are visioning a general promotion and advocacy for libraries across Wisconsin. This would not be legislative or political. It would be a Campaign for Wisconsin's Libraries and would seek outside professional assistance in planning, designing, and implementing the campaign. Rick is seeking a contribution from FVLC toward this endeavor.

Old Business:

6. FVLC/OWLS/WLS bus to ALA Conference exhibits in Chicago
   Terri Richards has received 12 registrations so far. Beth Carpenter plans to check the numbers again at the beginning of April, and then send email notices reminding folks about the event. Beth mentioned that we can extend the sign-up date if it seems like people just aren't willing to register that far ahead of time.
7. Education Grants
   Joy had received a 6th application for an FVLC Grant to attend the WEMA conference and wanted to know if the board was okay with allocating another $60.00 toward this purpose. No action was needed because an applicant was withdrawing her application. We are funding some WEMA attendees who may be responsible for reporting back in some fashion.
8. Online Survey
   The 2005 FVLC Survey of Staff at School & Special Libraries was sent to 54 participants in FVLC. We went into a lengthy discussion about when we can have our meetings to best serve school and special libraries as well as what programming would be most appealing to school and special libraries. It would be advantageous if the Education Committee had a copy of school calendars. If the dates of the Educational offerings for 2005-2006 were set by the May annual meeting, that would be helpful for the scheduling needs of many.

   We brainstormed many programming ideas.

   • At a school, have the people who attended the WEMA conference speak about what they learned.
   • Collaboration between schools and public libraries on "one book". (e.g. how the Speak campaign worked.) How do you do a "one" read? What worked? What didn't?
   • Using Survey Monkey effectively. What are the best ways to use it? What are the best ways to interpret it? (Evan noted that if FVLC were purchasing Survey Moneky and making it available, then that would be a good program.)
   • Nancy Pearl-topics common to schools and public libraries. Have the FVLC meeting that day, also? (this has been mentioned before)
   • Academic advising-how to we prepare students for higher learning?
   • Transition programs for high schools to academia.
   • "Web stuff" to share
   • Copyright issues-perhaps use same speaker that OWLS hosted
   • Academic librarian as speaker

   A meeting at 3:30 on a school day would be helpful to all-a good thing to try! Judy offered to have a program at her school. The Education Committee would have to identify the audience and notification avenues.

   Joy can do a recap of the survey at our annual meeting in May. It would be good to be able to mention the Programs-when, where, and how long they will run.

New Business:

9. Annual Plan
   Erin did extensive work on this. She will tweak A and E and e.mail us another copy to look at. We have one more board meeting prior to the Annual Meeting. Thanks Erin! We appreciate your hard work especially in Microsoft Word numbering Hades.
10. Budget
    Special Programs line item-good idea! Survey monkey subscription for $200.00 is under consideration. WLA Foundation--$500.00 as a working number. This was just a preliminary look at the budget. No action required right now. Thanks Pete!

    We inserted Evan's topic for discussion here. How are we and how should we bill school districts vs. individual schools? We would have to think about a similar model for systems. Judy's input was that we stand to gain if we target school districts. Perhaps a two-tier paying system? $25 base and $50 for "bigger" people? Sometimes it is good for individuals to contribute so that they are clearly aware that they are part of something. Erin said that we would need some knowledge of public school district bodies to figure out the tiers. FVLC also needs to determine its boundaries and who is encompassed. This needs a lot more discussion! This is a goal for 2005-2006. Evan will report at the next board meeting about the history of school district paying participation. Future Billing Discussion: when sending out billing what date should be put on? Indicate the proper fiscal year. Would it hurt us fiscally to bill school districts vs. schools? A change would have to be approved by the general membership in May. When studying systems, Evan can provide numbers of librarians in OWLS that are members of FVLC and Joy can provide numbers of librarians in Winnefox that are members of FVLC. Erin can find out number of Oshkosh librarians and Judy knows the Appleton school district figure.

11. Nominating Committee
    Joy will ask membership if any one is interested in joining the Board. She will also check with current Board members on their status. Then she will establish a vacancies list and we will work from there. We agreed that it is not necessary to form a separate nominating committee.
12. Any updates from Directors at Large?
    No, but don't forget: tightsonline is going out of business!
13. Next board meeting
    Tuesday, April 26th at 1:30 in the OWLS boardroom. We love OWLS!
14. Adjournment
    At 4:05, Joy motioned to adjourn and Evan seconded. Everyone ran away!

Respectfully Submitted By,
Elizabeth ("R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me") Timmins