Virtual Meeting via Zoom 5:00 to 7:00 PM
| In attendance: Michael Caligiuri Liz Cammilleri Maria D’Orsi Deeth Ellis Barb Fecteau Michelle Fontaine Debbie Froggatt | Wendy Garland Morgan Keohane Emily Kristofek Emma Kwon Laura Luker Ingrid Mayyasi Ann Perham Elena Schuck | Amy Short Ella Stocker Luke Steere Reba Tierney Georgina Trebbe Jen Varney Alix Woznick |
Welcome, check in, call to order 5:08pm: Approve minutes of March meeting: Housekeeping items:
We are moving forward with Wild Apricot. Board voted in favor of replacing CVent with Wild Apricot via email on Friday, April 8th, unanimously. ($100 extra expense of accountants fees was simultaneously approved.) Jen, Luker, Michelle and Emily will be busy over the next 8-10 weeks implementing it for MSLA. It will house our membership database, collect dues etc.
Main discussion today will be about Awards. Today's meeting will end at 7pm sharp
Updates:
Awards discussion - Jen and Luker:
Jen presented the goal for this discussion - to discuss the philosophy and purpose of the MSLA awards, and plan for the future direction of the awards program. Luker will facilitate the discussion. Wendy Garland noted that the current awards committee has three goals - to define excellence, award excellence, and ensure equal opportunity throughout the process. Awards are a form of advocacy.
Amy Short (past awards committee member) shared that up until 2009 there were a limited number of award categories. Awards were steadily added, and the mission was to honor as many school librarians and school districts as possible. Ann Perham (past awards committee member) noted there have been fewer awards overall. Deeth asked what percentage of applicants to awards in the past few years? This year 18 nominations, 10 awards. Discussion about encouraging more nominations and removing barriers such as the letter from an administrator. Perhaps we need more PR and communications in general.We have 625 general members, 30 on Board, there are maybe 400+ members we don’t know well or are not reaching. Perhaps survey the membership to understand why people didn’t nominate and what are the barriers. Form an ad hoc committee to administer the survey and present results to the Board for feedback.
Closing comments: Intellectual freedom needs more follow up, reach out to Jen to get involved.
7:00pm: motion to adjourn: Deeth, second by Luker, meeting adjourned.
We are moving forward with Wild Apricot. Board voted in favor of replacing CVent with Wild Apricot via email on Friday, April 8th, unanimously. ($100 extra expense of accountants fees was simultaneously approved.) Jen, Luker, Michelle and Emily will be busy over the next 8-10 weeks implementing it for MSLA. It will house our membership database, collect dues etc.
Main discussion today will be about Awards. Today's meeting will end at 7pm sharp
Updates:
- Treasurer - Michelle Fontaine: status quo, finances are in good shape
- Professional Learning - Alix Woznick: 269 conference attendees, people made excellent use of the Whova app, $500 discount if we sign on to use Whova again next year, survey to whole membership about the conference. See Alix’s full report for more details.
- Advocacy - Georgina: Georgina continues to work with Heather Peske at DESE, discussions about Meta Literacy (combination of information literacy and digital literacy); Georgina has been on a Curate team, looking at curriculum. Also working with Jake Foster at the state level, goal is writing meta literacy curriculum for K-12. Advocate for school librarians through curriculum. Eric Lesser running for Lt. Governor. Jen V commented that demonstrating to DESE what we do is very beneficial.
- Awards - Wendy & Ingrid: Awards have been grouped and released, final installment tomorrow.
- Forum/Podcast - Reba Tierney, Luke Steere & Ella Stocker: Working on Spring issue for May, please submit articles; looking for new librarian, middle school and tech columns; Podcast at conference was great, featured award winners and a librarian in Scituate; poetry for April
- Outreach / MLA Legislative Update - Deb Froggatt: please see full report for all details. Deb presented at four legislative events and is working on building the exec board network with MBLC and MLS. Met with Janet Freidman, a retired librarian, who is advocating for DESE to require all schools to have librarians. Impact of MBLC on budget. Working with Maura Deedy at MLS to share links and resources on intellectual freedom.
- Office - Emily: end contract with CVENT; export data to Wild Apricot, potential for discount if ALA uses it too. Conference wrap up - sponsors, invoices and certificates of attendance.
Awards discussion - Jen and Luker:
Jen presented the goal for this discussion - to discuss the philosophy and purpose of the MSLA awards, and plan for the future direction of the awards program. Luker will facilitate the discussion. Wendy Garland noted that the current awards committee has three goals - to define excellence, award excellence, and ensure equal opportunity throughout the process. Awards are a form of advocacy.
Amy Short (past awards committee member) shared that up until 2009 there were a limited number of award categories. Awards were steadily added, and the mission was to honor as many school librarians and school districts as possible. Ann Perham (past awards committee member) noted there have been fewer awards overall. Deeth asked what percentage of applicants to awards in the past few years? This year 18 nominations, 10 awards. Discussion about encouraging more nominations and removing barriers such as the letter from an administrator. Perhaps we need more PR and communications in general.We have 625 general members, 30 on Board, there are maybe 400+ members we don’t know well or are not reaching. Perhaps survey the membership to understand why people didn’t nominate and what are the barriers. Form an ad hoc committee to administer the survey and present results to the Board for feedback.
Closing comments: Intellectual freedom needs more follow up, reach out to Jen to get involved.
7:00pm: motion to adjourn: Deeth, second by Luker, meeting adjourned.
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