Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
November 20, 2019 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
MLS Offices, 33 Boston Post Rd., Marlborough, MA
Virtual (V)
Attending:
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Michael Caligiuri, Co-Director Central Region
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Deeth Ellis, Advocacy Co-Chair
Pat Fontes, Awards
Christi Farrar, MLS
Wendy Garland, Awards
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Area
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager
Laura Luker, President
Ingrid Mayyasi, Awards
April Mazza, MLS
Greg Pronevitz, Director of Outreach
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region (V)
Reba Tierney, Forum Co-Editor
Carrie Tucker, Past President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region (V)
Morgan Van Clief, Co-Director Boston Region
Jen Varney, Treasurer (V)
Reports and minutes of October meeting were approved.
Housekeeping items --- Laura Luker
Greg organized the MSLA Advocacy Summit on October 30 with attendees from MSLA, MTA, MBLC, MLA, and MLS focused on identifying means of reaching our advocacy goals. The brainstorming was followed by a meeting of Advocacy Cochairs to define an action plan. Priorities include reaching out to MA education collaboratives, the DESE (to get a copy of the School Library Study in board members’ hands), the Joint Committee on Education, and the broader parent community; participating in legislative events; forging connections with partners like MTA, MLA, MLS, MassCue and nurses; tailoring presentations for administrators and educators based on their hot button issues.
Legislative Day is April 2. Morgan Van Clief will be hosting a legislative breakfast at her school library in Dorchester.
Greg Pronevitz requests any member to reach out to him if they have contacts/connections to DESE.
DESE Commissioner Riley visited Reba Tierney’s Waltham High School Library on October 30 Oct. 31 -- many administrators attended. They seemed engaged and asked questions about how to replicate this successful library program elsewhere.
After discussing a request from Girls Who Code about partnership with MSLA, the board determined that it would be less confusing to continue the partnership with MLS alone rather than introducing an additional partnership with MSLA.
Greg Pronevitz wanted the board to know that a PR representative for authors and publishers of children’s books, Deborah Sloane, reached out to him to spread the word that she can help to get publishers and authors for speakers.
Conference update - Laura Luker and Emily Kristofek
Kathy Carroll president of AASL by then will be coming to present. Closing speaker will be Renee Hobbs, a professor from URI presenting on the topic of information literacy. Will be using SCHED again.
AASL Update --- Laura Luker
Awards updates --- Pat Fontes
Other news from board members
Deeth Ellis motioned to adjourn, Allison Barker seconded, all approved.
Upcoming events
Jennifer Dimmick
Executive Board meeting
November 20, 2019 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
MLS Offices, 33 Boston Post Rd., Marlborough, MA
Virtual (V)
Attending:
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Michael Caligiuri, Co-Director Central Region
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Deeth Ellis, Advocacy Co-Chair
Pat Fontes, Awards
Christi Farrar, MLS
Wendy Garland, Awards
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Area
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager
Laura Luker, President
Ingrid Mayyasi, Awards
April Mazza, MLS
Greg Pronevitz, Director of Outreach
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region (V)
Reba Tierney, Forum Co-Editor
Carrie Tucker, Past President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region (V)
Morgan Van Clief, Co-Director Boston Region
Jen Varney, Treasurer (V)
Reports and minutes of October meeting were approved.
Housekeeping items --- Laura Luker
- The listserv is transitioning to a new Google group email list as Yahoo is discontinuing this feature. Laura is still investigating to determine if there are ways to download the archive.
Greg organized the MSLA Advocacy Summit on October 30 with attendees from MSLA, MTA, MBLC, MLA, and MLS focused on identifying means of reaching our advocacy goals. The brainstorming was followed by a meeting of Advocacy Cochairs to define an action plan. Priorities include reaching out to MA education collaboratives, the DESE (to get a copy of the School Library Study in board members’ hands), the Joint Committee on Education, and the broader parent community; participating in legislative events; forging connections with partners like MTA, MLA, MLS, MassCue and nurses; tailoring presentations for administrators and educators based on their hot button issues.
Legislative Day is April 2. Morgan Van Clief will be hosting a legislative breakfast at her school library in Dorchester.
Greg Pronevitz requests any member to reach out to him if they have contacts/connections to DESE.
DESE Commissioner Riley visited Reba Tierney’s Waltham High School Library on October 30 Oct. 31 -- many administrators attended. They seemed engaged and asked questions about how to replicate this successful library program elsewhere.
After discussing a request from Girls Who Code about partnership with MSLA, the board determined that it would be less confusing to continue the partnership with MLS alone rather than introducing an additional partnership with MSLA.
Greg Pronevitz wanted the board to know that a PR representative for authors and publishers of children’s books, Deborah Sloane, reached out to him to spread the word that she can help to get publishers and authors for speakers.
Conference update - Laura Luker and Emily Kristofek
Kathy Carroll president of AASL by then will be coming to present. Closing speaker will be Renee Hobbs, a professor from URI presenting on the topic of information literacy. Will be using SCHED again.
AASL Update --- Laura Luker
- Laura assumed a State level leader position
- Laura went to advocacy sessions from other states and noted that there are parallel problems everywhere! Laura is working to combine forces more.
- Carrie Tucker attended a session of New York librarians who did their own diversity audit, focusing on the protagonists’ race, ethnicity, religion, orientation, disabilities, etc.
- Christi Farrar from MLS will help libraries do a diversity audit -- she’ll share resources with us. There’s a libguide on the MLS site on building inclusive collections.
Awards updates --- Pat Fontes
- Nomination site went live and have received a few nominations
- Will remain open until January
- Encourage people to nominate away!
Other news from board members
- Patsy did a LibraryCon live webinar and plans to do her own Comic Con. She found the webinar very valuable.
- Maria D’Orsi also found a webinar on mental health in libraries
- Reba Tierney asked people to please respond to the Forum survey on the MSLA Forum site (also seen on twitter, the listserv, etc.)
- Congratulations to Lisa Rogers on her recent book success - she spoke at recent metrowest region event.
Deeth Ellis motioned to adjourn, Allison Barker seconded, all approved.
Upcoming events
- 11/4/19 MLS Annual Meeting at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester
- 3/29-30/20 MSLA conference, “We Can Do It: School Libraries Build Strong Communities”, Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center
- 4/2/20 Library Legislative Day, Boston
Jennifer Dimmick
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