Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 10-14-2020

Massachusetts School Library Association  Executive Board meeting  October 14, 2019 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Virtual Meeting

Attending:
Michael Caligiuri, Co-Director Central Region
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Deeth Ellis, Co-Director Boston Region
Barb Fecteau, Co-Director  Northeast Region
Sarah Forfa, Co-Director West Region
Wendy Garland, Awards
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Region
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director Emeritus
Laura Luker, President
Ingrid Mayyasi, Awards
Greg Pronevitz, Director of Outreach
Katherine Steiger, Forum Co-Editor
Georgina Trebbe, Advocacy
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region
Morgan Van Clief, Co-Director Boston Region
Jen Varney, President Elect

Welcome, call to order, approve reports and minutes of Sept meeting  --- Laura Luker

Advocacy --- Greg Pronevitz and Georgina Trebbe
​ Georgina Trebbe is officially set up with the MBLC Public Relations Advisory Committee, subject to a November vote. Georgina and Greg would like to recruit others to join the Advocacy Committee; interested parties should contact Georgina (Greg will send a message to the listserv). Outreach - Greg attended MLA Executive Board meeting, talked about MLA Conference. Discussed advocacy, and hoping to get someone from ALA or Everylibrary (e.g., John Chrastka) since it’s a remote conference; hoping to plug something about school library advocacy in.  Legislative Day will be virtual again this spring, but no date yet. A huge budget deficit anticipated next year -- $3-$5B, so our advocacy efforts will be critical.

Awards --- Wendy Garland Have a proposed timeline for awards, trying to shorten from last year. Hoping to cut nominating season off before the holidays. Timeline will culminate with the conference and some kind of virtual awards ceremony.  Discussed renaming some of the awards to be more updated, expansive, and attract more candidates and nominations. Wendy would like to recruit a small group of members/task force to work short term on award names.

Conference --- Alida Hanson Theme: School Librarians at the Crossroads: Be the Hero of Your Own Journey, including topics on anti-racist education, online learning and education, with a fantasy thread running through. The dates are Sun/Mon March 21, 22. Jarrett Krosoczka is one main speaker, and we’re hoping to do “A Toast to Our Winners” with a cocktail/mocktail theme, on Sunday from 4 - 5:30. Conference platform: a task force was convened at the last meeting to explore options and based on their work, they are recommending Whova for the conference: competitively priced, convenient, easy to navigate, allows you to attach materials to sessions, has community areas available for chat, and has a virtual vendor hall. Whova seems to be the most appropriate for our scale of event. Alix Waznick and Alida are attending a conference hosted on Whova in November so there will be another opportunity to experience it more fully. The Board voted to approve the purchase of Whova for the conference.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick