Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 5-14-2021

Massachusetts School Library Association 
Executive Board meeting 
May 12, 2021 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
Christi Farrar, MLS Liaison
Michelle Fontaine, Treasurer
Wendy Garland, Awards
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Region
Morgan Keohane, Co-Director Boston Region
Emily Kristofek, Office Manger
Laura Luker, President
Reba Tierney, Forum Co-Editor
Georgina Trebbe, Co-Chair Advocacy
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region
Jen Varney, President Elect
Alix Woznick, Professional Learning

Welcome, call to order,  --- Laura Luker

• Reports and minutes of April meeting were approved

MLS liaison update --- Christi Farrar

• DEI training series, tribal nations at your library; will be recorded so sign-up to get the link.
• May 26 Tressa will be running two Sora check-ins.

Professional Learning Update --- Alix Woznick

• Alix is seeking a collaborator now that Alida is stepping down.

Advocacy --- Georgina Trebbe

• No meeting this month.
• Follow-up draft letter from Senator Lesser; Claudia Palframan was a big help; Senator Lesser emphasized the fact that state money is being used for services that not all students benefit from and used that to ask for the census -- request will go to DESE. 

Outreach --- Laura Luker in place of Greg Pronevitz

• Provided advocacy support materials to a middle school librarian whose library is being taken over for other purposes; she reached out using our advocacy request form.

Nominating committee update --- Jen Varney

• Shout-out to the nominating committee for great work helping to get new people involved.
• Appointed vs. elected committee members will come next, after election.
• Jen Varney shared background information about new people on the slate.
• Proposed slate of nominees for election was approved.

Treasurer --- Michelle Fontaine

• FY22 Budget update: continuing to run at a deficit; until we can have a large in-person conference again, we will have to be more austere or explore additional revenue streams.
  • We will be collaborating with MLS to offer PD programs that include PDPs; 
• Proposed budget for 2021-22 was approved.

Other news/topics from board members 

• Metrowest/Northeast event  -- May 20 4-5:30 Summerfest virtual event
• Laura Luker -- got a grant from EBSCO for diversity/equity/inclusion project. $35k to share with MLA. Emphasis on diversifying our profession; may pursue partnerships with educational institutions to sponsor or grant scholarships for librarian candidates.
• Georgina Trebbe noted that the DESE site is very difficult to navigate to find information about library certification and it links back to the MSLA website where the information is out of date and indicates that new information is coming soon (from 2017). Jen Varney acknowledged that we need to get this stuff up to date. 
• Deeth Ellis referenced an AASL listserv query about job titles that included library responsibilities and it was surprising to see the different titles that are now taking on historical librarian responsibilities. Georgina Trebbe suggested we consider creating an MSLA list of titles and basic job responsibilities. 
• Barb Fecteau flew out to LA and taped for Jeopardy -- will air at the end of July; LeVar Burton (Reading Rainbow) was the host!

Meeting adjourned

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick