October Minutes

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
October 17, 2018 4:00 - 6:00
Virtual meeting

​View full meeting minutes here.
Attending:
Alison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Rachel Barrett, Co-Director Southeast Region
Robin Cicchetti, Advocacy
Michael Caligiuri, Co-Director Central Region
Karen Davidson-Heller, Boston Area Co-Director
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Barb Fecteau, Co-Director, Northeast Region
Sarah Forfa, Co-Director West Region (V)
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director
Meg O’Neill, Private school Liaison
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region (V)
Greg Pronevitz, MSLA Communications Specialist
Paige Rowse, Awards
Reba Tierney, Co-Editor, MSLA Forum
Carrie Tucker, President
Jen Varney, Cambridge, Treasurer

Welcome, call to order, and approve reports and minutes of September meeting  -- Kathy Lowe
Advocacy report --- Robin Cicchetti

• LibGuide is up, and Amy Short and Anita Cellucci are working with lists of volunteers to implement the study-based advocacy work.
  
• The team has various plans and proposals to share and present at MassCUE, NESLA, MSLA and AASL.
  
• Greg Pronevitz and Amy Short plan meet with the ALA President while she’s in Cambridge (at both the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and the Cambridge Public Library)  as part of her 5-city national tour to promote her advocacy campaign of Libraries=Strong Communities.
  
• Great news about Jennifer Gordon, library teacher at the Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School in Cambridge, MA, who was presented with a Milken Educator Award by Milken Family Foundation Senior Vice President Dr. Jane Foley together with Education Commissioner Jeff Riley on October 16. This national recognition comes with an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize. Read more about the award and Gordon’s achievements here.
  

Professional learning update - Kathy Lowe

• Annual conference update -  Keynotes are confirmed. Expect to open registration Dec 1.
  
• Bedford EDCO collaborative event with Masscue in September was sold out. Great event, good catering, good presentations, nice balance of library and technology
  

Awards updates - Paige Rowse

• Nominations are coming in; the committee is encouraging self-advocacy so that people are not shy about nominating themselves.
  

• The School Library Advocate award has been renamed the Katherine Lowe School Library Champion Award.
  

NESLA 100 year conference and celebration “Dancing with the stars”  Nov 10, Boston Park Plaza Hotel - Kathy Lowe

• NESLA is the oldest school library organization in the country. It’s a day of workshops, speakers and a dinner. Registration is light right now, so please consider attending. Several among us will be presenting.
  

Other news from board members

• Patsy Divver - Maria and Patsy are hosting a program for Metrowest on Nov 15 with Carolyn Jacobs from PBS (made connection with her at the Better Together conference).
  

• Barb Facteau - next event is end of November looking at online resources from BPL and Minuteman, how we use them, what we like, etc.
  

• Deeth Ellis & Karen Davidson-Heller - have an event coming up about ideas and collaboration.
  

• Sara Forfa finished freshman orientation with a breakout room activity; she will share in a Forum article
  

• Allison Barker - a student wrote about her in The Wanderer and it got into KQ Express!
  

Upcoming events

• NELA conference, Oct. 21-23, Warwick, RI  
  
• NESLA 100 year conference and celebration “Dancing with the stars”  Nov 10, Boston Plaza Hotel
  
• MSLA conference, “School libraries are for everyone”, March 31-- April 1, 2019, Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center
  

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick