Blog Posts

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 11-20-2019

1/13/2020

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

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.

Advocacy report --- Greg Pronevitz, Deeth Ellis

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

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 10-16-2019

11/15/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
October 16, 2019 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Virtual Meeting

Attending:
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Michael Caligiuri
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Deeth Ellis, Advocacy Co-Chair
Pamela Foley
Sarah Forfa
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Area
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager
Laura Luker, President
Ingrid Mayyasi, Awards
Greg Pronevitz, Director of Outreach
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region
Katherine Steiger, Forum Co-Editor
Carrie Tucker, Past President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region
Morgan Van Clief, Co-Director Boston Region
Jen Varney, Treasurer
Wendy Garland

Minutes of September meeting were approved.

Advocacy report --- Greg Pronevitz, Deeth Ellis

Following a pre-meeting with Representative Sean Garballey, Director of Outreach Greg Pronovitz, Advocacy CoChairs Deeth Ellis and Georgina Trebbe, Research Director for the Joint Committee on Education Angela Hong, and Representative Garballey met with House Chair, Representative Alice Peische, Joint Committee on Education, to discuss MSLA priorities.
- A $1.5Billion education funding bill had just passed before the meeting. Representative Peische said she would reach out to Commissioner Riley to ask about his plans for school libraries, and did so. Greg Pronevitz is drafting a thank you note to Representative Peisch, in addition to a note to the commissioner to let him know that we’re ready to help.
Laura Luker and Greg Pronevitz also met with State Senator Joanne Comerford to seek support for MSLA priorities, and she was very helpful and recommended strategies that they are following up on, e.g., seek sponsors for legislation calling for a statewide audit/census of school libraries/librarians/services. Representative Garballey wants to stay involved, which is great news.
Legislative day planning: There will be a new approach this year whereby different constituents and representatives will be gathered together to meet with legislators in coordinated groups, scheduled in advance. Greg Pronevitz wishes that more school librarians would participate and attend because that would help our cause. Deeth Ellis noted the difficulty of getting the day off. Greg suggested that school librarians reach out to their legislators by phone if they’re unable to attend the day.
- Greg noted that we need to define a specific call to action as part of our approach to legislative day.
Discussed and agreed to invite representatives from MLS, MBLC, and MLA to our in-person meetings, as these organizations have many goals in line with MSLA. We will send the meeting agenda in advance, and include an opportunity for them to contribute at the start of the meeting to use their time most efficiently.
Voted to formally endorse the MBLC’s Legislative Agenda to show support. Greg will draft a letter of support for Laura to sign.
Advocacy Summit on 10/30 from 4-6 at MLS’ new offices.

Professional learning

Conference update - we have a signed contract with the Sheraton. Same as last year with improvements to food, and other issues based on reviewing 30 pages of feedback to improve things.
Legislator Tram Nguyen is on board for dinner speaker, plus Jarrett Krosoczka and AASL President-Elect Kathy Carroll.
Deadline for proposals is 10/29/19. Please spread the word and share the link.
Deeth Ellis was at the MassCUE/MSLA/WGBH Better Together conference held in East Walpole on September 25. Keynote was Sarah Childress, Senior Editor and Director of Local Projects for FRONTLINE. Compelling presentation about journalistic integrity and the decline in local journalism.

AASL Affiliate Awards --- Laura Luker

Decided to the following AASL Affiliate Awards in mind for the future, if we have the bandwidth to pursue these in addition to our advocacy initiatives:
- The ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant, sponsored by ABC-CLIO, which awards up to $1,750 to a school library association that is an AASL affiliate for planning and implementing a leadership program at the state, regional or local level;
- The Affiliate of the Year Award, sponsored by AASL, which awards a $1,000 stipend to the AASL Affiliate most active and dynamic in achieving the goals of AASL at the state and local level;
- The AASL Past-Presidents Planning Grant for National School Library Standards, sponsored by Roger and Susan D. Ballard, Edward M. and Helen R. Adams, and Cassandra Barnett; which annually awards $2,500 to four AASL Affiliates to plan and execute an event, initiative, or activity focused on the implementation of the new AASL "National School Library Standards." Grants are presented in honor of AASL past-presidents.

Voted to approve final budget for the year.

Awards updates --- Wendy Garland, Pat Fontes, and Ingrid Mayyasi

Awards will open November 1 and stay open until January 15
Approved changes being made to the Web Seal of Excellence, President's Award, and Super Librarian Award
- Web seal is expanded to include more digital tools/mediums vs. restricting it to just websites.
Approved Judi Paradis Action Grant nomination form.

Meeting adjourned.

Upcoming events

10/17/19 Western MA Librarian/Media Specialist PLC (Budget Advocacy / Library-Program Visibility and TecShare)
10/26/19 NESLA board meeting. Carrie and Laura will attend (virtually)
10/29/19 Deadline for proposals for annual conference
10/30/19 MSLA Advocacy Summit. 4-6 PM at MLS offices
11/4/19 MLS Annual Meeting at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester
3/?/20 Library Legislative Day, Boston
3/29-30/30 MSLA conference, “We Can Do It: School Libraries Build Strong Communities”, Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center

Upcoming board meetings

Wednesday, November 20, 2019 4:00--6:00 MLS offices
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 4:00--6:00 Virtual, only if needed
Wednesday, January 15, 2020 4:00--6:00 MLS offices
Wednesday, February 12, 2020 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Wednesday, March 18, 2020 4:00--6:00 MLS offices
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 4:00--6:00 MLS offices
Wednesday, June 10, 2020 4:00--6:00 MLS offices

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 9-14-2019

10/9/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
September 14, 2019 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Audubon Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Area

Attending:
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Deeth Ellis, Advocacy Co-Chair
Pat Fontes, retired, Awards
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning Co-chair
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Area
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager
Laura Luker, President
Ingrid Mayyasi, Awards
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region
Katherine Steiger, Forum Co-Editor
Reba Tierney, Forum Co-Editor
Carrie Tucker, Past President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region
Morgan Van Clief, Co-Director Boston Region
Jen Varney, Treasurer

Call to order and approve minutes of June meeting
Minutes of the June board meeting and the slate of new board members were approved.

Welcome to Emily Kristofek, new Office Manager/Event Planner - Laura Luker
Reminder that MSLA has a new address and phone number: (also displayed in the website footer)
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager/Event Planner
P.O Box 336. Wayland, MA 01778
ekristofek@maschoolibraries.org
508-276-1697
Budget - Jen Varney

Voted to approve budget updates.

Professional Learning - Alida Hanson

Theme for this year’s conference: School Libraries Build Strong Communities

Keynote speaker will be Jarrett Krosoczka.

Better Together MassCue conference is coming up at the end of the month.
Director of Outreach Highlights (Laura Luker)
Carrie Tucker attended the MASS (Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents) 2019 Executive Institute on July 9 in Mashpee, and presented a lockbox activity attended by four administrators from three districts.
Waltham HS will be visited by DESE committee including the commissioner as a representative of a good library program.
Updates on statewide budget are positive.
There as been some movement on setting up a meeting October 3 at the State House with Rep. Alice Peisch, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Education, to discuss the Recommendations of the Special Commission on School Library Services.
Discussed the differences between advocacy and lobbying.
Judi Paradis Fund (Laura Luker and Awards Committee)

Contributions are continuing to come in. Board agreed to continue to solicit contributions with a goal of reaching $5,000.

Group discussed the goal, intent, and name of fund/award; permitted amounts and uses for funds awarded; and ways to sustain the program. The awards committee will use the ideas in this discussion to formalize details of the fund.

Membership and advocacy issues: (Laura Luker)

Reviewed board member responsibilities. Shared information with area directors to help them fulfill their responsibilities including communication tips and sample emails for approaching lapsed members about renewing membership with MSLA.

Shared Advocacy Libguide for wealth of materials for those engaged in or interested in school library advocacy initiatives.
Shared SLJ article: How to Speak Administrator

Reminder about Advocacy Summit in October. Shared Find my legislator link for those ready to contact their legislators with advocacy communications.

Strategic Planning:
● Worked in small groups to complete action plan templates.

Upcoming events

Better Together, MSLA/MassCUE, September 25, 2019, TEC Walpole
Board Meeting Wednesday, October 16, 2019 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Board Meeting Wednesday, November 20, 2019 4:00--6:00 location tbd (AASL)
MSLA 2020 Conference, March 29-30, 2020, Sheraton Framingham

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 6-12-19

7/5/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
June 12, 2019 4:00 - 6:00
Bolton Public Library
Virtual (V)

Attending:
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Michael Caligiuri, Co-Director Central Region
Karen Davidson-Heller, Co-Director Boston Region
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Deeth Ellis, Co-Director Boston Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Barb Fecteau, Co-Director Northeast Region
Sarah Forfa, Co-Director West Region (V)
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning Co-chair
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director
Laura Luker, President Elect
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region (V)
Greg Pronevitz, MSLA Communications Specialist
Paige Rowse, Awards (V)
Reba Tierney, Forum Co-Editor
Carrie Tucker, President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region (V)
Jen Varney, Cambridge, Treasurer

Call to order
Minutes & reports from the May meeting approved.

Professional learning - Kathy Lowe and Laura Luker

2019 conference final report
- Best attendance in about six years.
- It was a nice facility with superb customer service - great reviews from attendees. Food & location were good.
2020 conference planning update: Coordinators will be meeting soon to start working on theme and speakers.
MassCUE/WGBH/MSLA event “Media Literacy: Ethics and Civil Discourse: Rediscovering Truth” Sept. 25, 2019 at TEC in Walpole.
School Library Journal’s Leadership Basecamp and Diversity Workshop, Simmons University, August 12 and 13, 2019.

Departing board members Thank you for your service! - Carrie Tucker
Anita Cellucci
Robin Cicchetti
Karen Davidson-Heller
Kathy Lowe
Ann Perham
Linda Redding
Amy Short

Carrie Tucker presented Kathy Lowe with a framed copy of her final conference report and a professional development certificate acknowledging her 13,500 hours of service as our Executive Director. Kathy shared her gratitude for the opportunity to work with such talented and committed group of librarians and her exposure to such people at the local and national level through this board. She thanked the board leadership for working hard this year to ease the transition and ensure that MSLA is poised to stay strong and grow to the next level. She graciously volunteered to be available for any questions we have as we complete the transition.

All things transition - Carrie Tucker

The Roles and Responsibilities for Greg Pronevitz, Director of Programming and Communication, were approved.

Budget 2019-2020 - Jen Varney

The budget we voted on last month was before the final bills came in from the conference, so the budget was revised accordingly. The revised budget was approved.

Policy manual

A second vote on revised policy language was taken and approved.

Awards - Paige Rowse

Invited Pat Sanchez to join as a third member of the awards committee.

Judi Paradis memorial: we will accept contributions now and earmark them for whatever fund or program that we ultimately establish in cooperation with Judy’s family and possibly her colleagues in Waltham. We will also acknowledge contributions appropriately.

Advocacy - Carrie Tucker

Deeth Ellis has agreed to be the chair of this committee for 2019-20. There are some people who are not on the board who will join her.

NEASC has asked Carrie Tucker to be on a committee for Scituate High. Carrie can’t do it but feels strongly that librarians should be on these committees (there are fewer and fewer). Alida Hanson volunteered to be on the committee.

Reba Tierney announced 3 open positions in Waltham: 2 elementary and 1 middle.

Amy Short noted the large number of open positions available on School Spring. The board agreed that we need to advertise ways to add a second license for teachers, which is the fastest path to certification (vs. librarians obtaining teacher certification).

Jen Varney reminded everyone about existing documents about paths to certification on the MSLA website.

Membership - Carrie Tucker

Carrie asked Area Directors to look at the list and reach out to lapsed members as warranted.

AASL

Anita Cellucci, our Region 1 director, asked New England states for info for her AASL report, due Friday.

NESLA
Update of June 8, 2019, board meeting Carrie Tucker and Laura Luker participated virtually. Carol Gordon is stepping down and new president has been elected.

Meeting adjourned at 6:15

Upcoming events

Leadership Basecamp and Diversity Workshop, SLJ, August 12-13, 2019, Simmons University
Better Together, MSLA/MassCUE, September 25, 2019, TEC Walpole
MSLA 2020 Conference, March 29-30, 2020, Sheraton Framingham

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Board Meeting 5/15/2019

6/11/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
May 15, 2019 4:00 - 6:00
Massachusetts Library System
225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough, MA 01752

Virtual (V)

Attending:
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Anita Cellucci, Advocacy (V)
Karen Davidson-Heller, Co-Director Boston Region (V)
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Deeth Ellis, Co-Director Boston Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Barb Fecteau, Co-Director Northeast Region
Sarah Forfa, Co-Director West Region
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning Co-chair
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director
Laura Luker, President Elect (V)
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region (V)
Ann Perham, Awards
Greg Pronevitz, MSLA Communications Specialist (V)
Paige Rowse, Awards (V)
Katherine Steiger, Co-editor Forum Newsletter (V)
Carrie Tucker, President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region
Jen Varney, Cambridge, Treasurer

Call to order

The Board dedicated a moment of silence to mourn the passing of our long time advocate and friend, Judi Paradis.

Committee reports and the minutes from the April meeting were approved.

Carrie Tucker recognized Ann Perham as a member of the board for decades, serving in possibly all positions. This is her last board meeting, though she has agreed to stay on as webmaster.

Budget 2019-2020 Discussion and vote proposed budget -- Jen Varney

The draft 2019-2020 budget was accepted with proposed changes.

Policy manual

Minor language changes to the policy manual were approved.

Office manager transition Update by Carrie Tucker
Discretionary spending was approved for up to 20 hours of time to pay activities required to smooth Dianne Regnier’s transition into the office manager position/event planner.

Awards 2020

Board reviewed proposed changes to descriptions of the Peggy Hallisey Lifetime Award vs. the Service Award to better differentiate the two.
- Board changed the name of the former to “Peggy Hallisey Leadership Award”
Board reviewed proposed changes to descriptions of the Super Librarian vs. the President’s Award to better differentiate the two.

Thank you shout out to Laura Gardner for a fantastic bookmark event

Advocacy
Discussed the pros and cons of continuing to use the Salem State LibGuide for the MA Study and related research as sole location for advocacy materials, including ease of finding and accessing advocacy materials on the one hand and preserving appearance of independence and scholarly legitimacy on the other. Decided to discuss this once new advocacy chairs join the Board.

Professional Learning -- Alida Hanson

2020 conference
- Alix Woznik was approved as Professional Learning co-chair
- Alida Hanson shared the list of 2020 Conference Committee members
MassCUE/WGBH/MSLA September media literacy event - Laura Luker
Deeth Ellis will present for high school
Lisa Rogers will present for elementary school
MOU (memorandum of understanding) language approved

Membership Discussion of Lapsed members was tabled for the next meeting due to time constraints.

Meeting adjourned at 6 PM.

Upcoming events

Better Together, MSLA/MassCUE, Fall 2019, TEC Walpole

Upcoming board meetings

Wednesday, June 12, 2019 4:00--6:00 Bolton Public Library

738 Main St.
Bolton MA 01740

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 4-10-19

5/6/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
April 10, 2018 4:00 - 6:00
Virtual

View full board meeting minutes here

Attending:

Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Anita Cellucci, Advocacy
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Wendy Garland, Awards (V)
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning Co-chair
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Region
Karen Davidson-Heller, Co-Director Boston Region
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director (V)
Laura Luker, President Elect (V)
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region (V)
Greg Pronevitz, MSLA Communications Specialist (V)
Linda Redding, liaison to Digital Commonwealth
Katherine Steiger, Co-editor Forum Newsletter
Carrie Tucker, President
Jen Varney, Cambridge, Treasurer (V)

Call to order
Minutes from the March meeting were approved and the meeting was called to order.
MSLA positions for 2019-2020
Office manager/event planner update - Carrie Tucker and Laura Luker

Carrie Tucker, Laura Luker, Melissa Lynch, Kathy Lowe, Alida Hanson and Jen Varney interviewed two candidates, both with strong letters of recommendation. It was a difficult choice, ultimately decided to offer the position to Dianne Regnier

Carrie requested feedback from the board about the candidate, following which she informed the board of her intent to offer the position to Dianne. Board members are excited and relieved to have found good candidates for this important position.

Greg Pronovitz’s Title

Greg Pronevitz will be expanding his role as a consultant to MSLA next year, assuming appropriate responsibilities from the former Executive Director position from which Kathy Lowe is retiring. Because Greg will continue to act as an external consultant to the association, and because some of the original Executive Director responsibilities are being rolled into the Office Manager/Event Planner position, a different title for this role is warranted. After considering various titles, the board settled on Director of Programming and Communications.

Open (appointed) board positions

Advocacy - still a work in progress. Carrie Tucker and Judi Paradis conferred about various options and will continue working on this after break.
Professional learning - Alida Hanson has volunteered for this role, thank you!

Advocacy --- Greg Pronevitz

Robin Cicchetti, James Lonergan and Greg Pronevitz met for 45 minutes with DESE Commissioner Riley and two of his top aides and shared MSLA’s priorities.
The Commissioner offered to share existing DESE data about school libraries that we could use that to help build a school library census. This includes licensure information and building-based information on school library facilities. The advocacy team plans to work with this data to begin to construct the basis of a census. The team pressed our request to have a representative at DESE to represent school libraries. We should hear back about this soon. The Commissioner expressed some reluctance because he feels all other groups will ask for a position too.
The board discussed concerns about the accuracy of the DESE data and the need to verify and update it.
Greg Pronevitz listened to board members’ concerns and pledged to bear these in mind in future meetings and communications with the team and the DESE.

MTA task force / Salem libguide reciprocal linking Claudia Palframan

MTA will be offering a toolkit for advocacy on the MTA website, but would also like to replicate it in the Salem State libguide

Professional learning
2019 annual conference update Laura Liker, Alida Hanson, Kathy Lowe

We had a very successful conference, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback on elements including location, sessions, food, accommodations, etc. There are areas for improvement, especially wifi. We must strengthen that next time.

As our our biggest professional learning event of the year, and our biggest source of income, the conference was a financial success.

2020 annual conference location and dates - Board vote

The board approved a motion to make a deposit with the Sheraton Framingham for the 2020 conference, March 29-30.

Digital Commonwealth Carrie Tucker

Carrie Tucker attended the Digital Commonwealth annual conference in Worcester yesterday (Linda Redding is our liaison to DC). They are the ones who have done things like digitizing yearbooks and making them available online. Greg Pronevitz suggests that we continue our membership as a show of good faith and suggests that we might want to pursue a stipend support to work on the lesson plans or some other way to use their resources to showcase school libraries.

MSLA Archival Records - Carrie Tucker

Deeth Ellis, Jen Varney, Alida Hanson, Barb Fecteau, Laura Harrington and Carrie Tucker spent a day with Kathy Lowe looking through MSLA records dating back to the 1960s. Reviewing old minutes reminded us of our long, illustrious history. People have been working very hard for this association for a long time. It’s clear that our forebears were talking about information literacy before that term was coined. Jen Varney and Deeth Ellis are coordinating storage of archival records at Simmons University.

Awards - Wendy Garland

Happy with the banquet. Saw comments about wanting award winners to speak about their work, but that’s the point of the Idea Lab. Pictures are posted on the MSLA website. Will make recommendations about 2020 awards at our next meeting.

Carrie closed with a heartfelt thanks for all involved in the conference, especially Kathy Lowe, who as worked so hard for so many conferences and this is her last.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:00.

Upcoming events

MLA Annual Conference, May 20-22, 2019 at Sheraton Framingham
Better Together, MSLA/MassCUE, Fall 2019, TEC Walpole

Upcoming board meetings

Wednesday, May 15, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 4:00--6:00 location tbd

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 3-20-19

4/7/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
March 20, 2018 4:00 - 6:00
Massachusetts Library System
225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough, MA 01752

Virtual (V)
Attending:
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Michael Caligiuri, Co-Director, Central Region
Robin Cicchetti, Advocacy
Ariel Dagan, Representative Vocational Technical Schools
Karen Davidson-Heller, Co-Director Boston Region
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
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 (V)
Wendy Garland, Awards (V)
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning Co-chair
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Region
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director (V)
Laura Luker, President Elect (V)
Ann Perham, Awards (V)
Greg Pronevitz, MSLA Communications Specialist (V)
Reba Tierney, Co-editor Forum Newsletter
Carrie Tucker, President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director, Central Region
Jen Varney, Cambridge, Treasurer (V)

Call to order

Reports and minutes of February meeting were approved.

Kathy Lowe updated the conference report numbers. Attendance and exhibitors will surpass last year. The new location might be contributing to this uptick.

Advocacy - Greg Pronevitz and Robin Cicchetti

A 45-minute meeting with DESE Commissioner Riley has been rescheduled for March 21, 2019. Attendees for MSLA will be Robin Cicchetti,James Lonergan, MBLC, and Greg Pronevitz. We shared our priorities with DESE see LINK. Attendees met in advance to plan our agenda and focus on our most important messages which are the need to appoint a school library curriculum specialist at DESE and the need for a complete census/audit of school libraries/staffing/services in public schools. Robin Cicchetti will do a survey findings recap and plug ESSA.

Library Legislative Day:

MSLA/MLA Library Legislative Day was March 5 at the State House. MSLA shared a display table with MLS near the entrance to the Great Hall. Only 12 attendees registered from the school library community. Greg Pronevitz participated in the two legislative briefings and the first-time attendee orientation to share MSLA’s priorities. The packet for the day included a one-pager on MSLA priorities.

MASS Conference (Mass. Association of School Superintendents), July 10:

This year’s theme, Foundation to Transformation-Building on 25 Years of Success, celebrates the successes of public education in Massachusetts over the last 25 years with a vision of transforming public education in the future. MSLA submitted a joint proposal with MassCUE and MASCD (at the invitation by MassCUE) and the proposal was accepted. Here is a LINK to the event.

Branding Advocacy Subcommittee - Robin Cicchetti

Amy Short and Anita Cellucci have been working with branding advocacy subcommittee. They’ve come up with a new design which has been incorporated into the Salem State site, and created a PowerPoint for the advocacy group to clean up and have prepared in time for the conference. There are 50 volunteers for Advocacy for the study and now the group is ready to start using them.

Talbot Middle School, Fall River:

On Friday, March 15 - Robin Cicchetti held a Skype conference with students working on a civics project - advocating for a school library. It was a rewarding and uplifting experience to help them pursue this important civics project.

IMLS Research grant:

Researchers Keith Curry Lance and Debra Kachel have invited state school library associations to partner with them on their research proposal, “The Evolving Role of the School Librarian: How School Decision-Makers are Driving Change” - a country-wide school library impact study. Their proposal for the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grant is offered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services IMLS. Debbie Froggett from Boston has agreed to be our representative on this initiative.

Upcoming events/presentations:

DESE and Commissioner Riley - New date March 21, 2019
MSLA Conference - March 31 - April 1, 2019
MLA Conference - May 20 - 22, 2019
Pending MASS Conference - July 9-11, 2019 via Breakout.edu with MassCUE
Pending AASL conference - Nov. 14 - 16 (waiting to hear if the proposal is accepted)

Professional learning - Laura Luker

Annual conference update - see above
Better Together, MSLA/MassCUE, will be coming in the fall 2019, held at TEC Walpole, possibly on 9/24 or 25, a school night. Focus is Media Literacy. WGBH is planning to partner again. Maybe Frontline. Smaller event (120 maximum). MassCUE is asking for suggested presenters.

Election - Carrie Tucker

In consideration of the good news that no one up for re-election at this time (area directors, treasurer, secretary) nor has anyone has expressed intention of stepping down, the board approved the following slate of members for next year. Thanks go to our nomination committee: Laura Luker, Reba Tierney, Katherine Steiger, Ann Perham, and Anita Cellucci.

Secretary       Jennifer Dimmick
Treasurer       Jennifer Varney
Area directors
Karen Davidson-Heller, Deeth Ellis:  Boston
Michael Caligiuri, Pamela Vallee:  Central
Patsy Divver, Maria D’Orsi:  Metrowest
Barbara Fecteau, Laura Harrington:  Northeast
Allison Barker, Rachel Barrett:  Southeast
Lani Blechman, Sarah Forfa, Claudia Palframan:  West

MSLA positions for 2019-2020

Job description and the finances for positions of Office Manager/Event Planner and Executive Consultant (working title -- not yet finalized) were approved.

Policy handbook review

Updates to the MSLA policy manual were approved.

Cvent contract - Kathy Lowe

The board approval for 1 year Cvent contract. Cvent is used to manage the entire membership list and payments including dues and conference registration.

Awards - Wendy Garland
We depend on the collective efforts of the board members to get maximum advocacy benefit of awards! Award winners are listed here. Board members were encouraged to sign up to present awards in each school district.

NESLA - Carrie Tucker

Carol Gordon has asked us to share a letter from New England School Library Association with MSLA members. It is here.

Robin Cicchetti motioned to adjourn the meeting at 6:00 PM, Deeth Ellis seconded, all approved.

Upcoming events

MSLA conference, “School libraries are for everyone,” March 31-- April 1, 2019, Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center
MLA Annual Conference, May 20-22, 2019 at Sheraton Framingham
MSLA Sorting Day, Saturday, April 6, 10 AM at 99 Fairview Rd. Lunenburg
Better Together, MSLA/MassCUE, Fall 2019, TEC Walpole

Upcoming board meetings

Wednesday, April 10, 2019 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 4:00--6:00 location tbd

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 2/13/2019

3/19/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
February 13, 2018 4:00 - 6:00
Massachusetts Library System
225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough, MA 01752

Virtual:

Attending:
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Anita Cellucci, Director-Elect AASL Region 1
Karen Davidson-Heller, Co-Director Boston Region
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Deeth Ellis, Co-Director Boston Region
Sarah Forfa, Co-Director West Region
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning Co-chair
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director
Laura Luker, President Elect
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region
Ann Perham, Awards
Greg Pronevitz, MSLA Communications Specialist
Reba Tierney, Co-editor Forum Newsletter
Carrie Tucker, President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director, Central Region
Jen Varney, Cambridge, Treasurer

Call to order
Ann Perham moved to approve reports and minutes of January meeting, Anita Cellucci seconded, unanimously approved.

Nominating committee
Ann Perham, Reba Tierney, Anita Cellucci and Katherine Steiger volunteered for the nominating committee for positions up for re-election/election: Treasurer, secretary, and area directors. Slate must be voted on by mid-May.

Professional learning - Laura Luker

Early bird registration is over. Don’t let it get to late registration period before you register!
The Collaborative for Educational Services is offering a two day PD that will earn the 15 ELL PDPs needed for recertification. It’s not specific to school librarians but it is literacy focused.

Advocacy - Greg Pronevitz and Anita Cellucci

Subcommittee of 6-8 people has met to brainstorm branding ideas. Theme of “every child deserves a library,” and hoping to use the Libraries are for Everyone artwork.
DESE 3/11/19 meeting (MSLA Priorities)
Library Legislative Day is March 5, 2019,
- Library showcase will include 3 schools:
  - Silver Lake Regional High School Library - Career and Technical Education and the school library
  - Silver Lake Regional Middle School – Kingston – News Literacy
  - Boston Public Schools - Action Research: BPS Libraries Impact Academic Achievement
Every Library offered to conduct a webinar for training on how to meet with legislators to advocate for libraries to those planning to attend Library Legislative Day.
Thanks to Ann Perham for souping up the advocacy page on the MSLA website.

Policy handbook review --- Kathy Lowe
Board members reviewed and finalized proposed updates to the policy handbook. A second vote will occur once new wording has been integrated.

Awards - Ann Perham
The committee sent out 29 press releases and 100+ letters.
Award winners are listed here.

Quick items

MSLA/MSLMA archives to be weeded over the winter in preparation for relocation, possibly to Simmons College.
Member recruitment - Barbara Fecteau and Maria D’Orsi drafted a letter to send to MLS school librarians who are not members of MSLA for recruitment purposes, and will share with Carrie Tucker and Laura Luker for review.

Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 5:53.

Upcoming events

Legislative Breakfasts around the state
MSLA/MLA Library Legislative Day, Mar. 5, 2019 at the State House in Boston
MSLA conference, “School libraries are for everyone”, March 31-- April 1, 2019, Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center
MLA Annual Conference, May 20-22, 2019 at Sheraton Framingham

Upcoming board meetings

Wednesday, Mar. 20, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, Apr. 10, 2019 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 4:00--6:00 location tbd

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 1/16/2019

2/11/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
January 1, 2018 4:00 - 6:00
Massachusetts Library System
225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough, MA 01752

View full meeting minutes here.
Attending (V=Virtual):
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Robin Cicchetti, Advocacy
Jennifer Dimmick, SecretaryPatsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Ariel Dugan, Vocational Technical School Liaison
Deeth Ellis, Co-Director Boston Region
Barb Fecteau, Co-Director, Northeast Region
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning Co-chair
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director (V)
Laura Luker, President Elect
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region (V)
Greg Pronevitz, MSLA Communications Specialist
Paige Rowse, Awards
Reba Tierney, Co-editor Forum Newsletter
Carrie Tucker, President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director, Central Region
Jen Varney, Cambridge, Treasurer (V)Wendy Garland, Awards

Call to order
Minutes of November meeting were accepted.
Carrie Tucker expressed MSLA’s continued gratitude to Laura Bogart, Sarah Sogigian, and Steve Spohn for again providing meeting space.
Professional learning
Laura Luker and Kathy Lowe provided an update on the annual conference: we have 135 registrees (38 people registered for the dinner) so far which is strong for this stage. The early bird deadline is Feb 8. We have 5 sponsors this year. 4 are Silver Sponsors: Follett, Renaissance, Starbright Books and School Furnishings. Permabound signed up as Platinum Sponsor, which is exciting as it’s their first time sponsoring. 26 exhibitors are registered so far which is good for this stage.

If you want to add to your registration (e.g., dinner) you can pay separately for that. Contact Kathy Lowe or just add it to your registration and send a separate check.

Big thanks to the whole conference committee for the tremendous amount of work they’ve been doing on this important MSLA initiative

Ariel Dugan suggested that we add PD courses for librarians to the MSLA website. Laura Luker indicated that she does keep the Professional Learning page on the site as up to date as possible, but she invited people to alert her about any courses they’re aware of.

Awards --- Paige Rowse and Wendy Garland
Slate of award winners as proposed by the committee was approved.

Advocacy --- Greg Pronevitz & Robin Cicchetti

The Advocacy team held a virtual meeting on January 7. See report for details.
A meeting with DESE Commissioner Riley is set for 3/11/19 to discuss MSLA Priorities; the committee has been unsuccessful in getting an earlier meeting
There is a possible meeting with the Joint Committee on Education
- The committee is working with Rep. Garballey on this front.
The committee has had discussions with John Chrastka from EveryLibrary and has planned a meeting at ALA with Carrie Tucker, Laura Luker, Anita Cellucci, Greg Pronevitz and hopefully James Lonergan.
- Possible MSLA ally: Safe Schools for LGBTQ Students to join forces with to have a louder voice with DESE, whose attention has been difficult to get alone
Library Legislative Day will be held at the statehouse on March 5, 2019. The committee with share advocacy materials as part of the showcase.
- Will need volunteers for the MSLA Table and presenters at first timer session and briefings.
- Letter in support for MBLC’s legislative agenda was sent to Chairman Ochsenbein 11/16/18 and acknowledged soon after.
Reminder that there is still time to sign up to host a legislative breakfast in your library; there are helpful tips on the MSLA website and Greg Pronevitz is happy to advise anyone who needs help
The committee has submitted proposals to present at AASL (November 2019) and MLA (May 2019)
Action items/other - Volunteers for Library Legislative Day.
- MSLA/MLA Table outside the Great Hall - All Day
- Legislative Briefings at 9:30 and 11:15
- First Time Attendee Program 10:00
- Welcome from MSLA and Present AASL Commendation - Carrie Tucker
- Accept Commendation - Rep. Garballey?

Policy handbook review --- Kathy Lowe
The Board began reviewing and approving proposed changes to the handbook, but ran out of time to finish.

Team Drive for MSLA - Laura Luker
Laura Luker proposed creating a Team Drive with Google as a shared space to store, search, and access files easily.

This would require an MSLA Nonprofit account with Google (it’s free), but then would allow us to protect ourselves from the dangers of individual document ownership in addition to organizational advantages. Embarking on this initiative does not require a board vote, but all agreed that it would be a worthwhile plan.

MLS Executive Director search - Reba Tierney

The search committee is reposting and extending application deadline and making the deadline “until filled” with a prefered deadline. The search committee has formed an advisory committee with diverse backgrounds to help with screening applicants.

Quick items

MSLA/MSLMA archives to be weeded over the winter in preparation for relocation, possibly to Simmons College.

Other news

Kathy Lowe: news from James Lonergan -- MTA has expressed widespread support for more nurses and librarians in the schools

Adjourn

Deeth Ellis motioned to adjourn the meeting at 6:00, Laura Liker seconded and all approved.

Upcoming events

Legislative Breakfasts around the state Jan.-Mar.
MSLA/MLA Library Legislative Day, Mar. 5, 2019 at the State House in Boston
MSLA conference, “School libraries are for everyone”, March 31-- April 1, 2019, Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center
MLA Annual Conference, May 20-22, 2019 at Sheraton Framingham

Upcoming board meetings

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Wednesday, Mar. 20, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, Apr. 10, 2019 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 4:00--6:00 location tbd

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 11-17-18

1/9/2019

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
November 14, 2018 4:00 - 6:00
Massachusetts Library System
225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough, MA 01752
View full meeting minutes here.
Attending (V=Virtual):
Allison Barker, Co-Director Southeast Region
Rachel Barrett, Co-Director Southeast Region
Lani Blechman, Co-Director West Region
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
Deeth Ellis, Co-Director Boston Region
Barb Fecteau, Co-Director, Northeast Region
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director
Laura Luker, President Elect
Meg O’Neill, Private school Liaison
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region (V)
Ann Perham,Conference Co-Chair, Awards Co-Chair (V)
Greg Pronevitz, MSLA Communications Specialist (V)
Linda Redding, Liaison Digital Commonwealth (V)
Amy Short, Advocacy Co-Chair (V)
Sarah Sogigian, MLS Interim Executive Director
Katherine Steiger, Co-Editor, MSLA Forum
Carrie Tucker, President
Jen Varney, Cambridge, Treasurer

Welcome, call to order, approve reports and minutes of October meeting --- Carrie Tucker

Carrie Tucker thanked to Sarah Sogigian and Steve Spohn for graciously providing meeting space.

Advocacy report --- Greg Pronevitz and Amy Short

LibGuide update
Cambridge meeting with ALA president
Library Legislative Day, March 5, 2019
Next steps/action plan

Amy Short, Robin Chicchetti, Carol Gordon and Anita Cellucci all presented at the NESLA conference and it went well. It was nice to present to other states who were unfamiliar the commission’s work.

A few weeks ago members of the team met with the ALA President on her national tour. They had an hour with her during which they shared the study findings with her and conclusions about lack of equity in MA. She was very receptive and interested in our work. She came to Cambridge Rindge and Latin School where and Emily Houston (CRLS Librarian) at school gave her a tour before a ceremony that followed at the public library attended by local dignitaries. Her speech talked about school libraries and equity of access to school libraries and librarians. Amy Short thanked Greg Pronevitz for coming in and contributing to this effort.

Robin Cicchetti is finishing proposal to present at AASL in the fall. Anita Cellucci and Amy Short are working on 2 subcommittees: the logo/branding team, spearheaded by Anita, and the customizable presentation team, spearheaded by Amy. The goal of the latter is to create a customizable presentation that members can use for local needs to present to school committees, etc. to advocate for school libraries.

Robin Cicchetti, Greg Pronevitz and James Lonergan (MBLC) worked together to prepare a proposal for a presentation at the Mass. Library Association Conference in May on MSLA advocacy and the Commission Report/Recommendations.

MBLC Legislative Agenda --- James Lonergan, Director, Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

The MBLC has a working group from about 9 states that focuses on involvement with school libraries and supporting and advocating for them.

James Lonergan thanked school librarians for responding to the a statewide survey sponsored by the MBLC. He shared the MBLC’s FY2020 Legislative Agenda and associated funding request.

Katherine Steiger moved that the board draft a letter in support of the MBLC’s legislative agenda.

Sarah Sogigian welcomed us all to the MLS offices and shared an update about MLS activities including:

Hosted 10th annual teen summit in September; had 175 attendees from 5 states; good showing from school libraries. Theme was fandom and celebrating what you love. Was a fun day.
MLS annual report came out. MLS created a new advocacy Tableau tool that allows libraries to drill the value of service from MLS down to the community level,
MLS has some new school members which is great news.
Last spring MLS learned that the DESE revoked their pdp certification; MLS has applied to recertify and is hopeful they will be recertified next month.
Commonwealth ebook collection will have a new enrollment period soon. Those who are interested should play with the Libby app, which is very similar to the Sora app that is designed for the school collection. Discussion ensued about the lack of reciprocity between the school collection and the public library consortium collections as well as the size of the young adult collection and Sarah Sogigian committed to following up with Steve Spohn about the issues.
Gale Pages is getting a new look in January.

Professional learning --- Laura Luker
Annual conference update

Laura Luker, Alida Hanson and Ann Perham have been working hard on the conference.

Upcoming events

Western MA School Librarians PLC: Building a Culture of Reading, Collaborative for Educational Services, Northampton, MA, November 15, 4:30-6:30pm
Carolyn Jacobs and PBS, a Metrowest event organized by Patsy and Maria, Medford HS, November 15, 2018
Library Legislative Day, Boston, March 5, 2019
MSLA conference, “School libraries are for everyone”, March 31-- April 1, 2019, Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center
MSLA/MLA Library Legislative Day, Mar. 5, 2019 at the State House in Boston
MLA Annual Conference, May 20-22, 2019 at Sheraton Framingham

Upcoming board meetings

Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018 4:00--6:00 Virtual, only if needed
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Wednesday, Mar. 20, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, Apr. 10, 2019 4:00--6:00 Virtual
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 4:00 MLS, 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 229, Marlborough
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 4:00--6:00 location tbd

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick

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