NCCCLRA Executive Board Conference Call

March 20, 2008

2:00 p.m.

Attending:

Myra Blue Pamlico

Cathy Campbell Craven

Stephanie Bowers Pitt

Deborah Foster Fayetteville

Allen Mosteller Cleveland

Susan Williams Blue Ridge

Myra opened the meeting by reminding us that one of our goals for the year had been to promote sharing among the libraries in the community college system as well as more collaboration with other organizations. She commended us on the work we had done toward meeting that goal.

Previous Minutes:

Stephanie noted that she was sent no corrections or additions to the posted minutes from the last Executive Board meeting on February 13, 2008. The motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes as they stand—the motion was carried.

Treasurer’s Report:

Deborah announced the current account balances as follows:

Checking account—$7909.38

Money Market account—$5273.96

Scholarship account—$45,044.35

Share account—$28.58

A more detailed copy of this report had been sent out to the Executive Board prior to the meeting. The motion was made and seconded to accept the Treasurer’s Report as it stands—the motion was carried.

Deborah noted that, after the conference, she will be moving funds from the “general” checking account to the money market account so as to bring the general account down to $5000.00, and will draw the share account back down to the required $25.00.

Deborah will have an up-to-date report available for the conference.

Myra noted that the annual Financial Statement for last year had been posted on the NCCCLRA site and would like to see this continue each year.

Conference Update:

Cathy reported that conference preparations are moving along as expected and most things are covered, but she will need help at the registration table during the conference.

The program is “done and ready” and is being printed now.

Ruth Bryan has gotten a number of donations from various community colleges and one vendor for the “goodie bags” but not a lot of door prizes so far. Vendors may bring some things with them to the conference that they might be willing to donate.

Cathy noted that she will get Fay Byrd to help put together some “thank you” baskets for the keynote speakers.

Current registration numbers are “fair to normal”—Deborah reported 57 as of today (although some of these have not yet paid). The conference hotels have been told to release the rooms they have been holding, but Cathy said that they will still charge the conference rate should anyone ask between now and the conference.

Since the initial food planning was based on an estimate of between 100 and 110 participants, meals and snacks will end up being less costly than had been originally thought.

There are four vendors who purchased sponsorships at the Bronze level: Emery-Pratt ($50), Sebco Books ($50), SP Controls ($250), and WT Cox ($50). These companies will be thanked in the program for helping to sponsor the breaks.

Cathy reported that she is still working on getting the vendors’ signs printed. Beaufort CC has helped with this in the past but they have not registered for this year. Cathy may send out an e-mail to CC directors to see if she gets any volunteers to help with this. Deborah suggested that if all else fails we might consider using a commercial printer such as Staples.

Cathy mentioned that she will be getting Fay’s help on compiling a one-sheet list of Wilkesboro restaurants, points of interest, etc. She was wondering if she should wait until she gets to Wilkesboro to get these printed up; Myra suggested that she ask Fay to handle it since she’s familiar with printing places in the area and she could then turn in her receipt for reimbursement.

Cathy asked if we had seen the postcards she sent out announcing the conference; most Board members said they had and that they “looked good.” This year they were sent to libraries in general, but next year they can be sent to each individual LRA member as well.

Suvanida Duangudom has been compiling the AV list and will send it along to the Walker Center.

Allen reported that he’s been working on estimating the needed quantities of beer/wine and hors d’oeuvres for the vendors’ reception. David Wright from Surry CC has volunteered to bring some Surry-made Chardonnay, so wine may be plentiful.

Committee Updates:

Bylaws—Allen said that he had already sent to Myra what he had for the officer position revisions. There was discussion on the need for further clarification in some areas, such as how officer installations are supposed to be conducted. Deborah mentioned that she remembers a formal oath being recited in the past; others remember this as well, although there’s no mention of this in the current version of the LRA Handbook. More work needs to be done on the Handbook revisions.

Membership—Myra will be putting together a packet of voting issues to present to the membership at the conference. One of these issues is the increase in membership fees for next year.

Nominating—Michael Rose is out this week, but Myra will check with him on how the officers’ election is progressing.

The idea of developing a more streamlined electronic method of electing officers for next year was raised during this year’s election process—Allen said that he could work on an online “voting button” system, but would not be able to get to it until summer. Cathy suggested that using Survey Monkey might be a simpler solution, whereby the survey link would be sent only to the current membership, and all agreed that this sounded like the best idea for now.

Scholarship—The question was raised as to whether or not Libby Stone would be doing the usual 50/50 scholarship raffle at this year’s conference, but no one in attendance knew for sure. Deborah again voiced the idea that scholarship amounts need to be raised to generate increased interest. Cathy suggested that some individual professional development funds might also be offered (subject to certain requirements); this might allow conference attendance by some library staff members who otherwise would not be able to go.

Myra said that she could present the issue of raising scholarship amounts to the membership after talking with Libby.

Archives—The issue of reinstating the appointed position of Archivist was again raised as some Board members feel that this would simplify the process of archives maintenance. Archival duties are currently written into the Procedures Officer position, but there has been confusion for some years as to how LRA archival materials should actually be handled since clear-cut guidelines are lacking in the current Handbook. Cathy maintained that many details of the officers’ position descriptions still need to be examined (the Procedures Officer description, for example, mentions the collecting of newsletters, which we no longer produce). Current electronic methods of document delivery and storage should be considered when making changes.

Deborah noted that the stipulation of a three-year term might be a good idea for positions such as Procedures Officer and Archivist, but Stephanie wondered if term limits even apply to appointed positions. There is a definite need for more clarification of certain procedural issues in the Handbook; Cathy mentioned that she is unclear as to what has to be voted on by the membership and what can just be changed by the Executive Board (or Bylaws Committee) as one example.

Since it appears that more extensive revision needs to be done to the current Handbook, Cathy will oversee the continuation of this work in her upcoming term of office and such changes that need to be voted on by the membership will be presented at the 2009 conference.

Closing Business:

Myra reported that the idea of holding the 2009 conference jointly with the NC Distance Learning Alliance is pretty much “tabled” for the time being and will not be brought before the membership for a vote at this time. The study group for this issue felt that they need to have a face-to-face meeting for further discussion before any decisions are made—they will try to hold this meeting after the upcoming conference. Meanwhile, Cindy Pannill can still be on the conference planning committee for next year as a first step toward an eventual joint conference.

Cathy noted that the incoming Board will likely want to start looking for a 2009 conference site as soon as possible, given the likelihood that a joint conference will not be feasible for next year. Since last year’s conference evaluation sheets asked for input on preferred conference locations, Cathy said she will not include that on this year’s evaluations, but may want to see if any schools would be willing to act as conference hosts.

Myra stated that she will draft a summary of the past year’s LRA activities and current voting issues to present to the membership at the conference. Stephanie will help her with compiling a list of those items the Executive Board voted to bring before the membership. Myra said she will send out this summary to the Executive Board some time next week.

In closing, Myra thanked the members of the Executive Board for all their efforts this past year, and proclaimed them a “good group.”

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.

Submitted by:

Stephanie Bowers,

Secretary