Present: Carla Kaiser, president; Laura Loveless, vice-president; Rosanne Siemens, executive director; Denise Smith, second vice-president; Rob Banks, ALA Councilor; Diana Weaver, K-Place chair; Laura DeBaun, ALA membership chair; Lisa Sevart, CULS chair; Angela Allen, PALS chair; Christie Brandau, State Librarian; Amanda Stephenson, GODORT, representing chair Andrew Evans; Jane Hatch, strategic plan chair; Sue Blechl, FOKL representative; Connie Doeden, CE representative; Norleen Knoll, children and youth section chair; Anita Brozik, KASL liaison.

 

President Carla Kaiser thanked Hutchinson PL for hosting the meeting. All attendees introduced themselves and noted something they were proud of.

 

State LibrarianChristie Brandaureported on the Kansas Book Festival in Wichita. She indicated it was a great success with 6000 attendees and hopes for more attendance in the future. She reported that she’s been traveling throughout the state and that is the best part of her job.

 

 

Minutes and agenda were approved. Executive Director Siemens reported that she had not received any committee, section or roundtable reports.

 

President Kaiser began her report citing the mission of KLA. The Kansas Library Association is the common bond, public voice, and collective power for the Kansas library community. Her theme for the 2008 annual conference is “Be the change.”

 

The executive director referred council members to her written report and noted that there was one change. The executive committee has asked her to participate in the interview and selection process for the new half-time clerical position.

 

Laura DeBaun reported on the status of new financial reporting capabilities with Quick Books. Siemens thanked DeBaun for her assistance in setting up Quick Books. Siemens also requested feedback and suggestions from subdivisions on what financial information they would like to see in their reports. DeBaun noted that the software allows for a lot of detail in reporting and that most subdivisions will not require all levels of detail. She is suggesting that the information from Quick Books should be exported to Excel to generate report documents.

Resolution: It was moved and seconded to accept the first quarter financial reports. Motion passed.

 

ALA Councilor Rob Banks presented ALA’s resolution on National Security Letters and the SKILLS Act, which requires a certified school librarian at each school to the extent it is feasible, and asked for votes of support.

 

Banks moved, Sevart seconded that KLA support ALA’s resolution on national security letters. Motion passed.

 

Banks moved, DeBaun seconded that KLA support the SKILLS Act (part of No Child Left Behind). Motion passed.

 

Vice-President Loveless reported that the annual Tri-Conference has become the Kansas Library Conference for 2008. KLA is partnering with KASL to present the conference. She encouraged everyone to become involved in conference planning. She indicated that the conference planning committee reorganized the conference schedule and for the first time will have not only an opening keynote conference, but a closing keynote. There will be tracks as well as more no-conflict time for visiting exhibits and for attendees to attend major programs. She also said, “We’re not turning money down anymore.” Vendors are being offered the opportunity to sponsor breaks and programs.

 

She also noted that KLA is going through an enormous amount of change at this time, but there is a lot of positive momentum. The organization is focused on long term success in serving the Kansas library community.

 

She reminded council members that the conference program proposal form is on the current KLA website. And the turn-around for program proposals is 1 month, not 2.

 

There is a new conference logo and there will be a new conference program guide to provide a great conference experience with attendees.

 

She also noted that it’s very important that the new conference planning process be established before KLA co-sponsors with the Mountain Plains Library Association for 2009.

 

Hatch moved, Banks seconded ratification of KLA’s agreement with KASL to participate in the 2008 conference. KASL’s participation includes a $30 remittance to KASL for each KASL member indicating membership on the conference registration form. The balance will be retained by KLA to cover administrative costs. All meal functions are the responsibility of the group sponsoring that event.

Smith solicited volunteers for the ongoing work of the bylaws committee. Siemens and Smith have worked on the bylaws and are presenting a draft for Council review. They noted that they have removed procedural and informational text, so that the remaining text meets the definition of bylaws.

 

Smith and Siemens reviewed each change. The consensus of the group was that they would like to see the changes as “strike throughs” and italics. Smith and Siemens said this can be accomplished.  

The committee is not drafting the entries for sections and roundtables for the KLA handbook. They are requesting that section and roundtable chairs write their entries for the KLA Handbook. The committee will provide a template for these entries. Siemens will draft the template and send it. 

 

Deadline for all feedback and suggestions for bylaws as well as entries describing sections and roundtables are due by December 1, 2007.

 

Siemens pointed out that with the new Affiniscape software, KLA will have the capability of conducting an electronic vote to approve bylaws revisions. Questions regarding the ability to suspend the bylaws to allow an electronic vote, which will be faster and more cost effective, have been submitted to KLA’s parliamentarian.

The major concern is to ensure that the newly created treasurer position can appear on ballots for election in this election cycle.

 

Second vice-president Denise Smith acts as chair of the bylaws committee and will appoint additional members.

 

Bylaws revisions will be submitted to Council for approval at the January 18, 2008 meeting.

 

President Kaiser commended Smith and Siemens for their hard work on the bylaws.

Chair Jane Hatch presented a status report on the strategic plan.

 

She noted that a number of objectives including the hiring of a part time clerical assistant, the purchase of Affiniscape software for organizational management and communication and work on infrastructure documents (bylaws, manual), reorganization of the annual conference, improving financial reporting are proceeding.

 

She noted that in addition to accomplishing strategies, we must work on communicating the plan to the membership. That will begin when Affiniscape goes live for members.

 

She indicated that the leadership initiative needs to move forward. Kaiser will put out a call over the Kanlib listserv for volunteers to move this forward.

 

She noted that we need to start preparing another membership survey in anticipation of refreshing the plan for 2008.

Siemens gave a status report on the implementation of Affiniscape. The process is going well. She reported she is participating on online training sessions. The go-live date was too ambitious and has been moved back to early November.

 

Michelle Swain has resigned as past president. Per current bylaws, the previous past-president would be in line for appointment by the president. She noted that the past president chairs the nominating and awards committees, so this position is key. 

 

Banks moved, Loveless seconded that a KLA member will be appointed by the president in consultation with the executive committee to fulfill the responsibilities of the past president, specifically, to chair the nominating and awards committees and serve on the executive committee. Motion approved.

Siemens reported that $44,000 has been transferred to the KLA Educational Foundation from KLA reserves to create a $100,000 endowment to support KLA educational activities.

Submitted by Gina Millsap, Secretary