DSLMA
Minutes of the Meeting
Meeting was called to order at
Old Business:
The minutes from the August 14 Board meeting were reviewed and approved.
A memorial fund/scholarship in memory of Barbara Stites was discussed. It was suggested that a scholarship be established to benefit those who are going through the University of Delaware Master of Instruction School Library Certification process, as Barb did. Janice Haney will investigate the protocols for establishing, funding, and maintaining such a memorial and report back to us at a later time. Jane Stewart will investigate our financial standing.
The board had voted to contribute to the DSRA conference, but that will need to wait until we are confident of our financial situation. Jane Stewart will investigate.
The meeting schedule was reviewed and approved as presented by Jane Stewart :
All business meetings will begin at
October 9 at
November 13 at
December 11 at
January 8 at the new
February 12 at the
No meeting in March due to DSTP
April 8 location TBA to review awards
May 13 Delaware Library Association conference
Barbara FitzPatrick was elected as our Vice President. She will work to find two guest speakers for the DLA conference. Janet Shaw had previously agreed to attend the Conference Planning meetings. We still do not have a Treasurer.
New Business:
Everyone is invited to the Delaware Book Festival on
Saturday, November 3, on the Green in
A great list of authors! Volunteers are also needed, both adults and youth, to act as author escorts or simply hand out flyers, etc. Contact Denise Allen.
The Delaware Reads project is getting underway again. Be sure to register your school, beginning on Monday, September 24. More information will be coming to you this month.
Members who are unsure of their membership status (payments)
should contact Jamie Alascia in
We discussed setting some long term goals for the organization. Suggestions included: encouraging paraprofessionals to participate in professional development ; updating the DSLMA website ; publicizing the need for certified school librarians in all schools; updating the DSLMA by-laws ; and recruiting new certified school librarians. Please submit more ideas to Jane Stewart.
We discussed setting some short term goals for the organization. Suggestions included: obtaining a complete list of all the school librarians in the state. Denise Allen will provide that to Jane Stewart. Meanwhile, the district representatives are requested to send updates of new hires, etc. to Jane.
Carole Carpenter will try to find out who is in charge of the DSLMA webpage and get it updated. The URL is http://www.udel.edu/erc/dslma/
Committee Reports:
We still need a representative for the DLA Legislative Committee. Volunteers please contact Jane Stewart.
Janet Shaw and Barb Ruskowski will handle the Awards Committee duties.
Our members on the Governor's Task Force include Trish Birch, Sue Gooden, and Mary Tice.
Janet Shaw will attend the DLA Conference Committee meetings since Barb FitzPatrick is brand new to the job and can not make those meetings.
District Reports:
Appoquinimink : Maria Gregors is now the librarian at the new
Alfred G. Waters 9th grade Academy and will move to the new
Caesar Rodney: Jane Stewart reported that E.B. Lewis will be visiting her school.
Christina: Janet Shaw
reported that the
Red Clay: Suzanne
Smith reported that the libraries will have no budgets this year. The district is in financial turmoil and
Frank Rischel has been appointed to oversee the review of Red Clay's
finances. This is a blow to the library
programs, as was the move to have one LMS cover two
elementaries. They are concerned about
continuing the agreement with Follett for Alliance Plus and WebPath Express for
collection management. There will be
more book fairs and other fund raising initiatives. Suzanne says that they will try to rally the
PTAs to advocate but that times appear bleak.
Their district level liason moved to
Presentation:
Jean Cox of Follett called from I-95, where she was still stuck in traffic. We rescheduled her presentation for next month.
Denise Allen discussed the Governor's Task Force. She invited us all to the January 17
Leadership in Libraries Night, from
She also updated us on the School Rooms project.
Barb FitzPatrick gave us a brief update on her grants. Federal funds were cut, so she now has more scheduled classes and only one half-time para. She still sends out a nifty newsletter via e-mail to all parents.
The meeting was adjourned at
Respectfully submitted.
Carole Carpenter