Young Adult Round Table Business Meeting
NLA Conference - October 6, 2011 4:30 p.m.
Cornhusker Marriott - Lincoln, NE
1. New Leadership
Gordon Wyant outgoing president announced the new board - Jake Rundle/chair, Lindsey Tomsu/vice chair, and Melanie Feyerherm Schultz/secretary.
2. Financial Report
Gordon provided the financial report stating YART has a profit of $281.83. Last year’s profit came from NLA section allocations, registration fees for the spring meeting, support from SCYP, and the program in a box.
Members want to get more NEMA members to become members of YART. However, there are financial barriers. Wyant talked about how we wanted representation on the board of both public and school but that did not happen for this upcoming year. The possibility of creating a scholarship for NEMA members was discussed as well as the possibility of making a change to the YART bylaws to include a “NEMA representative” and budgeting $30 a year to pay for this person’s membership. Also discussed was the possibility of just getting a volunteer to be this representative without having to change bylaws.
Wyant advised that YART put out more publicity on the fact that there is a discount to joining YART if you are a member of NEMA. He also stressed that anyone is welcome to come to events (members and non-members) as long as they pay the event fee.
At last check there were 36 paid members in YART.
3. YART Activity
YART took over a room for the entire first day of the 2011 conference with packed audiences at all sessions.
Gordon talked about presentations that were done with Dr. Pasco’s library science classes and Bridget Kratt said YART should talk to her YA literature class about how public and school libraries should work more together.
It was discussed that YART would like to keep trying to do things across the state so that librarians farther west can participate as well. Other ideas were to do more Programs in a Box, getting speakers for events and other items that will be mentioned in more details later in these minutes.
4. Program in a Box
The YART board clarified what “program in a box” is to those in the audience who were unaware. Anyone can make the activity box and “house” it and their library. That person is then responsible for shipping (which they are reimbursed for) as well as restocking it when it gets sent back. A soft ceiling of $50 per box creating was given. The $10 fee for the box covers shipping and restocking fees.
Gordon suggested having a way to make requesting/reserving a box more automatic. It was suggested we look into Google Forms.
Mary Mollner suggested a Lewis & Clark/Western-themed box that would have immediate school librarian interest, especially if standards were included in the box.
It was suggested we look at Joslyn’s “outreach trunk” and see how their program is set up. Jake Rundle has a contact at Joslyn that he was going to talk to about this.
Matt Couch suggested a pyramid scheme/pink flamingo in the yard idea where you could send a librarian a box and tell them to make something out of it.
5. Spring and Fall Meetings
The first fall meeting in 2010 was not as well attended as was hoped but beneficial to those that came.
The spring 2011 meeting was held in Hastings to try to accommodate librarians father west. However, this still isn’t far enough west for some. North Platte was suggested as well as the possibility of webinars (via Skype, GoTo Meeting, Adobe Connect, etc.). Faye Friesen said schools will typically have the equipment needed to do something like this. It was suggested that a remote location could be set up in a town (Kearney, North Platte, etc.) so that a group of librarians could get together for it. These sessions could also possibly be recorded to view later.
Stacy Lickteig suggested that these events include topics that would appeal to school and public libraries (not just “summer reading programs”).
6. Suggestions for Next Year
Gordon stressed the importance of finding ways to increase the value for members joining YART.
Stacy said the Round Table must promote to newcomers. She suggested an “adopt a librarian” kind of program for people new to young adult services to get advice and questions answered. Melanie mentioned this was the original intent of the forum (accessible through the blog) but not much publicity has been done with it to garner interest. Gordon mentioned that with the profit we have, we could look into purchasing an online forum (instead of using a free one) if that is something we want to put our focus on.
Faye suggested that we make t-shirts for the round table. Lindsey has a screen printing press that we could make these on if interested. It was suggested that we could either have a QR code or the back of the shirt could look like a band tour shirt with dates and locations of where YART has been/will be heading next.
Communications were discussed as e-mail has, in the past, proven not to be the best way to get information out. It was suggested that a Facebook and Twitter account be created, even though many school librarians will not be able to check these during the day because of filters.
Jake wanted to stress the focusing on trying to get partnerships together with school and public libraries. It was suggested that we look into setting up/coordinating a “take your librarian to lunch” day with public and school librarians.
Bridget Kratt also mentioned getting some flyers, promotional items to her to promote through UNO’s Met Link.
