Friday, October 22, 2021

WISCONSIN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING AGENDA

Friday, October 22, 2021

10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Mission Statement: WLA engages, inspires and advocates for library workers and supporters to improve and promote library services for the people of Wisconsin.

	Present	Absent		Present	Absent
Desiree Bongers		X	Laura Sauser	X
Gina Rae	X		Linda Jerome	X
Jennifer Cook	X		Michael Doylen		X
Katharine Clark	X		Nyama Reed	X
Kathy Michaelis	X		Sherry Machones	X
Kris Turner	X		Tom Klement	X
Kristina Gomez	X		Tracy Vreeke	X

Call to Order – Sherry Machones, President at 10:04am

Establishment of Quorum & Consent Agenda (These items are approved or accepted by one motion, unless a board member asks to have something set aside for separate discussion.)

Minutes of the September 10, 2021 Board Meeting
Meeting Agenda

The consent agenda, which contained the minutes of the [Link Here] meetings and the current agenda [Link here], was accepted on a motion by Vreeke, seconded by Cook. Passed on a unanimous board vote.

Finance Report – Tom Klement, Laura Sauser

2022 Budget Preview

Our numbers are getting to the breakeven point.
$7000 drop in investments in September.
Looking for 100 more conference registrations.
Previewed 2022 Budget & Growth Initiatives for presentation at annual meeting.

President’s Report – Sherry Machones

WLA Annual Conference Update
November Board Meeting - Presentation by EveryLibrary

As of today there are 284 annual conference registrations. 358 is breakeven point.
44 exhibitors. Will be set up to allow for social distancing.
Working on location for 2023: Green Bay, Appleton, Middleton
Hospitality suite for leadership in Sherry’s suite to get to know Laura. Thu night after awards ceremony. Various chairs, board members, and conference committee.

At conference. John from EveryLibrary will speak about legislative challenges, and trainings WLA could offer. He will also talk to SRLAAW which meetings before the Board at conference.
Turned into a talk about intellectual freedom and book challenges to libraries. Could we work with WEMTA and library schools?

Executive Director Report – Laura Sauser

Moved to before President’s Report.
Marketing/Advertising & Sponsored Content
- Looking to get the student groups recognized as official at the universities, then they’d have a faculty advisor to help with consistency.
- Discussed ideas for increasing dues and non-dues revenues.
Corporate Memberships
2022 Election Update
- Linda J brought up the non-competitive nature of the ballots. How do we as the Board encourage people to run for positions?
- Gina R suggests putting a discussion of this on a spring 2022 agenda so we talk about it and take action before election time.
WLA Annual Conference Social Media Volunteers

WLA needs to talk about a strat plan; let’s start talking about it at next meeting.
“Growth Initiatives” Slides

Presented proposal for new tier structure

Election update: 10 open positions. 5 candidates not elected; start with them to see if they wish to fill open positions.

Looking for a couple Board volunteers to help with re-invigorate the WLA Twitter page. Linda J and Sherry M volunteered.

Drafts of Updated WLA Policies - Tracy Vreeke

Code of Conduct policy
Conflict of Interest policy
Confidentiality policy

Clarification: sign at start of term; resign at start of new term. Scanned and stored in password protected WLA files.
Discussion of how broad to make its application. All elected and appointed positions?
Change language to “As a WLA leader”
How to roll out and get all signatures?
What is process for report of violation?
Tracy V will take edits into consideration and come back with it at a future meeting.