Submitted by Terry Long
One
of the items Suzanne Corriell reported on from the last VLA Council meeting was
the following: [At the Council meeting
they make] you PAY if you use an acronym and don't define it. There was
about $10 in the jar to start from their executive session yesterday; I think
that was up to $15 by the end of the meeting! Hilarious. Well, yours
truly had to pay up this time. I did not define FOIA! I wasn’t the only one
who was fined. I think they are up to $20 now!
As for the other
items discussed/reported on at the Council meeting:
·
Unfortunately, not enough money was committed to
the library license plate initiative to have one issued. Any money received by
VLA for this project is being refunded.
·
There was no gain in state aid by the legislature,
however it was not cut. The Legislative Committee has started planning next year’s
agenda.
·
Discussed how to improve communication with
membership in order to keep them informed of VLA Council’s operation and
actions.
·
Lisa Varga, Executive Director, reported there
has been interest in developing a marketing forum within VLA.
·
30 people applied for 3
available scholarships. Each scholarship is for $2500 and is awarded to students
pursuing their MLS/MSLS degree
·
VLA’s Annual meeting will be at The Main, a
Hilton brand hotel, in Norfolk, October 11-13. VALL will have a program track
as will VLACRL.
o
Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures is the keynote speaker
o
Lisa Varga and Patty Petroccione, VALL president, are inviting Ron
Wheeler, AALL President as a speaker.
o
There will be tours of Norfolk and the new
Slover Public Library
o
They have received more program proposals than
anticipated. There will be 88-100 programs offered over two days.
o
New members will have special activities, Sips
and Sweets featuring dessert tastings at several restaurants. They will also
have a breakfast at the meeting on Friday.
·
Intellectual Freedom Committee will have a
conference next year on creating strong collection development policies. The
committee will meet for a half day retreat on how to be proactive, i.e. promote
1st amendment rights. They are
considering sponsoring a library legislative day at the General Assembly.
·
The Library of Virginia is quite concerned about
the fate of IMLS. If it is not funded, the Library Development Division will be
reduced to two people and the summer reading programs will not be funded.
·
The General Assembly restored some funding to
the Library of Virginia to restore hours and add some staff.
·
There is an interesting new exhibit at the
Library of Virginia: Teetotalers &
Moonshiners: Prohibition in Virginia, Distilled.
Acronym key:
AALL American
Association of Law Libraries
IMLS Institute
of Museum and Library Services
MLS Master
of Library Science
MSLS Master
of Science in Library Science
VALL Virginia
Association of Law Libraries
VLA Virginia
Library Association
VLACRL Virginia
Library Association College and Research Libraries