July 2023

Virtual Meeting via Zoom

Draft Minutes

Attendees: Amanda Eigen (Maplewood), Kate Jaggers (Hunterdon County), Lorraine Ruiz (Kenilworth), John Trause (Oradell), Melissa Kuzma (Parsippany), Ally Blumenfeld (Hoboken), Carolyn Oldt (GCLS), Lisa Kelly (Long Branch), Kimberly Paone (Matawan-Aberdeen), Sheila Mikkelson (Margaret E. Heggan Library, Sewell)

Regular Business

• Amanda Eigen calls the meeting to order at 10:04am
• Minutes from May 9, 2023 meeting: Melissa moves to accept the minutes, John seconds, all in favor

Reports

NJLA Executive Board Report--Ally Blumenfeld

• NJLA Mini Grants available to Sections & Committees, with partnership encouraged
• The FY24 Budget was approved in June, and there is a plan for staff reorganization and new positions created
• The Board passed a Statement on the Decision by the U.S. District Court Regarding Sensitive Places and Concealed Weapons, and also shared Letter sent to Sparta Public School District encouraging them to maintain their existing collection development policies. Along with partners in ALA, NJASL, ACLU NJ, we are working on draft legislation with Sen. Zwicker’s office to eliminate censorship in libraries.
• NJLA Board also passed a resolution to include sustainability in its Core Values
• New sections that have been created in NJLA are the Circulation & Access Services Section and the Public Relations & Marketing Section
• LibraryLinkNJ is planning a one-day virtual conference with proposals due by July 14
• The NJ Association of School Librarians Executive Board has issued a Statement on Selection Policies.

Old Business: none

New Business

• Admin and Management Section Board 23-24
  • Amanda Eigen, elected VP has assumed the role of President (following Heather Andolsen’s resignation)
  • Melissa Kuzma was appointed Vice President by the President
  • The position of Secretary remains vacant, and the Section is looking for someone to assume this appointment

• NJLA Conference Feedback
  • Positive response about the quality and diversity of workshops offered
  • Specific praise for pre-conference about BIPOC retention which included a racial healing circle, a powerful emotional experience; topics relating to recent banned books brought about a renewed sense of empowerment; Lambertville’s Latinx programming; interactive adult programming; Whatsapp; keynote speaker Rebecca Aldrich
  • Enthusiastic audience and conversation for Section programs: Materials Challenges; Dealing with Challenging Patrons; New Managers/Admin: All Your Questions Answered; Telling Stories that Matter; a mixer for new (and OG) managers and an “Adventures in Management” meet-up with MentorNJ
  • Found mixers to be fun and functional in terms of networking
  • Interesting poster sessions
  • Observation that many stayed within more insular groups of co-workers, which is possibly different from previous years, but was also a wonderful opportunity to interact more/differently with staff
  • EIM allow for the increased inclusion of less-experienced/involved staff members
  • Mention of preference for the previous way of doing the NJLA Raffle, but reports indicate that it was financially very successful
  • Minor complaints about the seeming lack of convenient food options and volume of hotel neighbors!
  • Some reports of COVID following the Conference

• Survey Review and Brainstorm
  • 20 total responses
  • Consider locations in that state that can provide option for in-person and virtual Section meetings
  • Members would like to continue to see topics/presentations as part of the meetings (can also be considered for 2024 Conference sessions), including: 
    • bid and contract process, vendor relationships
    • purchasing rules and library purchase and/or credit cards (speaker recommendations from Melissa and Sheila)
    • management: dealing with difficult staff and having difficult conversations and coaching practices and empathy in leadership
    • budgets (difficult topic because each library is so different, so perhaps a panel with various examples would be beneficial to the section)
    • state aid survey (due early March, perhaps for January meeting)
    • policies (Amanda)
    • Civil Service
    • specific sessions/topics for branch management, department heads and other middle management
    • cultivating mentorship and encouragement for middle management or those moving into positions of management
    • Board relations
    • crisis management and staff allocation during shut down, renovation, etc. (Amanda)
    • Developing advocacy strategies and engaging advocates (Jeanne Marie Ryan? Pat Tumulty)
    • time management
    • inter-library cooperative ventures
    • considering future Admin & Management Forum (first and last held 2018) (volunteers: Kimberly, Lorraine, would need someone dedicated to take the lead)--perhaps plan for 2025
    • building and staff safety
  • Some potential topics have been covered in other places (NJSL YouTube channel has a lot). Melissa volunteered to do some research to report back what topics are already covered elsewhere, and what this Section should focus on. Amanda will create a spreadsheet of topics.
  • Request to share reports from LLNJ and NJSL in addition to the report from the NJLA Executive Board, and to share member updates

Meeting adjourned at 11:17am.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 12, 10:00am (August meeting canceled)

Respectfully submitted by Kate Jaggers