Meeting Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Our meeting at Piscataway was attended by Nancy Polhamus, Andrea Levandowski, and Doug Baldwin.  

 

We had a good discussion about possible programs for the conference (the proposals are due on November 10th, if not before). Claire Schmieder and Amanda Zuccarelli of Cherry Hill PL have offered a program about their seed library. This was touched on last year as part of a group presentation, and sounds like it would make a good full program. We also discussed the possibility of a "hybrid" panel/round table discussion about general reference work, how we are using our collections, and how we can promote our collections so they are better used.  I have been in touch with the College & University section and they are very interested in collaborating. I'm going to be talking to them on the phone this week, so I'll have more on that soon.

 

We also talked about the Adult Services Forum for 2018. It's generally agreed that planning should start in early spring. Michael Maziekien told me that when ASF was new, it was put on by at least two sections, not just one, which seems like it would make it easier on everyone involved in the planning. This is definitely something to consider.  

 

Another thing we discussed in general terms is professional development programming, and what we might offer for spring. We like the possibility of looking outside the library community for speakers who could offer us useful information that would help our patrons, such as consumer affairs, financial literacy, finding legal info, etc. If we can find a way to do the same program twice, in different regions, that would be ideal. Andrea offered to compile a list of state agencies that we might call upon for topics. It's not likely that they would charge a fee.

 

Our next meeting will be on October 25 at the Cherry Hill PL, and it's our last meeting before conference proposals are due. Please don't wait until then to bring up your ideas! Send any suggestions you have out to the group.