WALT Meeting

Friday, 1/9/04, 10am-3pm

Bellevue Regional Library, Mtg Rm 3, King County Library System

Present: Catherine Lord, Mary Ross, Jess Chandler, Kandy Turk, Karen Miller.

Around the Table

WALT members shared new activities and plans at their various library systems. Customer Service was a common theme for all libraries. Sno-Isle has shortened its name to “Sno-Isle Libraries.” Karen Miller invited WALT members to attend a workshop with Pat Wagner at Kitsap Library, and said she would email the dates to those attending. Mary Ross brought up a Customer Service training that is offered through Cerritos Library, and said she would email the dates and information to the WALT list serv.

WALT/CLENE Reception

WALT will be hosting a reception (with a no-host bar) for CLENE during PLA. Mary Stillwell is looking at possible locations, and has tentatively reserved one location (the Capitol Club, on Pine Street). WALT authorized up to $300 for food, and Mary Ross will inform Mary Stillwell of this, and tell her that if she needs to ask for additional money to let us know. We now have:

Date/Time: February 27, 6-7:30

Plan: Mary Ross will introduce and welcome people on behalf of WALT, since she’s a member of both CLENE and WALT. She’ll also facilitate an icebreaker exercise. Jess will bring nametags with WALT logos on them. Catherine will bring some handmade soaps for a door prize.

Election of Officers, 2004

It’s time to think again about the election of WALT officers. Catherine Lord and Mary Ross both said they will not be running for offices next year. Members at the meeting suggested the following people as possible recruits: Anita Johansen or Elizabeth Iaukea for Chair or Vice Chair. Mary Stillwell for continuing as Secretary/Treasurer and Web Developer, with Kandy Turk expressing interest in watching and learning so that she might run for the position the following year. Catherine will be sending a formal invitation to Jess Chandler to ask her to consider serving as Program Chair.

Program Planning: PNLA/WLA

The WLA Program Planning Committee has accepted the idea of the “WALT Showcase” for the WLA/PNLA conference this August. This is the only presentation that WALT will be doing for this year’s conference. Mary Ross asked for the Friday morning time slot, but hasn’t confirmed that that’s what we have. Catherine Lord will coordinate the collection of the materials and practice among presenters. Kandy Turk will facilitate the event and keep it on time. Our slate of presenters:

Mary Ross

Jess Chandler

Karen Miller

Elizabeth Iaukea

Elaine Janes (possibility—if approved to go to WLA)

Presentation & Online Workbook Planned for WLA

WALT is planning a workshop for the WLA Interest Group retreat. WLA would pay for the workshop, but WALT (and especially Mary Ross) are doing the planning and legwork. The half-day workshop, planned for April 17, would feature Guila Muir, and the purpose is to help interest group chairs learn to develop and present lively and interactive presentations. Mary has negotiated a price of $1200 for this half-day workshop (still needs to be approved by Tim Mallory). Catherine offered to write a grant for state funding for this workshop and the two mentioned below if Mary provides her with all the information needed to do this.

In addition, WLA is interested in an online workbook that presenters can refer to in the future—to help guide them in how to make their presentations lively and relevant. This workbook would cost about $1500. WALT members agreed that sharing the cost with WLA would be a worthwhile investment of money, but the group has not yet come up with an exact amount. WALT would like its logo to appear with the WLA logo on whatever materials go online.

WALT Workshops with Guila Muir

Mary has been doing background work to find places to hold a workshop with Guila Muir in multiple locations. Possible locations include Tacoma, Marysville and Richland. Mary has negotiated a price of $1500 per workshop plus expenses. WALT plans to ask for state money of $1000 per workshop, and to charge for the workshop. The contract with Guila Muir would require a minimum attendance that would at least allow WALT to break even. WALT members discussed first holding the two workshops on the west side to make sure attendance is reasonable before advertising a third workshop. We also discussed spacing the workshops apart so that we could allow more registration if word gets around from the first workshop(s).

WALT Meeting Schedule 2004

WALT meetings are scheduled for:

April 30, 10am-3pm, Sno-Isle Library System Service Center

August (date and time to be determined), WLA/PNLA Conference, Wenatchee

October 22, 10am-3pm, Seattle Public Library (new central building downtown)