CLA Development Committee

Calling all CLA Members...the Development Committee will be reviewing and revising CLA's Strategic Plan this fall. If you are interested in shaping your Association's future by joining this committee, pls contact Co-chairs: Barbara Bailey: barbara.bailey@glastonbury-ct.gov or Stan Siegel: stan@stansiegel.com by August 31, 2007

CLA Executive Board Conflict of Interest Statement

The CLA auditor has recommended that CLA adopt a "conflict of interest" statement as there is a new question on IRS Form 990 (which we must submit each year) that reads, "Does the organization have a written conflict of interest policy? Yes or No". It is highly advised that the answer be Yes.

Based on the sample statement supplied by the auditor the following is the statement that is proposed for addition to the Association By-Laws at the Annual Members Meeting held at the Annual Conference at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at the Connecticut Convention Center:

"Members of the Connecticut Library Association Executive Board are expected to maintain the highest standards of integrity in all their work for the association. If at any time a board member believes that s/he has a conflict of interest regarding an issue before the board, stemming from a personal relationship, employment relationship, or other reason, that board member should withdraw from board discussion and, if a voting member, abstain from voting on the issue.

CLA expects board members to disclose possible conflicts of interest to the board. The board will
honor a member's request to withdraw from disucssion and abstain from voting. No questions or explanations will be asked of a board member who makes such a request.

Should a dispute occur within the board about whether a member should be required to excuse himself/herself because fo a perceived onflict of interest, the Executive Committee (President, Vice President/President Elect, Past President, Second Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer ) will convene, decide on a course of action and notify the board if a member of the Executive Committee is party to the dispute, s/he will not participate in making the decision.

A board member who learns of a potential conflict of interest may not proceed with deliberation on an issue until there has been an opportunity to resolve such perceived conflice, or until the board member(s) who have such conflicts have withdrawn from the discussion about and voting on the issue."

If you have any questions, please contact:
Sandy Brooks, CLA Procedures Chair
Eastern CT State University
860-465-4464
brookss@easternct.edu

Potluck Supper

The CLA Legislative Potluck will be held on Wednesday, March 21, 5-6:30 p.m. at the Museum of Connecticut History at the State Library in Hartford. Please hold the date and watch for further details.

Connecticut Book Party

The Connecticut Book Party is alive and well in the form of a fundraiser. The goal is to raise $250,000 as a state to help Katrina ravaged libraries rebuild. You can help by doing one or more of the following:

• Donate personally.
• Host a Katrina Korner at your Spring/Summer booksale and/or donate a part of the proceeds from your book sale.
• Donate as a library.
• Help by letting your library be a donation site for the public, April - June
• Hand out promotional materials.
• Attend the concert fundraiser at the CLA Conference on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 and bring some friends.
• Challenge librarians in other state to do the same and see if they can top our amount.

Checks can be sent to: CLC, 234 Court Street, Middletown, CT 06457.

CLA Legislative Agenda, FY2008

Here are the highlights for the Legislative Agenda, FY2008:

Achieve full funding for Connecticard

Continue to build on last year's success. A consultant hired by the State Library recently determined that the actual median cost of a Connecticard transaction is $1.05, which would require $4.9 million for the program to be fully funded. Despite a welcome increase of $300,000 in FY 2007 to $976,028, reimbursement for participating libraries has only risen $0.21 per item. CLA seeks annual increases over the next several years until the $4.9 million goal is achieved.

Increase funding for Connecticut Library Consortium's InfoAnytime Program

InfoAnytime is a 24/7 reference service staffed by librarian to answer reference questions for 176 public and academic libraries statewide. CLA seeks an additional $150,000 for Connecticut Library Consortium (CLC) to extend this service into FY2007/2008. InfoAnytime supports the State Library's iCONN program by offering professional assistance for people using the iCONN databases and other electronic resources available on the Internet. CLC's program of statewide cooperative services has been funded by the General Assembly at $300,000 since 2003.

Maintain funding for Public Library Construction grants

For the last two years, this program has been funded by the General Assembly at $3,500,000 per year. With a growing list of Connecticut libraries in need of new buildings, renovations, expansions, ADA improvements, remodeling and energy conservation, CLA seeks to keep funding at $3,500,000 in FY2008 and increase to $4,000,000 in FY2009.

Increase iCONN funding

iCONN, Connecticut's research engine, provides an extensive set of online resources to all state citizens. iCONN has been level funded for the last five years at $1,894,322. CLA advocates increased support for this successful program to $2,894,322 in FY2008 and $2,955,103 in FY2009. This increase will result in significant savings to local communities and expand the resources available to students and citizens.

Update statutory language regarding libraries

CLA recommends adoption of new statutory language regarding libraries as recommended by the Task Force on Public Library Statutes.

Love Your Library

Love Your Library program with Barnes & Noble Booksellers is this weekend: Friday, December 1 - Sunday, December 3. You can help promote this program at your library by (1) placing posters in strategic places in your library and make vouchers available; (2) talk it up among your staff, customers, boards & Friends; (3) link to the Love Your Library web page (www.loveyourlibrary.com or for vouchers: www.cslib.org/lyl/LYLvouchers06.htm.)
from your home page.

Remember proceeds benefit InfoAnyTime. Happy shopping.

Welcome

Welcome to the CLA Blog. Our goal is to use this blog as another means to keep you up-to-date with Association acitivities as well as other notes of interest from library land. The President, Vice President/President Elect and Past President will post frequently.