FRIENDS OF THE GOLDA MEIR LIBRARY

Board of Directors Meeting

April 7, 2006   12:00 p.m.

4th Floor Conference Center

 

Present: Ewa Barczyk, Pat Van Alyea, EJ Brumder, Bruce Fetter, Bob Meldman, Marianne Lubar, Donn Haglund, Martine Meyer, Gil Church, John Koethe, Tyrone Dumas, Suzy Ettinger, Bob Pietrykowski, Tom Bliffert, Gwen Plunkett,

 

Guests:  Susan Modder, Dawn Lee-Vue (recorder), Craig Wesley, Jerry Tarrer, Nancy Laskin

 

The meeting was called to order at 12:00 p.m.

 

  1. Welcome and introductions.  Introduced new board members, George Mosher and Betty Bostrom. 

 

  1. Minutes of the January 6, 2006 Board meeting were approved as submitted.

 

  1. Treasurer�s Report: Meldman reported that the balance as of March 14, 2006 was $78,012.63.  The report was accepted by the Board as submitted. 

 

  1. Interim Director of Libraries report:
    • The Libraries gate count is up 17 percent from last fall.  A few factors contributing to an increase to higher use of library services include more students on campus, more students participating in our instruction sessions, greater use of e-reserve, and more interlibrary loans.  The laptop checkout program has been getting popular particularly since the library is wireless; use is free for students since it is funded through the student technology fees. 
    • Currently working with the Milwaukee Art Museum on getting the AGSL exhibit at MAM as a touring exhibit.  This will give the Libraries more visibility and we are working on compensation to help with preservation.  Another MAM exhibit in the works is one on the polar explorations.  For the fall 2007, the Libraries will be part of an international map exhibit in the Chicago Museum of Natural History and this will be an important exhibit for us.
    • There is a similar tea and tour next week in preparation for the FoL Annual program. David and Maggie Gordon have been invited and we look forward to pursue further collaborations.
    • The Consul General for the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Zvone Zigon, visited the UWM Libraries on February 10. The UWM Music Library holds the largest collection of Slovenian music in North America, acquired through the Libraries� Frank and Mary Ermenc Fund.
    • The Spring Book Artists Series will feature Julie Chen, an internationally recognized book artist.  Chen will visit Milwaukee as part of the Book FOR[u]Ms Book Artist Series and will present a free public lecture Wednesday, May 10 at 7 p.m. in the UWM Libraries� Special Collections. Then next book artists speaker will be in the Fall as part of the newly named Ettinger Book Arts Speaker Series.
    • The UWM Libraries 2005 Outstanding Staff Achievement awards were sponsored by the Janet and Carl Moebius endowment and the Friends of the Golda Meir Library on January 11:  Lynnette Ponton (classified staff awardee), Michelle Washington (academic staff awardee) and Wendy Kamps, (student employee).  Ewa expressed her appreciation to the board for their support and to the board members who attended.
    • Update on the AGSL Recataloging materials- the Libraries were able to secure a grant seven years ago to work on the project and as a result 80 thousand titles were added and the project was scheduled to end in June.  The vice president of the UW System was invited to view the materials and he pledged to find money to continue this valuable project to make these rare resources available to our researchers. 

 

5.      Committee reports:

 

Development Committee:  Meldman reported that Gil Church submitted suggested wording for the booknaming brochure and it has been given to the campus design team to work on the format and details.  Church expressed his appreciation for Meldman�s work. The Committee would like to pursue other travel options.

 

Program Committee:  Conta reported that the booksale had set another record of $7,644.22.  The booksale was extremely popular with the staff and the public. Noted that the library staff have also put in a lot of time, advertising, cleaning and running around.  Because it is also popular with the book dealers, the �students only� hours were increased and was well received.  Conta reported that we also had a lot of maps from the AGSL that were very popular.    

Reminded the board that the annual meeting is on May 17 - David Gordon, Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum will be the guest speaker
"Is There a Conflict Between Being Both an Icon and an Art Museum?" The board meeting will be held at 4:45pm.  Barczyk handed out the flyer for the program. There was a decision to include a silent auction and a few board members have brought in some items.  The items need to be related to reading and art, no more than 10 items are to be auctioned

Brumder updated the committee on the Newberry Library Tour.  The sign up sheet was passed around but only a few people were able to attend the proposed date.    

 

  1. Barczyk presented to the committee the remodeling plans for the libraries.    Barczyk mentioned that the libraries have to raise $1.4 million hence there are naming opportunities to designate rooms, collections, classroom areas etc.  Meldman would like to know more details of the naming opportunity. 

 

  1. Presentation of the WTMJ news archives by Michael Doylen.  Doylen presented the outline and historical highlights of the collection and the preservation of the materials.

 

  1. Funding request for UWM Libraries.  Barczyk requested funds from the Friends of the Golda Meir Library Board of Directors to again fund the WTMJ Newsfilm Collection Project.  The board supports the motion and the board unanimously approved the request for $5,000 to support the WTMJ Newsfilm Collection Project. 

 

Meeting adjourned at 1:45pm