October+1,+2009

NYCSLS Library Advisory Council Council Meeting #1 Date: October 1, 2009 Time: 12:00 - 3:00pm Place: New York Public Library, Stephen Schwarzman Building

__**Members in attendance**__: Kathy Steves, Marion Stein, Janna Robbins, Linda Williams Bowie, Linda Cooper, Linda Cuff, Christine Hatami, Carol Katz, Beth St.John, Andrea Vaughn, Susie Walter, Maureen Hurley, Linda Cox, Jennifer Rose, Bernadine Lowery Crute, Linda Perez-Mendez, Susie Walter


 * __Office staff in attendance__**: Esther McRae, Elizabeth Naylor-Gutierrez, Judith Schaffner, Lynne Kresta Smith, Melissa Jacobs, Barbara Stripling

__**Documents at meeting:**__ Award letter re: Joseph F.Shubert Library Excellence Award

12:00 - 12:30 Eat, meet, greet, introductions - Kathy Steves, NYCSLS Council Chairperson 12:30 - 1:30 News and announcements from Council Members 1:30 - 2:15 College Readiness Grant 2:15 - 2:50 CLSO Support Project and Communication 2:50 - 3:00 New Business
 * __Agenda:__**

//News and Announcements:// Elizabeth spoke about the fall conference theme, "Growing Lifelong Learners Through the Library" to be held on Nov. 3rd at Brooklyn Tech. There will be 40+ vendors along with software and online services exhibitors doing brown bag sessions. Some vendors will conduct concurrent sessions about their products. There will also be sessions on issues such as "Campus Libraries" which will not be presentations but nertworking conversations. Also Destiny, Winnebago, cataloging questions, etc. The schedule of sessions will be posted on the wiki. Barbara reported that the keynote speaker will be Todd Ross of Rutgers University who will speak about lifelong learning. Lynne said that volunteers would be needed to facilitate sessions. Judith reported that the Council wiki is available with membership information, minutes, etc. Barbara announced that she was able to get two questions on the Principal's Compliance Document. 1. 338 money to be spent on catalogued materials for the Central Library - this will be tracked in FAMIS 2. School maintains staffing levels and certification requirements The annual SLS system report is completed which is a narrative of last year's work. They must account for all monies spent. The "Shop fo Public Schools" kick-off at PS 142 in Manhattan featured Caroline Kennedy and Julieanne Moore. 251 businesses participate and a % of sales goes to school libraries. SLS has received 2 awards recently: the HW Wilson Award for New Yorkers Read and the Joseph Schubert Award for the Tween to Teen program. Melissa explained that the New Yorkers Read grant through Macy's has distributed materials to 109 schools including Passports to track reading, postcards stating "I Read Because", pencils and a sports bag for the "Reading Ambassador" when the program is completed. Each library received Two non-fiction book sets. Each school will host their own kick-off Family Literacy Event There will be a culminating event with Macy's. Barbara reported that there will be a College Readiness Grant for both public and non-public schools with a projected deadline at the end of November. It is hoped that applications will be available for the fall conference. This will have a project-based learning focus; a collaborative activity for elementary, middle and high schools. A theme is needed. Even though SLS had a 10% budget cut, they were able to roll over funds from last year and project a possible $200,000 available for the grant. Melissa discussed the CLSO Project. Community connections to libraries, to build on the library program. Jennifer added that we need to build library teams so that the librarian is not supporting the entire library program. Melissa suggested intervisitations and the need to develop a tool to "capture" the program, observe a lesson, not just the decor. The discussion continued about how to get the administration to buy into the library program. Linda said that we need to get the upper level of the administration involved in promoting the library, we need to keep inserting "library" into the discussion and show how the library program can contribute to raising test scores. Barbara stated that once the Regions were gone we lost the infrastructure for servicing the library, we lost our support networks. We need to think about this issue through the Council. This is especially problematic in Campus schools where each school has a different principal, different mission, and different curriculum. A discussion regarding Campus schools revealed that there are some sites that use the library effectively. Jennifer asked about the possibility of connecting Inquiry to libraries? We could identify a school library that has accomplished great work in Inquiry and track their progress. TRAILS was suggested as a useful tool for incorporating data. Lynne and Elizabeth discussed the College Readiness grant. We need to develop a few questions for applicants. Suggestions were made about ways to bring college to every level K-12. Habits of Mind, field trips to colleges, college and career night, collections of college materials, providing students more choices in their education, help students to get in touch with themselves as learners. Susie asked what "college readiness" means, what do we want to focus on? SAT? FAFSA? Meta-cognitive skills? The librarian can collaborate with the guidance counselor and/or the college office to build skills. This could be a two-year grant involving project-based learning. Some possible themes: Set for Life, College READiness, Lifelong Learning. Andrea reported that the BPL will be partnering with Sesame Street for their 40th year anniversary. They will be issuing special library cards picturing Elmo along with bookmarks, stickers, etc.