Readers Section Business Meeting Wisconsin Library Association November 4, 2004

Present: Beth Bechtel (member), Sandy Sechrest (member/Literary Awards rep), Desiree Bongers (incoming chair), Gary Warren Niebuhr (chair), Jamie Birkett (Web master), Maureen Welch (incoming vice chair), Kirsten Houtman (member), Trish Iaccarino Peterson (secretary), Helene Androski (member), Bev DeWeese (member)

Absent: Mary Dunn (member-at-large/newsletter), Katie Schultz (member-at-large)

Minutes: Gary handed out minutes from the 4/29/04 meeting. Helene moved to approve them. Maureen seconded.

Election results: Congratulations to all the new officers!! Gary mentioned that he'd read through the by-laws before the conference. Secretary and member-at-large are two-year terms, so we didn't need to re-elect the secretary this year. We should consider making members-at-large multi-year terms and stagger terms so people in these positions are not all new at the same time.

By-laws change: We decided to add a third member-at-large with Web master responsibilities. This was approved by COO. Helene moved we approve this change. Bev seconded.

Bob Pfeiffer asked Gary what he would think about making Literary Awards part of the Readers' section. The READ chair would appoint the Literary Awards Committee members. The only change to LA would be administrative. The only effect it may have on READ is that READ may only have to plan one additional conference program. Everyone in WLA will be voting on by-law changes.

There is no handout this year for the Notable Books Marathon. We'll post the list on the Web, the Readers section newsletter, or in Communique.

Membership report: The last membership report indicated we have 209 members.

We received a form from Katherine Henderson indicating she is interested in becoming an officer.

Budget Review: Gary said we spend our funding on the newsletter (Mary submits the bills to WLA) and on the spring conference (we don't spend anything on the bibliographies - we usually make a profit on those). WLA covers travel expenses for Literary Awards meetings. Gary suggested one of us go to the meeting in December to find out more about the budget and whether or not we will be taking over LA's budget if they become a part of READ.

Programming: Gary thanked Desiree for all of her work. Everyone especially liked Nancy Pearl's programs. The Notable Books Marathon and the book discussion group are scheduled for today. Gary said he's willing to step aside if someone else would like to head the Notable Books Marathon or lead a book discussion group at future conferences.

Wisconsin Book Festival: The festival was a little chaotic this year because one organizer left and the other had twins. The Readers section has been sponsoring book discussions at the festival. David Brostrom led a discussion on Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Helene did one on Mary Helen Stefaniak's new book, The Turk and My Mother. We will be leading book discussion groups next year as well. We should try to do three or four of them. Bev is willing to lead one. Kirsten may be willing to lead one as well. It would be great if we could tie some of them in to the event in some way - for example, feature a work of one of the authors who will be at the festival.

WAPL Spring 2005: WAPL is scheduled for May 11-12 in Appleton. We need to keep in mind that there will be no electronic equipment (computers or projectors) available at the conference. Maureen will continue to do the Genre Notable Books Marathon. We'll need to select the genres. Maureen wondered if we could do a session on using library patrons to help with reader's advisory. Earlier, Desiree had suggested doing something on viewer advisory. We could also do a program on community reads - get an update on what's worked and what hasn't. Maybe Lorelei Starck from Milwaukee PL could do something on Milwaukee PL's experience with corporate-backed community reads. If anyone wants to lead a book discussion group at WAPL, let Gary know. He'd be willing to lead one - or be a participant if someone else is interested. The WAPL program deadline is Dec. 15.

WAAL Spring 2005: Helene will be leading a book discussion on Mary Helen Stefaniak's The Turk and My Mother. The theme will be the immigrant experience. We might want to have a bibliography available.

READ is not only about reader's advisory - it's about getting our members to read, to attend book discussions, etc.

WLA 2005: Maureen is thinking about doing a session on the romance genre. We could have Wisconsin or local romance authors discuss why they read and write romance and why their readers read romance. Lots of romance writers live in the La Crosse area. We also discussed doing something on graphic novels.

Bibliographies: Katie is always looking for new bibliographies. If you've done one in the past and need to update it, please do it. If you do them for your library, forward a copy to Katie. She can always combine them with other bibliographies. She's willing to put together things other than annotated bibliographies (e.g., packets). Just send them to her and ask if she can use it in any way. Or you can send your lists to Mary Dunn for possible inclusion in the newsletter - she's always looking for content.

Web site: Let Jamie know if you want anything posted. Gary said the chair should probably send a greeting to the membership once a year and invite members to visit the Web site, submit content for newsletter, etc. We could also use the Web site to solicit volunteers.

Old Business: None.

New Business: None.

Meeting adjourned.