YSS April 2023 Board Meeting Notes

Youth Services Section Board Meeting

April 12, 2023

1:30-3pm

Present: Ashley, Linda, Valerie, Jeni, Cathy, Murray, Claire, Jenna, Alison

Approve April Agenda-   Ashley motions, Jenna seconds, pass

Approve March Minutes  Claire Motions, Jenna Seconds, pass 

Old Business

• DPI Updates

• Teen Internship pilot program

• Have LSTA funds available for libraries to have a hired teen intern.  The teens would work on a connected learning project. Based off of PLA’s inclusive internship program.  The teens would work with the library to create a project/program based on the identified needs of the community.  Pilot is with 5 libraries, starting July 1st - end of August. 

• Summer workshop with school media specialists

• Professional Development opportunity for public libraries and school media specialists who are new to the field. It will be a 2 day workshop with programming, educational sessions, and networking opportunities. Save the date for August 1-2nd.  Location is TBA. 

• WLA updates

• General

• Board met in March.  41 people applied for the Leadership Development Institute, the first convening is at WAPL.  The hope is that it will be a successful pilot year with the new structure.   Participants are mostly public librarians, but there are some academic and special librarians as well

• The Freedom Task Force has been hard at work.  Recommendations were made to the Board as to how WLA can support Intellectual Freedom Challenges.  Some immediate recommendations were made, and also a long term vision. (5 year plan).  The plan is to make resources available in the future, so libraries have tools available to help them in the moment of a challenge.  

• WAPL price increase due to increasing hotel charges, and also food is included. The Board understands that this could be a barrier.  Conversations are ongoing to provide options to accommodate those who cannot attend due to cost.  How can WLA make it feasible and cost effective to encourage attending?

• Some ideas from the YSS Board are a fully virtual YSS specific conference, making it accessible to everyone- regardless of whether you can attend in person or not.  Could be a 1 day, biannual event, with the goal of creating a new model for sharing information. 

• Conference Social

• Ashley, Caitlin are considering options for date and time.  A few other YSS board members volunteered to help out.  Games being considered are BINGO, Really Loud Librarians.  Perhaps a site visit- maybe the CCBC after hours event if it were possible; prior conversations with CCBC imply that a YSS social would be an option, or a day-time bus trip from the conference. 

• Luncheon 

• Everything is set for the luncheon speaker! A formal announcement will be made a few weeks from now. 

• Performers showcase

• Save the Date November 10th.  Time TBA.  

• YSS will compile a google doc of their favorite performers to share with WLA

• WLA Presents webinar series

• Teen webinar series

• April 18, 3-4pm: Teen Programming

• May 11, 2-3pm: TAG/Volunteers

• All ready to go for April, still accepting registrations.

• Team just met about the May event.  It will have a panel of 4 presenters.  Details will be made public soon.

• Looking forward (CCBC Booktalk, other ideas?)

• Still thinking about book talk / book promotions for September.

• WAPL Social Committee

• Claire, Cathy, and Murray are working on details.  Program sharing (bring a 1 sheet handout with description of a program that could be implemented in another library).

• Blog Update -

•  all is well. 

• Marge is re-running the blog post on the YSS teen webinar on Saturday. 

• Board members, feel free to provide blog content! 

• Let me know if you need anything else.

• We might consider inviting someone from the Intellectual Freedom SIG to be a regular contributor to share information that is affecting libraries around the country.

• SIG meets 10-11 Mondays, Cathy will represent YSS

• Regional Meet-ups

• Still ironing out details, ways to combine WAPL social with meet-up.  CCBC is a possibility if a visit doesn’t work out at WLA

• Marketing Committee

• Marketing working on upcoming webinar promotions

• And the Performers Showcase Save the Date announcement

• Children’s Book Award

• Childrens Book Award had its first meeting on Monday and are working their way through the list.  Final meeting will be in May to decide winner and honorees. 

New Business

• Can we reschedule next meeting to May 17th? Same time?

• Next YSS Meeting will be May 17th 1:30-3pm

Claire motions to adjourn, Linda seconds

Minutes recorded by Caitlin Schaffer, secretary 

YSS December 2022 Board Meeting Notes

Youth Services Section Board Meeting

December 13, 2022

1:30-3:00pm

Present: Claire Parrish, Taylor Wilcox, Caitlin Schaffer, Marge Loch-Wouters, Alison Loewen, Jeni Schomber, Murray Johnson, Linda Jerome 

Approve December Agenda: Motioned by Taylor W., seconded by Caitlin S. 

Approve November Minutes: Motioned by Alison L., seconded by Taylor W. 

Welcome 

Old Business:

• DPI Updates -Jeni  

• Sent out a survey for Beanstack to the youth services consultants. Beanstack is funded through the end of 2023. Survey is to get a feel about how much it is being used throughout the state. December 23 is the final day to fill it out. 

• There is a specific survey for public libraries and another one for school libraries. 

• Jeni is meeting with all youth services consultants and liaisons throughout the state so she can meet everyone and see what they are doing in their system, what they’re excited about, and to learn more about what she and DPI can do to support. 

• Blog - Marge 

• Just under 71,000 hits for the year! 

• Encourages the Board to think about posts on things we’re working on, the background information about what we’re doing, etc. because it can be a great recruiting tool. 

• Reminder to the secretary to send Marge the minutes directly after their approval, especially if she doesn’t make it to the meeting at which they were approved. 

• Webinar Check In - Claire/Alison

• Thursday, December 15 @ 2pm

• Social Emotional Learning Kits 

• Milton Public Library’s Healing Library Kits

• Chippewa Falls - Put together kits with grant funds 

• Will be recorded! 

• Got some great feedback from WLA on topics both of interest in learning about and presenting on for both webinars and blog posts. 

• WLA Update - Linda 

• Last Board meeting coming up on Friday

• Board has voted to create an Intellectual Freedom Task Force 

• Supporting members that are facing challenges, and working to get ahead of challenges; proactive vs. reactive 

• Conference meeting feedback discussion

• Still waiting for final financial reports, but all seems well!

• Conference survey feedback was very positive 

• Children’s Book Award - Claire

• New members announcement 

• 7-8 submitted applications to join. Claire looked at if they had been involved before, prior involvement in WLA and YSS, what they are doing at their libraries, etc. 

• Recommended four candidates to Briony Zlomke, the committee chair, who will be emailing all of them to officially invite them to join the committee. 

• Once those four have accepted, Claire will email the others to thank them and encourage them to be blog contributors. 

New Business:

• January 2023 Board Retreat and Meet-up

• Date and Location

• Looking into January 19 or 26 at Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library 

• Tentatively starting with breakfast at 9, meeting at 9:30, lunch together, and regional meetup in the afternoon 

• Claire and Alison will work to get a poll sent out, including the option of attending virtually to see who all would be interested. 

• Connecting WI Libraries - Marge 

• Created in 2018 to bring WLA and WEMTA members together and to foster and support collaborations between school and public libraries. More information: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yeaNGPdnHSKQmgYlFbyeu39xakqrO48ZM2ooox_tCSI/edit#heading=h.ksxr1ggfh416

• Wanting to share more stories and links about successful programs and partnerships. 

• Marge will be stepping off of committee after serving for four years. YSS chair, YSS Board liaison and chair-elect are usually present so the Board has some responsibility for the group and are active in it. She encourages us to reach out to people within our system to share their stories and be more involved in the group. 

Motion to Adjourn: Linda J., seconded by Caitlin S.  

Minutes recorded by Caitlin Schaffer, secretary.

Claire's Corner - January 2022 YSS Board Updates

Today's post is from Claire Parrish, YSS 2022 Chair and Public Services Director at Rice Lake Public Library.

The 2022 YSS Board met for the first time last Friday for our annual Board retreat.  This is always a great opportunity to get to know new board members and settle into our roles for the year. The retreat kicked off with everyone sharing our new or expanded hobbies that have kept us going through the pandemic as a way to break the ice.  The pandemic means that we haven’t been able to all meet each other in person, so any chance to get to know each other better through our virtual world is taken advantage of. 

As we dug into the meeting, old business was focused mainly around the AMAZING YSS Blog, which continues to be a great success and resources for librarians across the state and county.  Marge, our blog administrator, is always happy to accept content, which can be sent to lochwouters@gmail.com.

During the course of the meeting, we covered everything from job assignments, to planning conference socials, to a new coordinator for our ever popular regional meet-up sessions, to looking at updating our slightly outdated role descriptions. WLA’s initiatives were also discussed at length.  Our group is so excited to dig into some work to support the library association’s overall goals, like potentially bringing back our YSS Powerhouse Presents webinar series. The February meeting will focus on digging deeper into topics that would be popular for the series, so be on the lookout for more information in the coming weeks. 

I’m really looking forward to another year of relevant and fun work coming out of YSS!

May 2020 YSS Board Minutes

Wisconsin Library Association 

Youth Services Section Board Meeting 

Friday, May 15th 

2pm - 3pm   

Present: Emily Zorea,  Katie Kiekhaefer, Susie Menk, Tessa Schmidt, Katherine Schoofs, Anne Hamland, Florence LeBeau, Jenny Wegener, Katherine Freund 

Virtual Meeting link:  https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/520923717      

Approve Agenda Emily motion, Flo second. All ayed.  

Welcome  

Old Business: 

Public/School Libraries Group - Katie   

• April  School/Public Libraries Group discussed positives and challenges from both perspectives during pandemic.  
• WAPL/WEMTA did not happen so both school and public library teams were focusing on sharing professional development and resources. 
• Next meeting: Tuesday May 26th @11am 

YSS Luncheon--Katie 

• 2020 Michael Dahl is confirmed for WLA Conference October 2020 
• Budget is looking great. 

YSS Powerhouse Presents - Katie 

• Original ideas: collection development and programming  
• Pivoted ideas with new normal: panel levels (How are libraries coping? Summer programs? Opening? Intentional social media? Tracking statistics? Best practices?) 

• Limited services, pursuing sustainable virtual programming 

Marketing Committee - Anne & Katherine 

• YSS email: highlighting key blog posts? Katherine S. chooses? 1 per week? Information overload!!!!  YSS Lite 

• YSS take a break from emails 

• YSS Facebook posts: images highlighting specific posts? 

• Highlight posts weekly/bi-weekly, Katherine chooses 
• Michael Dahl announcement…. Hold off to make sure WLA HAPPENS

New Business: 

DPI Youth Update: Tessa M.S. 

• Something we’re not hearing? Let Tessa know! 

• Wisconsin Annual Report Taskforce working on changes to annual report affected by pandemic including Youth Statistics. 
• Continue advocacy to communities on what and why your library is doing. 
• Opening Guidelines forthcoming. Recommendations and considerations.  

COVID-19 - How can we continue providing support to library staff serving youth and families? 

• Kudos to Katherine Schoofs for ASL storytime and regular storytime programming   

NEYSS Elections - Katie 

• Reaching out to potential candidates for fall ballot NOW. 
• K. Schoofs and K. Kiekhaefer brainstorming over fall ballot and expectations and extended until mid-summer. 

• New Chair-Elect 
• 2x Director at Large 

• WLA Board Liaison (possibly Sarah C. or Terry Ehle) 

Regional Meet Ups - Flo & Katherine 

• March one canceled 
• Postpone for now 
• Possibly reschedule with virtual tours 

Conference Committees 

• WAPL update - Katherine 

• Canceled for this year 

• WLA - Florence & Emily 

• Social ideas 

• Tote bag swap--ongoing 
• Notebook creation--during social  
• Blend of project while socializing 
• Advertising needs to be solidified yet--by June 
• Contact WLA publicity or booklet chairs to get on radar  

• Storytime Resource - on hold 
• Form Letter -on hold 
• YA SIG - on hold  

YSS Membership Committee 

• Sue’s fabulous email points: 

“I think there is value in talking about a membership committee with our board, but it needs structure or it will keep falling off our radar.  A purpose will give YSS members on that committee a "foot in the door" to YSS leadership positions.   Just off the top of my head, we could delegate the Conference socials to that committee, and/or we could delegate reaching out to new members to that committee (new member packet has been on the table for discussion for a long time).  

Maybe the first thing to do, is to contact the folks listed on this committee to see if they are still interested in serving.  But we should have an idea of what we want them to do first.  I'd be happy to contact these folks once our board makes a decision.   

Questions to ask the board:   

How many people should be on the committee and for how long? Staggered terms for continuity, I presume.  I would recommend 5 people with one chair.  These would not be elected positions, but assigned.  We could use the blog to look for volunteers.   

What one or two things would this committee be asked to accomplish each year?   

Would it be best to find regional representation to make the committee larger but also feed into the meet-up organization process?  Careful to have representation from both large and small libraries.   

Who would the chair report to, how often and how?” 

• Figure out logistics 
• Keep current 
• Terms for members of committee 

• Devise form letters 
• Talk about more in detail next time 

CBAC last meeting next Friday 

• Will be making decisions soon and publishing 
• 
  

WLA Board Report Liaison - Sue 

DPI Updates - Tessa  

Possibly combine YSS Powerhouse and Regional meet ups 

Florence and Susie and Katie will discuss 

Adjourn 

Florence motion. Emily 2nd 

All in favor--aye! 

Respectfully submitted, 

Susie Menk 

YSS Secretary 

July 15, 2020