October 2019 YSS Board Minutes - WLA Conference Edition

Wisconsin Library Association
Youth Services Section Board Meeting
Thursday, October 10th at 7:30am

Present: Katie Kiekhaefer, Sarah Cournoyer, Katherine Schoofs, Sue Abrahamson, Emily Sanders, Anne Hamland, Florence LaBeau, Jenny Wegener, Katherine Freund, Aimee Schreiber, Abby Seymour,Brooke Newberry, Julia Lee, Ashley Borman, Nancy Aycock, Beth, Stacy, Murray, Lynn, and other YSS members.

Approve Minutes, Agenda:
Motion by Sue Abrahamson, seconded by Katherine Schoofs

Welcome and Introductions

Overview of the year in YSS thus far: Katie
"I wanted to start us off with some background to what YSS has done so far in 2019 to give us all a reminder of how far we've come since we last met in person at our Board retreat in January and also give our visiting members some background, as well."

• Held meet-ups in Central Wisconsin, Southeastern Wisconsin, and Northwest Wisconsin
• Hosted YSS socials at both WAPL and WLA
• 48 people attended the YSS social at WLA last night
• Released 12 Months of Coding into the world
• Brought Miranda Paul to WLA for the YSS Luncheon Speaker
• Rejoiced in having a marketing committee that sent 7-ish messages and countless engaging social media posts to membership about all of the amazing things YSS is doing
• Fielded a full, competitive ballot for WLA elections in 2020
• Published over 175 posts on the YSS Shout-Out Blog
• Awarded the Burr Worzalla Award to Chad Sell for Cardboard Kingdom

Old Business:

Marketing Committee: Anne, Sarah, Katherine

• many channels to find us, increasing visibility, and promoting membership
• Sue said to share the monthly email with non-YSS members with a "sorry if cross post"

Public/School Libraries Group: Katie

• I would encourage all of you to stop by the DPI booth in the exhibit hall at some point to learn more about the work the WEMTA/WLA Networking Group is doing and to also give some information to them. WEMTA is the Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association.
• Ways to help the group (and more importantly earn a sticker):
• Google Form and perhaps a QR code that you can use on your phone - then, if the booth is unstaffed, people can DIY
• Cards with issues/topics and ask people to put in order by importance to them or most to least desirable or easiest to hardest - depending on the approach of the question. Result would help in determining direction to what we or other players might do. Then, ask them why they ordered them that way--gives us more insight. Rank from "Less Challenging" to "Most Challenging" Follow up: Tell us any additional thoughts or circumstances that influenced your ranking. Also, do you have examples of favorite collaborations that you want to share?
• These responses and other work done by this group will be used to guide next steps and inform the Tidbits quarterly newsletter being shared with both public library staff and school librarians

WLA Board Liaison Report: Sue

• membership up, Student SIG mainly UW, not UWM, LDI, mentor program relaunch next year and YSS could get involved, YSS budget approved

YSS Powerhouse Presents: Katie

• After WLA, Katie will resume talks with Hannah Bunting at the WLA office to talk about the plan for WLA hosting and storing our YSS webinars going forward
• In an ideal world, we would schedule three webinars for 2020. Goal is to have a manageable number, consensus of the group that two is good, three is a bonus. Does anyone have suggestions? Anne, you had mentioned seeing what systems are already covered. It could be a good way to transition our relationship with the systems from having them host to having them help us shape our content.
• Suggestions of membership topics of interest include:
• Maybe a Best of YSS at WLA Round Up? Pick three presenters and have them present a condensed version of their talks?
• Collection Development help
• Story Time books
• Teen
• Readers Advisory (across the board)
• Sensory Story TIme and Inclusive Programming
• Outreach: how to literally get your direction to let you leave the library
• Professional Development: how to get it (how to get the resources, but also how to advocate for yourself to your director and board)
• How to get your board and your director to understand that you are a professional
• Do we need to revisit who is on the YSS Powerhouse Presents committee? Julie Kinney was chair with Leah Langby and Emily Sanders. Does anyone want to take that on or should we do some brainstorming about those we could tap for leadership roles? (Others will take on a role)

2020 YSS Luncheon Speaker: Katie

• Maris Dambekaln of Maris Associates has offered to work with YSS to bring author Michael Dahl as the YSS speaker for 2020. He has confirmed with Michael that the date works and I will be in talks with Brigitte, Maris, and Michael to get everything on our end. I have to clarify with him to make sure that he (and/or Capstone) would be covering the cost of Michael. When I spoke with him on Tuesday, that wasn't as clear. So, watch this space, but I'm hoping that all systems are a go.
• YA author? Or Chad Sell? Native American author?

YSS Budget for 2020: Katie

• Our budget request was submitted for 2020 and we requested $200 to cover new conference badge ribbons

New Business:

Regional Retreat/Meet-Up: January 24, 2020

• This will be at Manitowoc Public Library
• Kimberly Pelke at Oneida Community Library is willing to host a meet-up

WLA Leadership Meeting: January 10, 2020

• Chair, Past Chair, and Chair-Elect invited by WLA

Welcoming New Board Members:

• All present at meeting - - Jenny Wegener as Chair-Elect, Florence LaBeau as Director-at-Large, Katherine Freund as Director-at-Large

Brainstorming Initiatives for Next Year: What Can YSS Do For You?

• Google spreadsheet for story time outlines and/or story time-proven books
• Supercharged Story Times--'zine, "Spice Up Your Storytime Form"
• Google form template
• Specific topics featuring YSS members - - Whatcha Wondering Wednesday
• Cardigan Newsletter: Research (what's relevant) Blog posts on relevant research (ways to advocate for your professionalism and your professional development)
• Homeschoolers (vetted homeschooling resources--how do you find them? How can they be circulated? Parenting resources for those who have kids who are dyslexic--both homeschool and not)
• Webinar: Resource training, how to best market to teachers. Virtual library cards. Public/School Libraries Group tie-in? School librarians feel threatened--funding in flux, state-wide...understanding the school librarian and their needs and situation: busting myths and gaining understanding. Webinar with school AND public side. Success story?
• Webinar: weeding (a blog post) concentrate on topics (example: Pluto isn't a planet) tackling specific DDC/LC numbers?
• Google doc/sheet for collecting Story Time - - Anne is bringing Supercharged Storytime folks, Anne suggested Brooke, Sue brought up not recreating the wheel, Katie brought up that some of the resource bloggers useful in the past aren't posting anymore, Sue brought up STEM, template suggested to include tags for relevant resources
• promote and link to it through blog. Aimee on board to encourage interaction and comments, will put a call out on the blog - - use YSS email address for it
• possibly a Friday Forum or Whatcha Wondering Wednesday post on social media
• could feed program and webinar ideas
• more timely for member needs
• Aimee brought up Cardigan newsletter and the research it includes - - thinks this would be useful for webinar or program, also supports budget and advocacy for YS
• Sue brought up Summer Slide controversy, shift toward Summer Learning, and the relevance to our membership - - Aimee calls it the Summer Boost
• Murray (Marshfield) brought up the need to find and vet homeschool resources and resources for dyslexia
• Katherine F. brought up that her homeschool population wants a place to create and "make a mess"
• Manitowoc collaborates with local homeschool group - - the group coordinates events like a history fair, edible book fest, etc. and the library provides the space
• Ashley suggested monthly blog post on collection weeding - - topics on what to pull, changes in the world. Aimee asked her to write it

WAPL Planning:

• Time to start - Sue mentioned that proposals are due in February, consider programs, Directors-at-Large lead committee

Adjourn:

Ashley Borman moved, Emily Sanders seconded.