1998 ANNUAL MEETING
Government Relations:
Druet Cameron Klugh
Thank you for the opportunity to continue as the CoALL Government Relations chair and to serve on the Colorado Library Association's Legislative Committee. Highlights of the 1997-98 year include:
1. Supreme Court Library Funding
House Bill 1364, concerning fees collected by the Clerk of the Supreme Colorado Court to fund the Supreme Court Library, passed and was signed by the governor on May 18, 1998. "Delighted!", is the reaction of Lois Calvert, Supreme Court Librarian, who says that the effect of this bill will be to add approximately $70,000 per year to the Library's budget; it has been earmarked for an online system. It is her hope that a web-accessible OPAC will be up and running during Fiscal Year 98-99.
CLA actively supported this bill, with the assistance of Mendez & Associates lobbying service. It was one of the more than 33 bills that CLA supported, opposed, or monitored during the course of the legislative session.
2. Successful Funding for Colorado Libraries in Long Bill
Budget increases requested by the libraries were funded almost in their entirety. The appropriations for Regional Library Service Systems for Fiscal Year 98-99 totaled $2,449,893. Compared to last year's appropriation level of $2,019,128, this is an increase of $430,765 or 21.3%. The appropriations for the Colorado Resource Center contract for FY 98-99 were $2,048,101. Compared to last year's level of $1,548,101, the increase is half a million dollars or 32.3% above last year. There were no increases requested for ACLIN which continues at $304,788 for FY 98-99.
Increases in the range of 21 or 32% are practically unheard of in the Colorado state budget due to restrictions of the TABOR amendment to the state constitution, which limits the growth of the state budget to a formula based on growth plus inflation (approximately 3.3%). Also, a state statute passed by the legislature limits the growth of general fund appropriations to 6% per year. The library budget increases obtained this year are truly remarkable, and represented a definite victory for CLA.
3. Co-Chair of Annual Legislative Workshop and Luncheon
I agreed to serve as co-chair of CLA's Annual Legislative Workshop and Luncheon, along with Patti Bateman (of the Aurora Public Library), for the two year term of 1997-99. The February 1998 workshop was again held at the Denver Public Library with approximately 120 in attendance; the luncheon continued to be among the more popular activities for the legislators, with 53 meeting constituents and discussing everything from Internet access to the importance of staffing school libraries. My thanks to the resources of Holme Roberts and Owen and its staff for their support during my learning curve! I anticipate that December through February of the coming season will again be incredibly busy and rewarding due to this event.
4. State Funding Continues on the CLA Agenda
Potential legislative sponsors for the State Funding bill indicated that this year the bill would not have a chance of passing. They remain positive on the overall effort, however, and I expect to see it introduced as a bill in the next legislative session. While we all benefit from direct support of Colorado libraries, publicly-funded academic libraries will particularly want to take note of its provisions.
5. Government Relations Committee Expands
Penny Glover, Jim Reilly and Katheryn Spack all volunteered their time and efforts for the Government Relations Committee this year. My thanks to them, one and all, for their help with the CLA Legislative Workshop, and their thoughtfulness about the direction this committee's activities should take.
6. Future Focus of Committee / AALL Outreach
Future activities of the Government may shift focus from the state level to the national. Katheryn Spack has expressed interest in monitoring federal legislation and tracking the status of government document programs. She will be attending programs on this topic at the AALL convention in Anaheim.
Also in Anaheim is a meeting of AALL with local chapter representatives to see how HQ can better support the efforts of chapter Government Relations Committees, coordinating work and the flow of information. I will be attending this meeting and welcome your comments and input.
7. Importance of State Primary Election in 1998
Due to term limits, twenty-seven legislators will not be returning, in their current position, to the legislature. For several elective positions, multiple candidates from one party are running against no one from other parties: this fact makes the PRIMARY elections of much greater importance than they normally are. Please evaluate all your elections. Sound out the candidates on library issues (i.e. Do they support State Funding?). If no candidate from your party is running for an important office, but there is a primary in another party, consider changing party affiliation in order to make your voice count in the primaries. You must be registered by July 13th in order to vote in the August primaries.
I will continue as the Government Relations representative for 1998-99. I welcome your comments, questions and support.
Mary Waters
(1) The CoAll union list of state statutes has been updated. It will be distributedthis week and we are discussing the
possibility of creating a password protected location for it on the CoAll website.
(2) The 1998 CoAll Member Survey has been distributed, and we have already received several responses. We look forward to your suggestions and new ideas. If you did not receive a survey, please notify Mary Waters at phone:(303) 299-7367 or e-mail: waters@ballardspahr.com.
(3) If you are interested in joining long range planning, please call Mary Waters at (303) 299-7367.
Newsletter / Advertising:
Patty Wellinger
The CoALL Scuttle was published four times - October, January, April & July. The newsletter has been produced and mailed by Rothman's since 1990. Copies are sent to all CoALL members, AALL Headquarters and other Chapter Newsletter Editors. Extra copies are sent to the editor and distributed at public relations events such as the Institute, Rocky Mountain Book Festival, talks to library school students, etc.
The advertising fee structure has remained the same for several years now, but the number of advertisements has increased dramatically. There were 11 full-page ads and 1 half-page ad placed by five different vendors over the course of the last year. The CoALL Scuttle has a free listing in Nathan's Legal Markets (an advertising sourcebook). The editor solicits no advertisements. The $700 generated from advertisements went into CoALL's general operating budget.
Special thanks go to those individuals who have contributed articles to the Scuttle during the past year. The continued support of individual authors is vital in order to produce an interesting and valued newsletter. Authors include Beth Wrenn-Estes, Chris Brown, Druet Klugh, Mike Tracy, Mary Williams, Gary Alexander, Camilla Walker, Linda Rose, Kathleen Clark Edie, and Betsy Morris. Tamara Smith and Martha Keister also deserve thanks for proofreading (often on short notice) and all errors are my own.
After each issue is produced, I send Chapter and Member items to the following newsletters for publication: AALL Spectrum, SWALL Bulletin, PLL Perspectives and the ALL Newsletter. As Newsletter Editor, I plan to attend the Council of Newsletter Editors (CONE) meeting at AALL. I will also be attending the PR Chapter Liaison meeting. Attendees at the February Institute voted on a new newsletter design, which should debut in October.
This will be my last issue as Editor of the CoALL Scuttle. Caryl Shipley, University of Denver Law Library, will be taking over as Editor. I will continue doing advertising and pr as it relates to the newsletter. Thank you for your support throughout the past three years.
Colorado Library Marketing Council:
Anne Ellis
I am pleased to report on the Colorado Library Marketing Council's progress in presenting quality continuing education for Colorado Librarians. During the last year, the Council held a two-day workshop entitled, "Creating Change in Challenging times: Marketing Tools for the School Library Media Specialist." The first day of the workshop was held in September at the Arvada Center and was attended by 25 library media specialists from around the State. The first day of the workshop featured two speakers: Claudine Paris and Pat Wagner. Claudine presented a half day session on "locus of control," or taking charge of your professional and personal lives. Pat focused on marketing techniques, how to do marketing research and how to develop a marketing plan. The second day was held in November at Beaver Creek as a pre-conference session to the Colorado Library Association annual meeting. Participants reported on their homework assignments, which was to develop and implement marketing plans for their libraries. Both pre and post workshop assessments were distributed to participants and reviewed and analyzed by Keith Lance of the Colorado Department of Education. The results of changes in attitudes about jobs and marketing after attending the workshops are reflected in a report.
Early this year, Mark Estes, Colorado Library Resource Sharing Board representative, proposed to the Council that we apply for LSTA funds to present our successful program in other areas of the State. I am happy to report that the Colorado Library Marketing Council received $50,000 in Federal Funds. We will host three more "Creating Change" programs over the next year and a half in three different regional areas of Colorado. The first group of workshops will be held in the
Colorado Springs and Pueblo areas in September and December. The other regional workshops will be held in the Denver and Fort Collins area and in the Grand Junction / Western Slope area. The program is designed for a broad audience and will appeal too all types of librarians.
Many thanks go to Wanda McDavid for her leadership as Co-Chair with Christine Hamilton-Pennell in sheparding the Council through the pilot project. On June 1, 1998, Mark Estes and I became Co-Chairs of the Council. I urge everyone to take advantage of this special workshop when it comes to your region. If you are interested in being a part of the Colorado Library Marketing Council, please contact either Mark or me.
Membership & Placement Committee:
Bev Agnew
Membership:CoALL has 110 members for the 1997/98 membership year. This is a decrease of six members from 1996/97. The membership remains quite stable between 110-120 members as it has for several years. 41 of the members (37%) work in private law firm libraries. This is a decrease at law firm libraries of 7% from 1996/97. The number of people in academic libraries increased from 21 to 27 members, 25% of the membership. Court and government library members decreased from 18 to 15 or 13% of the membership. The remaining 27 (25%) members are students, lifetime members and associate members, some of whom work for vendors. We are still fortunate to have diversity in the membership with librarians from the Denver Botanic Garden and the American Alpine Club.
Despite the decrease in total membership, twenty-four new members joined CoALL this year. That represents an increase of 41% over the number of new members last year. New institutional members for this year include Pendleton, Friedberg, et al (Penny Glover), Chrisman, Bynum & Johnson, P.C. (Allen Shelden) and Fairfield and Woods(Jerri Beattie).
Dues continued at $15 for institutional, individual and associate memberships and $5.00 for student memberships. The breakdown by type of membership is 81 institutional members, 11 associate members, 12 individual members and 2 students. Life memberships are held by Francis Campbell, Al Coco, Oscar Miller, and Jean Tarbell.
Many CoALL members also belong to other library organizations. Forty-six members (42%) belong to the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Twenty-one members (19%) belong to the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL). Sixteen members (14.5%) belong to the Special Library Association (SLA) and ten members (9%) belong to the Colorado Library Association (CLA).
The membership of CoALL is maintained on Microsoft Access software at the University of Colorado Law Library. From this database, the CoALL 1997-98 Membership Directory was produced by Mildred Burgermeister, Administrative Assistant at the University of Colorado Law Library, and printed by Fred B. Rothman & Co. Sheila Jarrett at Rothman not only oversees the printing of the Directory, but also maintains a mailing list for CoALL to mail the directory and the CoALL Scuttle. The mailing list maintained at Rothman includes approximately sixty additional addresses of state library leaders, American Association of Law Libraries chairpersons, chapter and special interest section leaders.
CoALL membership data was transferred (via disk) from the Access list at the University of Colorado Law Library to Sue Coldren, editor, who merged the data with the other Colorado library organizations to produce the Joint Membership Directory of the CoALL, CCML,CEMA, CIPN, CLA and SLA for 1997.
This is the fourth year CoALL has participated in producing the Joint Directory, which was sold to members for $3.00 each to cover production costs. CIPN, the Colorado Information Professionals Network, was added to the joint directory this year.
Placement:Placement services continued to be minimal for CoALL in 1997/98. Only two resumes were received; a few positions were posted on the CoALL listserv or in the Scuttle. Information retrieval through the Internet has replaced traditional placement service. However, having one committee chair to contact for information serves the public and provides exposure for CoALL. I recommend that Placement continue to be part of the Membership chairperson's responsibilities.
Programs:
Gary Alexander
The September program, held at Parcel, Mauro, Hultin & Spaanstra, featured Darryl Collier, a stand-up comic. What better way to begin the year than to try to gain an appreciation of the benefits of "Humor in the Workplace?". Members in attendance were in stitches, laughing at themselves and our chosen profession, and reflecting on the great ironies of life. Volunteers met informally to brainstorm on possible programming and to discuss the upcoming joint meeting of SWALL and CoALL.
In November, Wanda McDavid hosted a brown-bag lunch program at Morrison & Foerster on "Teaching Your Attorneys to Use the Internet: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Our Holiday Party in December was held in the Victorian mansion setting of the law offices of Long & Jaudon, which afforded a Dickensesque atmosphere for hostess Betsy Morris's tales of hauntings. Our new members in attendance were acknowledged with introductions and welcoming gifts.
Our Eighth Annual Legal Institute, held February at the D.U. College of Law, was again a success, due in large part to a more vigorous solicitation of vendor support. This year's Institute featured three program tracks: legal research, professional development and disaster planning.
For our April meeting, held at Kutak Rock, we were treated to a visit by Kate Martin, librarian at Morgan Lewis & Bockius and a Member-at-Large on AALL's Executive Board. Kate spoke to us about the benefits of being an AALL Chapter, and also about some of the changes that are happening at the national level and how these changes will affect CoALL as a regional chapter. Later that month, the University of Denver hosted the AALL/West Group videoconference "The Age of Technology: Your Guide to Change Management."
In May, we met at Parcel, Mauro & Spaanstra to heat Pat Hodapp, Director of Marketing for the Denver Public Library, who offered an energetic program entitled "What Are You Worth and Who Knows IT?" In addition to distributing examples of materials created by the DPL staff, Pat also suggested some tips to help get the attention of those individuals we need to notice us.
In June, we wrapped up the programming year with the Annua
l Business Meeting. Details are provided in the other reports published in this newsletter.