Greetings!
I hope this new month finds all of my fellow librarians doing well and preparing for spring. Is it just me, or did January feel like it would never end? I normally love the winter months, but this winter so far has not been my favorite. I hope that February will be much better.
Just to keep everyone informed, we have been moving forward with NCLA business, despite the uncooperative weather. The Finance Committee met in mid-January, and reviewed requests from committees to put together the budget for 2020. We had a highly profitable conference and brought in almost $70,000 in profits. As many of you know, we no longer have a full time Executive Assistant, and unfortunately for us, Rachel Stinehelfer has chosen to leave NCLA for a full time school medial position, so we also no longer have our part time system administrator. The loss of these two positions has helped put NCLA in a unique financial position. For the first time in memory, we are not using any of our conference profits at this time to fund our current year budget. The Executive Board met Friday, January 31 and passed a balanced budget of $43,477 in both expected revenue and expenses. What will happen with those conference profits, you ask? We will use part of them to explore options for virtual meetings and training for sections. As future expenses come up, the Finance Committee will review them and propose possible amendments to the budget if needed.
The new Executive Board also discussed and approved the new NCLA Privacy Policy for our website. IT will soon be available for viewing on the website. A motion presented by LAMS to collaborate with NCLive to provide ongoing training for library staff. The board members were trained by the Treasurer regarding budget reports, check requests, and by the Web committee regarding membership reports and updating their section pages on the web site.
I would also like to mention that the call for applications is currently open for the Leadership Institute, and will be open until March 27. Please consider applying, or encourage co-workers who would benefit from the experience.
Until next month, I hope each of you enjoy February better than January, and think warm thoughts!