Notes from Spring 2012 MSLA Meeting

Minutes

Mid-State Library Association

March 10, 2012

Mid-State Library Association met at Hickory Falls Restaurant in Smyrna, Tennessee.  The meeting followed a tour of Idler’s Retreat, the former residence of Frances Neel Cheney, professor and administrator in the library division of the George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tennessee. She compiled annotated bibliographies of American poetry and Japanese reference materials.  The home was used as meeting place for the Southern Agrarians.  Mrs. Cheney’s husband Brainard Cheney edited the journal for the Southern Agrarians.  There is some evidence Robert Penn Warren wrote some of All the King’s Men in the home.  The home is currently the residence of Mary Jenkins Kline, interior designer and contractor and David Kline, architect.  David and Mary have both made significant contributions to libraries professionally and as donors.  Several libraries in Tennessee bear their stamp.

Business Meeting:

Susan Earl was nominated as chair and Sue Szostak nominated as secretary/treasurer.  Nancy Mielke seconded the nominations.  Susan LaFever moved to vote by acclamation.  All present voted yes.

Susan Earl and Susan LaFever will meet together to look at possibilities for changing funds to a different monetary institution with the hope of eliminating fees.  Also, they will investigate the best practice for managing the monies and signatory authority.  This needs to be settled for the new secretary treasurer.

Motion was made and seconded to donate $50.00 to a no-kill shelter in honor of Mary Jenkins Kline and David Kline as a thank you for opening their home for a tour.  Motion passed with no discussion.

Susan Earl thanked Courtney Fuson for her service as chair over the past two years.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned with a remind the next meeting will be Fall 2012.

Respectfully submitted,

Sue Crites Szostak

MSLA Spring Meeting!

It's not too late to RSVP! The next meeting of the Mid-State Library Association will be on Saturday, March 10 at the Francis Neel Cheney House in Smyrna, TN. We will meet at 11am at the House, which is located at 112 Oak Street, Smyrna, TN 37167. Space is limited to the first 20 people who RSVP using this form.

If you are visiting the house, you will need to bring a signed release form with you. You'll receive the form via email once you RSVP.

We'll hold our business meeting over lunch after we tour the house. This business meeting will include elections! If you'd like to nominate someone for Vice-Chair or Secretary/Treasurer, please do so by filling out the nomination form.

Questions? Please email midstatelib@gmail.com!

next MSLA Meeting

First, my apologies that it's been so long since you've heard from the Mid-State Library Association.  It's been a busy time lately, and things got away from me.  We did miss our Fall Meeting this year, which is when we would normally hold elections.  I will be contacting some members directly about serving on the nominating committee (and also about nominees for the positions available). If you'd like to volunteer or nominate someone, please email midstatelib@gmail.com


Since we've started a new calendar year (hello, 2012!), dues are due. You can send use the membership form under How To Join to renew your membership.

I'm working on the date and location for our next meeting.  If you  have any suggestions, please let me know.  I'd like to try to meet at the Francis Neel Cheney house.  I'll be in touch again soon!

Notes from the Spring 2011 Meeting

Many thanks to Richard, Jenny, James, Vandy, Sue A, Susan, Heather and Jerianne for joining me for dinner at Mimi's in Murfreesboro last week! We had a wide-ranging conversation, and I enjoyed it very much.

There aren't any official notes from the meeting, since it was a pretty informal setting. There were a couple ideas presented for the fall meeting - including a visit TTU's Learning Commons that is currently under construction. I also mentioned that I'd like to see the MSLA sponsoring some smaller get-togethers in various places around the Mid-State to make it a little easier for people who are located further from Nashville to benefit from the MSLA. If anyone has an interest in helping put one of these smaller events together, please let me know! It doesn't have to be anything fancy - dinner at a local restaurant, an afternoon out at a museum, or something else entirely!

Please be sure to join the MSLA list (using the box to the right) and hopefully, we'll have a vibrant email community as well. I'll continue to send news and announcements to the TLA-L so we can build our community that way too.

Respectfully submitted,

Courtney Fuson

MSLA Spring Meeting

The Mid-State Library Association will be holding their spring meeting in Murfreesboro, TN at Mimi's Cafe. We'll be meeting on Wednesday, March 23 at 7pm, so everyone in town for the TLA Conference can head on over! If you haven't already RSVP's please go to http://bit.ly/hJJ7Ta and let us know you're coming!

Again, that's Wednesday, March 23 at 7pm at Mimi's Cafe, near the convention center. Hope to see you there!

Even if you're not a member of MSLA, please feel free to join us!

Membership is only $5, and we're always happy to have more friendly

faces!

For more information about the MSLA, email midstatelib@gmail.com

MSLA Spring Meeting at TLA

The Mid-State Library Association would like to invite all librarians from the Middle Tennessee area to join us for dinner on Wednesday, March 23 at 7pm. The location is TBA, and if you would like to come, please be sure to RSVP by filling out this form: http://bit.ly/hJJ7Ta

This will be the Spring meeting of the Mid-State Library Association. Even if you're not a member of MSLA, please feel free to join us! Membership is only $5, and we're always happy to have more friendly faces!

Revised Minutes of October 16 meeting

Below are the minutes that will be up for approval at our next meeting in March.

Mid-State Library Association

Minutes from October 16, 2010

at University of the South, Sewanee

Present were Sara Copeland, Pat Thompson, Ann Manginelli, Regina Lee, Nancy Mielke, Jenny Stout, Susan Earl, Kevin Reynolds, Sue Alexander, Gayla Hall and Courtney Fuson.

Special guest: Jason Griffey

Courtney called the meeting to order and thanked Jason for coming to talk about technology and gadgets.  It was a very interesting discussion, with very engaging comments and questions from all present.  We learned about lots of interesting gadgets that have all kinds of uses.

There was no financial report because Susan LaFever was ill.

Regina Lee announced that TTU has graciously agreed to host the archive.  She is still working on making a list of things that might be missing.  If you have any items pertaining to the history of the MSLA, please let her know.  Regina will also look into the possibility of digitizing the archive.

The MSLA has a website at http://midstatelib.blogspot.com.  Courtney created it so that it would be easier to maintain and to pass maintenance from one person to the next.  There was some confusion about who the editor would be, so she will continue to update the site until the confusion can be cleared up.

Susan Earl moved to create a Google Group to function as a mailing list for the group.  Kevin seconded the motion.  The motion carried.  To sign up for the mailing list, visit http://groups.google.com/group/mid-state-library-association and follow the instructions found there.  Courtney will also try to email everyone who has paid dues with instructions.

Jenny Stout moved that the spring MSLA meeting will be held in conjunction with the TLA Annual Conference in Murfreesboro on March 24-25.  The motion was seconded by Kevin Reynolds and passed.  Courtney will work with the TLA Conference Committee to help ensure that the MSLA meeting is not in conflict with any major TLA events.  Possibilities for the meeting include breakfast, lunch or a gathering after the All-Conference Reception.  Any further suggestions are welcome.

Susan Earl suggested that the MSLA should have a presence at the TLA registration booth so that we can better publicize who we are and hopefully gain more members.  Susan and others also suggested that the MSLA advertise in Tennessee Libraries, the TLA newsletter and at the Tenn-Share DataFest and Fall Conference.  It was also recommended that the minutes be sent out the TLA list so that others can see that the MSLA is active and vibrant again.

There was discussion of what the MSLA is, and what we do.  It was suggested that the MSLA could also arrange weekday tours and discussions at the various mid-state libraries to talk about the services and features of those libraries.  The discussion of possible lunches or other post-meeting activities was also suggested by Sara Copeland.  Sara pointed out that it would be a good idea to have some kind of informal lunch plans arranged for after meetings, particularly if the attendees had traveled for an hour to attend the meeting.  This will be considered for the meetings following the spring meeting.

There was no other new business.

There was a motion to adjourn and the motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Courtney Fuson