1. The meeting was called to order by President Laura Ikens at 3:05 pm.

2. Approve agenda. A motion to approve the agenda was brought forward by Bonnie S. Seconded by Maureen M.

3. President’s comments. Laura I. welcomed all back from a month’s hiatus.

4. Approval of the minutes of December 17, 2007. A motion to approve the minutes was brought forward by Katrina P. Seconded by Lorene K.

5. Approval of the minutes of January 28, 2008. A motion to approve the minutes was brought forward by Maureen M. Seconded by Katrina P.

6. Committee reports and Action Items

a. Programs – Katrina Perez: --Programs, Meeting Arrangements, Book Club, SLA Cares, Professional Development

Katrina reported that the Programs Committee was doing well. April meeting topic is Vendor Relations. Kristen Shea is contacting potential participants for a panel discussion. No meeting date is set yet.

Action Item: Lorene K. will contact Beth Arthur regarding whom to contact at Morningstar. Morningstar was the sponsor for the cancelled March meeting. Perhaps they will host the April meeting.

The May meeting topic is “Social Networking Tools.” Date TBA.

We have received some negative feedback concerning the recently cancelled meeting. Unfortunately, the lack of participants determined that the meeting be cancelled. Problems about meeting planning are also related to the SLA calendar changes. This is new territory and we are dealing with this as aggressively as we are able.
A postcard mailing is again being considered. Katrina will explore this after firm dates are established for upcoming meetings. The Fall 2008 schedule of meetings is generally set already.

Margaret Quinlan will continue as Book Club Moderator. She is interested in having another Chapter member volunteer to assist. Three Book Discussion meetings are planned for 2008: April, July, and October.

The March DineArounds were generally successful. Average attendance at each venue was 10 persons.
Downtown venue was hosted by Kristie Gryswinski at the Mambo Grill. North Suburbs venue was hosted by Jan Sykes at Billy Berk's, Skokie. West Suburbs venue was hosted by Lorene Kennard at Emmet's Ale House, Downers Grove. The South Suburban DineAround was cancelled due to few respondents.

The Board may need to consider a replacement or substitute for the DineAround Coordinator Joanne Kiley who is assuming duties as CALL Treasurer.

The Board discussed possible summer outings. Suggestions included Blues Fest, Printer’s Row Book Fair, Ravinia, Jazz Fest and other events. It is under consideration that each Board member may act as host for one event.

Action Item: Laura I. will email the Board about the host issue and solicit further ideas for summer outings.

Action Item: Katrina will develop a postcard mailing after meeting dates are in place for the next months.

b. Chapter Infrastructure – Ramona Howerton: Archives, Awards, Nominating

Ramona H. gave a synopsis of Susan Chenoweth’s work with Chapter Archives issues. It was discussed at previous Board meetings that the Dominican University location is very inconvenient for committee members. Susan was exploring venue alternatives and other issues.
Susan was never contacted by Dominican University concerning a prospective intern to assist with the Chapter archives. Susan had suggested that the Chapter might sponsor a paid internship for an archives student to help revamp our holdings. Susan also contacted Northwestern University; there was no opportunity to relocate the archives at that venue.
Chapter Archivist Lori Volpe has stepped down. To replace her, Susan approached a Chapter member who indicated interest in becoming involved with the archival work. However, the DU location is a challenge for her and she cannot not consider volunteer at present.

Action Item: Ramona H. will contact Jan Chindlund at Columbia about the archives venue.

Action Item: Ramona H. will purchase the projector as discussed in the previous meeting after Katrina P. emails her the specifications.

c. Finance – Maureen Malinowski

Maureen M. reported that the Chapter received a check for our share of the Aspirations Conference.
Glitches at the bank have delayed a smooth transition between Chapter treasurers. However, all bills are paid.

The Board discusses pros and cons of having a professional CPA perform the annual audit, and offer an honorarium for the service.
This issue is tabled until next meeting.

Action Item: Maureen M. will call the CPA Society and request contact information about CPAs who specialize in nonprofit accounting.

Changes in the budget line items were discussed. Maureen reported that we are required to keep specific categories to align correctly with SLA HQ., but we have some latitude in some areas. Royalties and meeting related are two areas the Board may modify.

Action Item: Maureen M. will post the budget as is now.

The Chapter may use the Treasurer’s address for official Chapter-related mailings. A PO box is not required. Maureen M. has agreed to the Chapter using her address.

d. Internal Communications – Bonnie Tilton Sebby – Discussion List, Informant, Internet/Homepage, KM

Bonnie S. reported that some Chapter meeting minutes are still to be posted. She is working on this issue.

A list of Past Presidents contact information was forwarded to Katrina P.

Jim Obst has two new Informant members. Shelly Garik and Eileen Davenport have joined the Informant committee.

e. Membership & Vendor Relations – Nancy Smith: Membership, Vendor Relations

Action Item: Laura I. will speak with Nancy Smith this week on Membership and Vendor Relation issues.

f. Outreach & Promotion – Lorene Kennard: Diversity, Public Relations, Student Outreach

Lorene K. reported that she emailed Illinois Fellow Susan DiMattia. Susan recommended contacting SLA HQ and checking the website on Diversity guidelines.

Lorene K. also noted that Ozzie Mezza has agreed to be the Diversity Committee Chair.

Regarding PR, Lorene is investigating outreach efforts to extend invitations to our meetings.

Lorene emailed U of I and Dominican U. about getting more students involved in SLA. There are few students that indicated interest in the Shadow a Librarian event. Communication may be part of the problem. Monitoring student blogs was discussed.

g. Planning & Special Projects – Laura Ikens: Strategic Planning

Nothing to report.

7. Old Business

a. Discussion List Policies

Action Item: Laura I. will call for an email vote on the Discussion List Policies in the next two weeks. Any additions or further changes should be posted to the GoogleGroup list.

b. Projector

Action item: Ramona H. will purchase the projector.

Going forward, the President Elect is responsibility for keeping the projector in her (his) possession on behalf of the Chapter.

8. New business

The Board will decide this week whether to use the SLA CoP or the GoogleGroups list as the preferred mode of communication. Opinions and feedback should be directed to Katrina P. Katrina also offered to help troubleshoot issues with GoogleGroups.

Laura I. announced that the Board will review and discuss the Advocacy section of the Strategic Plan at the next Board meeting.

9. Next Board meeting is scheduled for April 15, 2008, 4:00 – 6:00 PM. Katrina P. will host.

10. Meeting Pulse 4.5 /5.0

11. A motion to adjourn the meeting was brought forward by Bonnie S. and seconded by Maureen M. Motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:38 pm