Meeting Minutes: May 17, 2001

Minutes of May 17, 2001 meeting, St. Vincent de Paul Seminary, Boynton Beach

Present: Emilio G. Chavez, Kathleen Clotfelter, Muriel Efron, Heidi Estrin, Etta Gold, Annette Goldsmith, Sandy Gottesman, Phyllis Gutmann, Karen Heinich, Sylvia Henkus, Irene Hey, Andrea Kalish, Sue Kirshner, Elsie Leviton, Charles Meyers, Arthur Quinn, Marshall Schneider, Walter Spielman, Allyson Stone, Jonathan Stone, Lee Wixman, Marguerite Wolf, Shirley Wolfe

I. Greetings!

President Heidi Estrin thanked Art Quinn and his institution for hosting the meeting and offering us a splendid lunch catered by Rivka's of Delray Beach.

We welcomed Irene Hey, a reporter for The Florida Catholic Newspaper; and Karen Heinich of Florida Atlantic University, who gave us flyers for the FAU video, The Lost Wooden Synagogues of Eastern Europe ($29.95) and book, Women of the Book: Jewish Artists, Jewish Themes ($23.95).

II. Spanish Language Judaica Resources from Art Quinn

Art told us about the St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, the only bilingual seminary in the U.S. The new library opened its doors to staff and students in August 1996. He passed out information packages about the seminary and library, and took us through a display of some of the books listed in the bibliography he'd prepared for us. Since the library is organized by LC classification, the Judaica books are scattered through the collection, so Art's display made it possible for us to see a sampling of them in one place. To quote from Art's package, "The principal focus of collection development is in the area of graduate level theology and philosophy, in English and in Spanish, in all available media, which supports the primary mission of the seminary -- the training of Roman Catholic priests in a bilingual/multicultural program and environment." We were all impressed by the collection and the beautiful building and grounds. Art led a tour of the library after the meeting; Lee invited members to his home to see his collection of hanukkiyot and menorahs.

III. Holocaust Library at Spanish River High School: special guests

J.J. Stone recounted how he and fellow Spanish River senior, Leslie Adler, raised awareness and money to set up the Spanish River Holocaust Research Center at their high school. (Leslie was unable to attend, but J.J.'s younger sister, Allyson, was there. Allyson will be continuing with the project when J.J. and Leslie leave for their respective colleges in the fall.) As juniors, J.J. and Leslie had in-depth projects on Holocaust topics but found their school library resources woefully inadequate. They contacted the Wiesenthal Center, the Holocaust Museum, and the American Jewish Committee. The AJC sent out a letter to their 14,000 members asking for $18 to help buy books. They also worked with their school librarian and FAU professor Alan Berger. Several of us brought extra copies of Holocaust books to donate to the cause. If you have any extra Holocaust-related books that you don't need, you can donate them to the Holocaust Research Center at Spanish River High School at 5100 Jog Road, Boca Raton, FL 33496. If you would like to send a check, it should be payable to the Holocaust Research Center at Spanish River High School. Thanks to Lee Wixman and Art Quinn for arranging for our speakers.

IV. Swap and Share

Heidi asked for ideas on how to attract religious school students to her library, when they usually only come with their teachers. Some suggestions:

Etta: have a tour at the beginning of the year

Shirley: make sure the library has the same "time" as other programs such as music; this will provide a period in which to borrow books

Annette: have a contest highlighting the library in some way; Miami-Dade Public Library last year held a very successful bookmark design contest

Etta: the Temple Beth Am Library has a "BABBA" book award contest in which children choose their favorite library book

Lee: put up a display

Andrea: provide snacks!

Sandy: tell parents to come a little earlier so children can use library

Sue Kirshner asked how you can get a catalog from just a shelflist.

Etta: follow guidelines for accreditation process

Kathleen: use Margot's book, How to Organize a Jewish Library, available through AJL National (see website: www.jewishlibraries.org)

Heidi: lots of signage helps; create a database

V. News and Announcements

Margot is in New York recovering from hip surgery. She won't be checking her e-mail, phone or fax for a while, but you can reach her via Etta. Cards may be sent to her daughter's address:

Margot S. Berman
c/o Melissa Berman
15 West 81st Street, Apt. 4C
New York, NY 10024

Sandy reminded everyone that she is on the Sydney Taylor Manuscript Committee, and so to send any promising manuscripts her way.

Jackie Fine is looking for sources of Jewish children's books, as noted earlier on Hasafran. There were a few more suggestions:

Yossi Bronstein, Judaica Enterprises, 1125 NE 153 St., 305-945-5091. You can order online for a better discount.

JPS has a good children's catalog and gives a 20% discount.

Books and Books will mail books to you (at book rate).

To order online, use www.booksense.com, the site for independent booksellers.

Richard Petrella from Books with Flair in Sunrise has just bought another book company, School Book Source, so has plenty of inventory. He is always helpful. His number is 1-800-972-1298.

Marshall Schneider is looking for a display case.

Charles Meyers has written a book called Troubled Souls: Crypto-Jews, Conversos, and Confused Intellectuals from the Fourteenth Century to the Eighteenth Century. The book is $35. He will be talking about his research at the convention.

Heidi read some e-mail messages from members who couldn't attend:

Alice Warren will be taking over Elsie Leviton's job at Temple Israel, and leaving behind her position at Hillel Day School in Boca. Give her a call if you are interested in the position. She says "Hillel is a lovely school with delightful children and loving faculty and supportive parents. I'm getting it ready for computerization and it is moving into its own building in the fall. It is a very 'media center' oriented administration." Alice's email is Tutors8311@aol.com. Hillel's phone number is 561-470-5000.

Sylvia Friedman would like everyone to know that she and her husband are planning to make aliyah at the end of December! She will be leaving behind her Wednesday job at Beth David Library in Miami, so anyone who is interested should contact her or Lilian Beer (the director of the library). Sylvia's email is basyf@juno.com. The Beth David phone number is 305-854-3911.

Schlomit sent a thank-you for the send-off we gave her at the last meeting. She is enjoying New York and her new job.

Heidi told us about the "Once Upon a World" Children's Book Award (for tolerance) given by the Wiesenthal Center. There is a free package available from the Center, complete with bookmarks and award stickers for the books. The following books are winners:

2000 Through My Eyes, Ruby Bridges

1999 So Far From the Sea, Eve Bunting

1998 Gathering the Sun, Alma Flor Ada

1997 The Day Gogo Went to Vote, Elinor Batezat Sisulu

1996 A School for Pompey Walker, Michael J. Rosen

You may contact Adaire Klein at aklein@wiesenthal.net, or call/write to the Simon Wiesenthal Center at 1399 South Roxbury Dr., Los Angeles, CA 30035, 310-553-9036.

Andrea will be booking author Barbara Diamond Goldin this fall, and wants to know if others want her too and can share the cost. She charges $900 a day.

VI. Thank-you to Heidi

Annette presented Heidi with a plant and flower arrangement on behalf of the chap ter to mark a wonderful first term as President.

VII. Meeting topics and/or projects for next year:

Update the AJL bookmarks since we have added member libraries. (Chapter executive: remember to bring a supply of flyers, etc. to meetings.)

Discuss Jewish Book Month promotion.

Kathleen would like us to exchange school schedules for each county.

Please bring $15 for Chapter membership to the first fall meeting. $50 for National membership is due at the end of June. (For a discussion of the National increase in dues, see Hasafran.) We encourage everyone to join both our chapter and National.

Next year's meetings will be on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to make it easier for more members to attend. We will let you know the dates and locations as soon as they're finalized. See you in the fall!