Thursday, August 07, 2008

Meeting Minutes: September 21, 2000

Meeting held at CAJE

Attendance: 21

President Heidi Estrin welcomed everyone and thanked Shirley and CAJE for hosting us and providing a delicious lunch.

I. AJL Convention 2000 in Washington: memories, impressions, comments

  • great networking -- people were so friendly and welcoming.
  • standout sessions included: the publisher and booksellers session; "How to Protect your Library"; "Translating Poetry"; and "Live at the Library", especially the "Vidrash" (visual midrash), for which students would take family photos and add a quote.
  • more than 300 librarians attended the conference.
  • wonderful guest speakers such as Herman Wouk, but also high-caliber speakers in smaller sessions.
  • food was really good!
  • author luncheon concept was lovely; impressive array of authors.
  • struck by humility of award-winners at banquet.
  • Library of Congress video "Sefer on the Shelf" (parody of Fiddler on the Roof) was a big hit.
  • Holocaust Museum concert was nice, but would have preferred time to see the museum.
  • Library of Congress, Holocaust Museum and behind-the-scenes tours were highlights.
  • didn't like standing at meals (not enough places to sit).
  • more for R&S than SSC at this convention.

    II. Headlines and Footnotes

    Margot Berman resigned as editor of Headlines and Footnotes. All present thanked her for her fine work. For ten years Margot single-handedly produced a wonderful newsletter, and finally despaired of ever receiving needed copy from members. We discussed possible replacements for the newsletter. Combine the newsletter with the minutes? Do it electronically? Please email your suggestions to Heidi: heidi@cbiboca.org

    III. Jewish Booktalks to Public Librarians

    We will present a booktalk program to children's library staff at Miami-Dade Public Library System on Monday, October 2, and Broward staff on Friday, October 13. We chose these two systems because Annette Goldsmith works at MDPLS and Heidi used to work at Broward, so it was easy to arrange. This training session is a way of sharing our Jewish book expertise with public library colleagues, raising our profile and perhaps recruiting new members. All were invited to participate in the program or just come along for fun. There was a comment that not enough notice was given. Heidi did email the notice early, but not everyone's addresses were on the distribution list. [This has since been corrected.]

    IV. Projects or meeting topics for this year

    There was interest in all of the proposed topics; Heidi will follow up. We will consider a visit to Sarasota members in the spring. A book discussion roundtable along the lines of the one Annette runs at Books & Books will become a regular feature of future meetings: in November we'll each bring a Chanukah book. Please note your booktalk/comments on a 3x5 card.

    Meeting dates and locations:

    Sept. 21 - CAJE, downtown Miami
    Nov. 30 -- Donna Klein, Boca
    Jan. 25 -- Sarasota or Broward (to be confirmed)
    Mar. 22 -- Hillel, North Miami Beach
    May 17 -- Palm Beach

    V. Mini-Shuk and information-sharing

    Readers are Leaders

    Barbara Samuels and Andrea Kalish described the Readers are Leaders program they run at Hillel. The goal was to have high school students do community service through reading with groups of younger children. They advertised for reading mentors, and got 12 students who were paired with younger classes. They ordered printed pencils to use as incentives. It's been very successful -- please contact Barbara (bjsamuels@yahoo.com) or Andrea (Andrea_kalish@hotmail.com) for more information.

    Storytelling at bookstores

    Judith Asuleen at CAJE does storytelling at Borders. Contact Judith at 954-755-2987, ext. 149 for details.

    Barbara's son works at the Aventura Borders; contact him if you wish to do a special program there. Barbara can provide details.

    Teacher liaison

    Sandy Gottesman described how her synagogue held a Mediterranean dinner for teachers in the public system. Contact Sandy at templebt@juno.com for details.

    Holocaust curriculum

    Palm Beach has a K-12 Holocaust curriculum which is a very good source for bibliographies. The Dave and Mary Alper JCC will be hosting a Holocaust teacher training session Nov. 3 as part of Jewish Book Month. It's free. Contact Marcy Levitt at 305-271-9000 to register.

    Fundraising

    Shirley Wolfe reminded us how important the Friends are. Suggest gifts of $18 or $36 for membership. Someone gave $101 as a birthday gift to the library.

    Author visit

    Sybil Rosen, author of Speed of Light, will be at Hillel Nov. 13, Beth Am Nov. 19, and also at the North Dade Borders and Donna Klein.


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