1. CALL TO ORDER
This regularly scheduled meeting of the CLAN Steering Committee was called to order by President Regina Slezak at 9:35 A.M. at the Warwick Public Library.

Steering Committee members in attendance: Dan Austin, Susan Aylward, Judy Bell, Carol Brouwer, Laura Marlane, Leslie Page, Beth Perry, Regina Slezak, Karen Taylor, Ulla Virks. Absent: Shirley Long, Eileen Socha, Kathryn Taylor

Also in attendance: Elaine Clark (CLAN); John Carney (EPL); Chris LaRoux (GVL); Doug Pearce (WAR)

2. MINUTES OF MAY 25, 2006 STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
VOTED unanimously to accept the minutes of the May 25, 2006 meeting as presented. (Ulla Virks, Laura Marlane).

There was discussion about the purpose of the minutes; the role of the regional representatives in communicating with their constituents in their regions; and the timing of the posting of the minutes. President Regina Slezak reminded the Steering Committee that CLAN is a corporation and that the Steering Committee is the Board of the corporation. Minutes should not be posted until they are approved by the Steering Committee. It was agreed that the regional representatives will take a more active role in communicating with the library directors in their regions regarding information gleaned at the Steering Committee meetings and/or decisions made by the Steering Committee. The Secretary will send draft minutes to the members of the Steering Committee, but these minutes will not be distributed to the membership until they have been approved. The Steering Committee also discussed its intention that the new executive director will take an active role in communicating information to the membership.

3. CLAN STAFF REPORTS-Elaine Clark
Elaine reported that she has been in touch with Joan Gillespie and everything is moving forward; Joan has been added to CLAN's health and dental insurance coverage.

Elaine asked about ordering new CLAN library cards in light of the possible name change. Her stock is quite low at the moment. 50,000 cards would last a year. The Steering Committee suggested that Elaine order half of that amount to tide us over.

Elaine reported that Exeter is the only library that is currently in arrears on the membership fees. The town owes two quarters (January and April). The Steering Committee discussed strategies for communicating with the town officials in Exeter to secure payment of these past-due invoices. VOTED unanimously for the Steering Committee to send a strongly worded letter to Exeter's Town Manager requesting payment. (Carol Brouwer, Laura Marlane). The President and the Secretary will work on a letter.

4. TREASURER'S REPORT
Shirley Long's written report was distributed to the Committee.

5. STEERING COMMITTEE SCHEDULE
The Steering Committee reviewed the schedule of meetings through December. The Committee decided to schedule the November meeting for the 30th of the month. Elaine will check availability of a meeting space at the Warwick Library.

6. LUNCHEON FOR JOAN GILLESPIE
The Steering Committee discussed the luncheon for Joan Gillespie and established a budget in the range of $1,000 for Judy to engage a caterer. It was decided that the luncheon would immediately follow the CLAN meeting and that library representatives attending the meeting would be invited to the luncheon. The Committee did not feel it was necessary to send formal invitations, nor to extend the informal invitation beyond the library representatives who normally attend the CLAN meetings.

7. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FIRST WEEK
President Regina Slezak asked if Steering Committee members had specific ideas for what we could do to help shape Joan's first week and to offer a productive orientation. Dan Austin suggested that it was reasonable for Regina to be on site in the CLAN office on Joan's first day. Regina talked about her idea that she would ask Joan to be prepared to deliver a "state of the union" message at the September CLAN meeting, which would outline were we are; where we can go; and what we need to do to get there. The Committee thought this was a fine idea.

8. STANDARDS COMMITTEE (Chris LaRoux)
Chris LaRoux, the chair of the Standards Committee, described the complications that his committee has faced in attempting to address individual library requests for additional loan periods and/or related parameters. Each request expands the loan rules table exponentially. We currently have 126 loan rules, 81 of which seem to be in use. Chris's committee recommends that it would be wise to reduce the number of loan rules. As a first step, we could eliminate the 45 loan rules that are not currently in use and strongly urge the membership to take a look at the remaining loan rules to see if additional ones can be eliminated. The Committee discussed the complication of adding additional parameters and the problems caused by libraries devising workarounds to circumvent the spirit of standardization. VOTED unanimously to endorse the recommendation of the Standards Committee to eliminate the loan rules not currently in use and to have Chris LaRoux lead a discussion on the issue at the September CLAN meeting. (Ulla Virks, Laura Marlane).

9. OTHER
Judy Bell brought up two concerns from her constituents in the Island region:  Teleforms not identifying the pickup location on the automated message and communication problems between members and CLAN staff. President Regina Slezak reminded the Committee that the Teleforms question has been asked and answered a number of times and that having the software identify the pickup location is not possible. One of the tasks of the new Executive Director will be to work on the communication issue, including developing strategies to educate member directors and their staffs about where information is available; how to get answers to questions; and what questions are appropriate for the Steering Committee and what questions are the purview of CLAN committee chairs and/or staff.

10. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:25 AM.

Respectfully submitted,
Susan Aylward
Secretary

Minutes approved 7/27/06