Would You Like to Join Us?

Anyone interested in being on the IPLA Board or on a committee of IPLA please submit your name to ipla@indianapubliclibraries.org.

Thank you!

Dear Indiana Public Library Champions:

Recent events within IPLA have been momentous and worth reviewing!  You may have heard Dianne Osborne resigned as president of IPLA and that Peg Harmon will be stepping up to fill her shoes.  IPLA officers include:

• Peg Harmon, President
• Ginny Nilles has been appointed vice president of IPLA and chair of the IPLA Strategic Planning Committee
• Edra Waterman has agreed to fill an IPLA At Large position vacated by Mary Eckerle who also had to step down
• Jane Hall will continue as Secretary Treasurer
• Cate Birdseye
• Susan Miller

IPLA Strategic Planning Design Team:

• Ginny Nilles, Chair
• Jane Ellen Felchuk
• Sally Stegner
• Larry Acheff
• IPLA Board (above)
• Cecelia Wooden and Libby Alexander of Wooden & Associates

Dianne has done an incredible job of organizing IPLA and getting the planning process started so our very best to her and our gratitude for a job well done. 

Linda Yoder, the Champion communicator has left the Library world to take a position at a private company opening in her home town.  She will be missed by the Champions and by her library employees and her library community. 

With both Dianne and Linda’s departure the Champions have been scrambling to establish a new communication channel to our Champions and IPLA members.  The email list has been completely revised and now includes Indiana library directors and district representatives.  We will be adding trustees to the list but not right now due to time constraints, mostly my own.

We are working on a new website thanks to the Hancock County Library and Muncie Public Library webmasters.  I will be sending you a link to the website in the very near future.  When you get the link, please take a moment to review the new site, it is chock full of information!

Meanwhile, Library Districts have been meeting to talk about IPLA, specifically what role IPLA should play.  Those district meetings each selected (or will) two representatives to attend a Strategic Planning meeting scheduled for July 20-21.  The IPLA Board along with delegates from district meetings, and librarians/directors serving on IHLB, ISLAC, ILF, and ISL board will be at the meeting July 20-21 to develop a strategic plan for IPLA.

The plan we develop on July 20-21 will be distributed to all public library directors and reviewed at the ILF Annual Conference.

As the new chair for the Strategic Planning Committee and Vice President of IPLA it falls to me to provide you with the information you want and need to know.  So, if you have questions or concerns please let me know!  If I can’t answer them I can direct them to the right person/source! 

We all look forward to developing a plan that will keep IPLA on track and relevant as we move into this new political /financial environment.

Best to you all and thanks for taking the time to read this!

Ginny Nilles

IPLA Champions

Those attending the July 20-21 planning session will need to register and reserve a hotel room. 

Hotel Reservations: http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en/gi/groups/personalized/CLUINGI-HCP-20090720/index.jhtml

Directions to the planning session are included as attachments to this message.

Save the Date notice

This is a “save the date” notice for the upcoming IPLA Planning Retreat.  The retreat is “step two” in the grass roots IPLA planning process.

We are asking each public library director on the ILF Board, ILHB, and ISLAC to participate. We need your valuable input and guidance. Public libraries are facing many common challenges; through the planning process we hope to face those challenges and mitigate the impact of the economy and property tax reform while building a strong public library voice in Indiana. Public library trustees on these boards and those trustees who volunteer to engage in this process will meet in a separate focus group to be scheduled soon.

IPLA RETREAT INFORMATION  

Monday, July 20,  6:00 to 9:00 pm: — Opening dinner session,  Max & Erma’s

Tuesday, July 21, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm -  Trafalgar Branch of Johnson Co PL

Accommodations: The Hilton Garden Inn (12210 N. Executive Drive, Edinburgh, IN , near the Edinburgh, Outlet Mall, I-65, Exit 76).

Attached is a reminder/overview of the grass roots IPLA planning process to determine:
*what public libraries need from their statewide association
*regional issues that could benefit from statewide efforts
*areas where IPLA could be strengthened
*recommendations for priority areas of focus during the next 2-3 years

More information will be coming soon. Thank you for your participation and support.

Dianne Osborne, President
Indiana Public Library Association
P 317-467-6663, F 317-462-5711
dosborne@hcplibrary.org