CTLS, Inc.

Website Maintenance

zroussel — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:22:28 +0000

Our website will be under maintenance the weekend of 2-3-11 and some functionality may be disabled

Spring Lecture Series Florence Public Library

zroussel — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:39:23 +0000

If History, Anthropology, Paleontology or caring for your landscape during drought times peaks your interest there is a lineup of experts that can quench your thirst. The Eula Hunt Beck Florence Public Library, located at 207 East Main St., Florence, Texas www.florencepubliclibrary.wordpress.com, is having their Annual Spring Lecture Series each Thursday evening at 7:00 starting Feb. 16^th – March 8^th. Refreshments included.

Please feel free to print and post this flyer

SCHEDULE

Thursday Feb 16 7:00 pm

Dr. D. Clark Wernecke
Executive Director Gault Site.
Recent Discoveries at the Gault Site

Thursday Feb 23 7:00 pm
Barbara Wright From Wright’s Nursery.
Drought Tolerant Plants and
Caring for Trees during A Drought

Thursday March 1 7:00 pm
Dr Pamela Owen
Paleontologist, Texas Natural Science Center, Texas Memorial Museum
Prehistoric Williamson County.
The Cretaceous Period and the Pleistocene Epoch
Prehistoric Creatures that have lived in Williamson County
Dinosaurs, Sea Reptiles, Saber-Toothed Cats, Ground Sloths, and Others)

Thursday March 8 7:00 pm
Diana Rendon, MA
Sr High Spanish Teacher FISD
Family History in South Texas
Before and After Statehood

February Newsletter Now Available

katelyn — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:44:24 +0000

“Okay, campers, rise and shine! And don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today.” This morning Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which means we will get 6 more weeks of 75 degree weather! Right? Well, while we wait to see if that is true, take a look at our February newsletter! It is full of chocolately goodness yet contains no calories! Enjoy!

Pictures From Our Annual Membership Meeting

zroussel — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:42:59 +0000

Please enjoy the pictures from our annual membership meeting. You may click a photo below to view our album or click here if you cant see anything below. If you have any pictures you would like to share please email them to us.

Libraries See Books Fly Off Digital Shelves

Kam McEvoy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:50:08 +0000

Thanks to Christina Manz for sending us this link:

Judy (Temple) and Lisa (Harker Heights) are in a news segment talking about their libraries’ ebook lending. Lots of great information for borrowers and the library-publisher relationship packed in just 2 minutes.

Murder Mystery at Harker Heights Library

zroussel — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:40:40 +0000

Lisa Youngblood from Harker Heights Public Library talks about putting on a murder mystery for teens. Lisa is a coauthor of the chapter “The Body in the Billiard Room” found in the Texas Teens Read! Manual 2012.

ALA Youth Media Awards Announcement

katelyn — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:10:46 +0000

Today the ALA announced the winners and honorees of the Youth Media Awards at the Midwinter Meeting in Dallas, TX. See the webcast here or view the list here! Congrats to all the winners and honorees!

Notice of CTLS January 2012 Board meeting

zroussel — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:04:20 +0000

Notice of a regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the
CENTRAL TEXAS LIBRARY SYSTEM, Inc.
Friday, January 27, 2012
1:30 p.m.

Temple Public Library, 100 West Adams
Temple, Texas 76501

Notice is hereby given of a regular meeting of the Board of Directors on January 27, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. at the Temple Public Library, 3rd Floor Board Room, 100 W Adams, Temple, Texas. The public is invited to attend the meeting which starts at 1:30 p.m. and will conclude after all business has been conducted. The items below are for discussion and/or action:

1:30 p.m.

I.   Call to Order of the Board of Directors of CTLS, Inc. – Peggy Gibson, Chair
of CTLS, Inc.
II.   Minutes of the November 2011 Board Meetings Lyle Thormann, CTLS Secretary
III.   Election of Board Officers for 2012 Peggy Gibson, Chair of CTLS, Inc.
IV.   Presentation of the FY 2011 financial audit
V.   Treasurer’s Report- Eileen Altmiller, CTLS Treasurer
VI.   Executive Director’s Report – Pat Tuohy, CTLS Executive Director
VII.   Old Business
VIII.   New Business
IX.   Board Concerns and Issues

4:00 p.m. Adjournment

Meeting Protocol in effect for this meeting:

From the Board of Directors Meeting Protocol Policy, adopted March 20, 2007:

VII. Participants in on-site and telephone conference call Board meeting shall observe the following rules:
1.         Participation in Board meetings is limited to the Board of Directors of CTLS and to individuals who have signed up to speak on specific issues on the agenda.
2.         Board members are the official participants in the meeting and as such will engage in discussion following the rules of order as enforced by the Board Chair.
3.         Staff members may comment when requested to do so by the Chair. They may inject comments with the permission of the Chair in order to clarify a point or to convey necessary information during the meeting.
4.         The Chair will call on individuals who wish to address the Board on either specific agenda items or other concerns immediately following the call to order.
5.         The Chair will determine equitable time limits for the speakers.
6.         Members of the public are not official participants and considered out of order if they make comments at random during the meeting.
7.         The Board may choose to have a regular item or period of public comment at a board meeting. This will be clearly indicated on the posted meeting agenda.
8.         An individual may not address the Board a second time on the same issue unless all others who wish to comment have done so, and only with the consent of the Board chair.

Partnerships and Collaborations in Public Library Communities

katelyn — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:12:54 +0000

We recently got a new title in our professional collection that was edited by our very own Karen Ellis of the Taylor Public Library! It has already been checked out but place a hold on it using our Professional Collection if you are interested in getting it next!

There is a chapter by another Central Texas librarian, Kathleen Houlihan from Austin Public Library. Karen says she had lots of help with editing chapters by other Central Texas librarians as well. Karen says that there are many great examples in the books of how public libraries got creative using partnerships to extend services and programming in unique ways, to the benefit of all involved.

Check it out!

Larry Ringer Answers Questions from Members about the Proposed Bylaws

zroussel — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:27:26 +0000

Along with your Christmas mail, all CTLS Representatives received a large packet
from our office during the 2nd week of December. This heavy envelope contained 3
Bylaws connected documents that relate to the vote that will be held on January 27th
in Temple. The first document was the current CTLS Bylaws adopted in 2010. This
was heavily highlighted in yellow so that you could see all the deletions and changes
we made. The second document was the Proposed Bylaws that the Bylaws Committee
developed in response to CTLS’s rapidly changing financial situation. The third
document was a draft of the CTLS Operations Manual which is a companion document
to the Proposed Bylaws. I am sure that this made enjoyable reading for everyone
over the holidays.

I am pleased to report that we received some feedback from Representatives about
the Proposed Bylaws. The comments helped us clarify some definitions and we are
grateful to the members who took the time to review our work. The copy included in
your membership meeting packets reflects these suggestions.

We also received some general questions about the direction we are heading that I
would like to answer here.

1. It looks like CTLS will be charging a membership fee for my library to get services
in 2013. Why do you have to charge to be a member and how much will it cost?
Let’s start with the membership fee first. At this point we don’t know how much it will
cost to be a member of CTLS on Sept 1, 2012. The Long Range Planning Committee
has started work on this and you can be sure that it will be discussed at the Regional
meetings in February and March.

We anticipated getting $0 from the State Library in 2013 so we need a source of money
from somewhere. Membership fees will be used to pay our basic expenses like
rent, telecommunications, supplies etc. Fees will likely not pay any salaries or travel
related to providing you services in 2013. Money for salaries will have to come from
private foundation grants that we hope to get in FY 2013.

2. When will we know about membership fees?
The Board will adopt a fee schedule by April 1, 2012. We hope that this will give most
libraries enough advanced notice to include it in your 2012-2013 budgets.

3. What will basic CTLS membership include?
We are working on a list of services that will come with your annual fee. The Long
Range Planning Committee has identified some things but there is more work to do.
Expect to hear from us as we send out surveys to find out what you consider to be the
most needed services. Plan to attend 1 of the 5 Regional meetings scheduled for
February 29, March 1, 2, 8, and 9.

4. I’ve heard that CTLS plans to recruit other libraries outside of CTLS to join us in FY 2013. Why are you doing this?
As you know, 8 of the 10 regional systems are going out of business before August 31, 2012. The South Texas Library System closed on December 31, 2011 and the Houston Area System is scheduled to shut its doors in June. This will leave the majority of public libraries in Texas without any expectation of support or assistance from anyone other than the remaining staff at the State Library. We feel that there is strength in numbers and libraries from all around the state can benefit from our services. While we do not expect a ground swell of libraries from other regions to join immediately, there has been some interest. The Crockett Public Library has already joined CTLS as an Associate Member in 2012. We have received inquiries from a few Alamo Area and South Texas libraries.

CTLS faces many challenges in our effort to stay afloat as a nonprofit corporation dedicated to serving libraries. We are attempting to do something that the membership, Board of Directors, and staff have never done before. We will need to pull together to make this transition successful.

Larry J. Ringer, Vice Chair of the CTLS Board of Directors