NMRLS 8th Annual Council of Members Meeting
By Greg Pronevitz

The NMRLS Annual Meeting was held on November 17, 2004 at Cascia Hall on the campus of Merrimack College in North Andover. About 90 attendees enjoyed a nice lunch and the opportunity to network with their colleagues prior to the business meeting.

Becky Herrmann, NMRLS President and Director of the Chelmsford Public Library, welcomed attendees and reflected on her year as President. She encouraged members to contribute to and participate in the work of the Region.

After expressing thanks to the NMRLS staff who do so much for the membership, Greg Pronevitz, Regional Administrator, reviewed NMRLS services. He described the upcoming fiscal year 2006 level funded budget as being very similar to the current budget. Use of some services is on the upswing, including on-site consulting and training by NMRLS staff. Web site visitors have increased by over 33 percent over last year. While annual statistics of reference database use are rising slowly, the year-to-date numbers for this year have increased by over 15 percent.

The business was concluded in an expedited manner with the approval of the Minutes, Annual Report, FY2006 Plan of Service/Budget, and the slate of candidates:

Nancy George, Salem State College, was elected for a three-year term as Vice President, President, and Past President. Donna Beales, Lowell General Hospital, Jeffrey Klapes, Lucius Beebe Memorial Library (Wakefield), Thomas Standring, Lay representative, and Giselle Stevens, Shore Country Day School (Beverly) were elected to two-year terms on the Executive Board.

Ms. Herrmann recognized and thanked a number of outgoing Executive Board members:

Brian Archambault, Lawrence Law Library, outgoing Past President, Nancy Sheehan, outgoing Executive Board member, Carol Bacon, Tyngsborough Public Library, outgoing Chair of the Supplementary Deposit Collection Committee, Mary Hichborn, outgoing Chair of the Youth Services Committee, Jeffrey Klapes, outgoing Chair of the Reference Committee, and Marnie Oakes, Reuben Hoar Library (Littleton), outgoing Chair of the ILL Committee.

Barbara Lachance, NMRLS Incoming President, Merrimack College McQuade Library, addressed the membership and reminded them that wherever they travel, they are always library advocates.

After the business meeting adjourned, Elia Marnik, a Commissioner with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, asked the membership to review the MBLC's Legislative Agenda which was distributed on each table and Marlene Heroux, MBLC Liaison to NMRLS, presented news and updates from the MBLC. Krista McLeod, Nevins Memorial Library (Methuen) and Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Library Association's (MLA) Legislative Committee, discussed MLA's online tool for advocacy, which is available at www.masslib.org.

Jane Brox, our Keynote speaker, talked about life on her family's farm in Dracut, and read passages from her latest book, Clearing Land.