Holiday Party Photos

Enjoy photos from the 2008 joint SLA Southern California / LACASIS Holiday party featuring writer and environmental historian Jenny Price.

President's Letter, December 2008

Thanks

At the end of December I complete my year as President of the Southern California Chapter and I want to thank so many of the individuals who have supported the chapter and its initiatives during 2008.

First, I must thank Teresa Bailey who is the 2009 president of the Chapter. Teresa worked tirelessly to bring together a very rich year of programming. From the joint holiday dinner with LACASIS, to a program on SLA membership benefits at the Culinary Institute, to a screening of "The Hollywood Librarian" at LAPL, Teresa had a wonderfully diverse array of programs for the Southern California Chapter members this year. It is wonderful that the Chapter will have Teresa at its helm because she clearly sees challenges ahead and understands that the best way to meet these challenges is by engaging our membership.

In addition to Teresa, my thanks go out to the rest of the Executive Board:

• Bill Lee, who, in addition to his astute management of the Chapter’s finances as the Treasurer, also oversees the Chapter’s discussion list, and has used his CSI talents to uncover problems unknown to even SLA HQ
• Ann Coppin, our Member-At-Large, who has stayed on top on membership issues contacting new Chapter members, and contributing to our recent membership survey
• Susan Hendrickson, our Secretary, who is meticulous in her coverage of Board meetings and discussions, especially when we discuss and vote on issues via e-mail, which is always challenging to capture for the record
• David Midyette, who oversaw Publications and launched the chapter’s blog, and was the liaison with the San Jose State University School of Library & information Science
• Alan Shcroeder, the Chapter’s Past president, who oversaw the Chapter Practices, and will soon be managing the 2009 nominations and elections
  

The 2008 Executive Board met six times in 2008, but also had many more discussions and votes via e-mail, including a flurry of activity in the last few weeks of December.

My thanks also go to the Advisory Board for their work in 2008:

• Archives – Joyce Hardy, for continuing to maintain the Chapter’s archives and mine them for material that the Executive Board requires
• Awards – Ann Shea, for handling the Chapter’s awards and supporting the Chapter’s nominees for SLA awards
• Calendar – Larry Zamora, for keeping our web calendar of events up-to-date
• Ethics Ambassador & Nominations / Elections – Sue Brewsaugh, for being our representative to SLA’s Ethics initiative, and for overseeing this year’s elections
• Job Board – Amy Wegener, for keeping our job listings current
• Mentoring Committee – Maria Brahme, for moving forward with our Mentoring program and linking mentees with professionals
• Newsletter / Blog – Eric Bryan, for managing the Chapter’s newest communication device, its blog
• Scholarship – Peter Johnson, for not only overseeing the Karen Sternheim Memorial Scholarship competition, but for also clarifying the competition’s rules, and for being the main point of contact for the Chapter’s Centennial Stipends
• Scholarship Fundraiser – Brad Rogers, for hosting a successful fundraiser at the San Antonio Winery
• Web Administration – Stacy Barker, for keeping our web site up-to-date
  

Special thanks goes out to everyone who hosted a Chapter program, area lunch, or happy hour. Additionally, I want to thank Kathleen Smith for her work with the Chapter survey, which we hope will guide programming and provide some insight into filling Chapter leadership positions, and Josh Walters, who helped with our uneasy transition into the blogosphere and provided much-needed web support.

Thanks to you all, and hope to see you at a Chapter program in 2009!