The annual business meeting of the Public Library Division of the Art
Libraries Society of North
America was held March 9, 1998 with eight members attending.    Executive
Board members
attending the meeting included Kitty Chibnik, ARLIS/NA Treasurer, to report
on progress and
activities to the Board and Kathy Wayne, ARLIS/NA
Vice-President/President-Elect, who briefly
visited the group to outline her duties as board liaison to the divisions
and sections.

Suzy Frechette (St. Louis Public Library), Division Moderator, opened the
meeting.  Martha
Maier (Providence Public Library) volunteered to serve as meeting recorder.
 Suzy offered
congratulations to William Dane (Newark Public Library) for his
Distinguished Service Award
presented at the Convocation. Following a round of applause for Bill's
recognition, those
members in attendance introduced themselves and described their various
responsibilites.
Jeffrey Stephens (Queens (New York, N.Y.) Public Library) announced that he
had joined the
Division.  He had previously been a member of the Museum Division.  All
heartily welcomed
him.  William Lang (Freer Library of Philadelphia) stated that he had
assumed responsibility for
that library's Special Collections Department.  Everyone expressed the hope
that Bill will
continue his strong association with the Public Library Division.

Suzy Frechette then proposed the naming of a Moderator and Column Editor
for the next
business year.  She suggested that the two postions be combined into one
person.  Those in
attendance agreed.  Carl Baker (Beverly Hills Public Library) volunteered
to serve as combined
Moderator/Column Editor.  Carl also reported on the highly successful
conference program on
auction sales catalogues. The Division, along with the Decorative Arts
Roundtable, sponsored
the event.

Suzy Frechette opened the floor for further discussion.  Topics recognized
and discussed
included: (1) the ARLIS/NA Strategic Plan. The Moderator suggested that we
each become
familiar with its contents and goals.  It is an action plan for the
Society;  (2) ARLIS-L.  All agreed
that a specific electronic list was not needed for  the Public Library
Division at this time; (3)
Discussion group meetings.  Although requested, no specific location and
time was set aside in
the Philadelphia conference program for a Public Library Division
discussion group meeting.
The planners seemed not to want to commit a block of time or place for this
purpose.  Given the
popularity and success of the discussion group meeting last year in San
Antonio the members
thought the Division should request that a concrete time and location be
scheduled for the
Vancourver conference; (4) Statistic Task Force.  No action has been taken
on part of the
Division.  Kitty Chibnik reported that the Executive Board has not moved
very far on the issue
itself; (5) Create e-mail distribution list of Public Library Division
members.  This issue needs to
be investigated since it was reported that the current list on ARLIS-L is
inaccurate.

The next topic of discussion was the Vancouver Conference.  The Moderator
was asked about
the process of suggesting ideas for programs, sessions, workshops, etc.
Kitty Chibnik helped
answer the questions by outlining the procedures.  She also stressed the
importance of meeting
deadlines for all conference proposals and requests for funding.  Suzy
Frechette promoted the
idea of joint-sponsorship--suggesting that this was an excellent way for
the Division to participate
in future conferences.  Several ideas were advanced for programs at the
Vancourver
conference.  These included:  (1) The digitizing of image files.  These
files might include vertical
file images, historical photographs, etc.; (2) Liaison between public and
art museum libraries.
Both have similar clientele to serve and each could benefit from a sharing
of each others unique
material and human resources; and (3) Collection development: How to deal
with gifts.  Several
members indicated they may develop these ideas and submit them as proposals
to the
Vancouver conference planners.

A motion was offered from the floor to thank Suzy Frechette for her
outstanding service and
perseverance in keeping the Division alive and well during the past two
years.  The motion was
seconded and unanimously passed by all members present signifying "aye."

As there was no further business to discuss the 1998 Business Meeting was
adjourned.


Beverly Hills Public Library
Fine Arts Division
444 N. Rexford Dr.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

TEL: 310 288-2234
FAX: 310 247-0536

E-MAIL: ls-finearts@earthlink.net