TABLE OF CONTENTS

Meetings & Minutes

Attending: Elissa Miller (Arlington County Public Library), Ana Rita Puertas-Meyers (Montgomery County Public Library), María Elena Nino (D.C. Public Library), Mena Whitmore (Pentagon Library), Mario Ascencio (George Mason University), María E. Díaz (Commission for Labor Cooperation), Lucia Acin  (University of Maryland)

I. Tour of the Spanish language collection, including videos, the print collection, and a section about the Maya.

II. Welcome and introduction of new members or visitors

III. National Library Legislative Day Report (Mario and María Elizabeth)

• REFORMA DC members had dinner with Jacqueline Ayala (San Diego) and Camile Alire (New Mexico) at Lauriol Plaza.
• REFORMA was present for the second year in a row for NLLD, June 4th-5th.  This year we enlisted the help of the ALA Washington Office to arrange meetings with congressional representatives and to prepare information packets about REFORMA and ALA.  Other Reformistas present were Sandy Schuckett (Los Angeles) and a member from Louisiana.
• Day One: Meetings with staffers of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (consists of Democrat Latina representatives) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (new caucus of Republican representatives who are Latina and represent Latina districts Republicans) went very well.    
• Day Two: Meetings with Rep. Grijalva (D-AZ), staffer of Rep. Cardoza (D-CA), staffer of Rep. Solis (D-CA), Rep. Becerra (D-CA), staffer of Rep. Rodriguez (D-TX) were very positive.  Rep. Becerra also gave an update on the LEND Act.
• ALA Conference in Orlando: The ALA Washington Office will have a session on NLLD on June 26th @ 9AM

IV. The Chapter bank account (Mario)

A new account will be opened with Wachovia.  They have Non-Profit Checking that does not require a minimum balance and does not charge a monthly account maintenance fee, which were problems with the previous bank.

V. The status of the Chapter

1. National vs. local.  The DC Metro Area Chapter has a wealth of expertise and knowledge about serving the Latin@ and Spanish speaking community.  Develop promotional materials and resources for our web site.   Doing so will communicate explicitly with the library community what our chapter offers at the local level and to serve as a spring board for other potential projects and partnerships.

2. Promotional and marketing materials

Brochure about the DC Metro Area Chapter. 
The initial idea was to create a bilingual brochure.  However, after discussion about who our intended audience is, it was determined that an English language brochure would be produced to distribute to library workers and professionals, students, and various organizations and institutions.  Other considerations were to have it professionally designed and printed.  Mario volunteered to have an initial draft for the brochure available for the next meeting. 

3. Add resources and content to our web site.
   Our web site is very under used as a marketing tool.  It also lacks information about local/regional resources.  At the moment, the following sections will be created and the following people have expressed interest in working on them:

 
1. History of the chapter – María Elizabeth
2. Services and programs for Latina and Spanish speaking community  in library districts and branches – Elissa
3. Local authors, storytellers and other performers – Ana Rita
4. Volunteer and paid employment opportunities in local libraries; professional and academic resources – Lucia
5. Annual calendar of events, festivals and library conferences – Ana Rita
    
4. If any members are interested in getting involved and contributing to any of the projects above or have any questions, they can contact the person listed next to the project or reply to the listserv.  Please let us know before the next meeting so we know who is working on what. As for planning, posting the information and having permission was discussed.  Three members have access to the web site (Katherine, María Elizabeth, and Mario).  Content and/or web pages can be sent to María Elizabeth to post to the site.  Ana Rita also expressed interest in having access.  She also asked if database enabled pages (.asp) can be created through Yahoo for easy updates to web sites.  Additional questions about planning should be addressed at the next meeting.

VI. Future Meetings

Tentative dates and location: July 20th, 21st or 22nd – ALA Washington Office.  After Mario has confirmed the availability of a conference room, more information will be sent via e-mail. The agenda will include:

• Report from members who attended ALA Orlando
• Review draft of brochure
• Update on who will be working on which projects
• Determine logistics and timelines for projects