From the Director's Desk

March 2, 2011
Beverly J. Obert, Executive Director, Rolling Prairie Library System
Beverly J. Obert, Executive Director

Merger Panel Takes Action 

The Southern System Planning Panel took the following actions at its Feb. 25 & 26th meeting.  The Transition Board for the new System was ratified by the panel.  Names of current board members had been nominated by each System Board.  The Board is as follows:

  • Trustees:  Linda McDonnell, LCLC; JoAnn Nabe, LCLC; Rochelle Funderburg, LTLS; Janet Hasten, LTLS; Val Green, RPLS; Nina Wunderlich, RPLS; Tom Turner, ShLS; Bill Randall, ShLS.

  • School Librarians:  Anieta Trame, LTLS; Karen Bounds, ShLS; Katie Marsh, ShLS.

  • Public Librarians:  Diane Steele, LCLS; Amy Ihnen, RPLS.

  • Academic Librarian:  Scott Drone-Silvers, LTLS.

  • Special Librarian:  Mary Ann Pohl, RPLS.

They will begin their work once the intergovernmental agreement has been adopted by all four systems. 

On Delivery, the Panel approved the Delivery Plan and is asking the System Boards to endorse the plan and begin implementation in March and April.  Much of the plan is already being done in RPLS.  We will send additional information on delivery once we have determined the best course of action for implementation. 

Draft By-laws for the New System were approved and recommended for transmittal to the transition board.  The Strategic Plan added Literacy as a value and LTLS, RPLS and ShLS are asked to endorse this change and LCLC asked to endorse the entire plan.  The Resource Sharing plan has been revised and will be submitted to the System Boards and the membership for review and comment.  We shall let you know where to look and comment as soon as the document is available. 

On membership criteria, the panel moved to recommend to the transition board that all current members be grandfathered into the new system as members at their current status. The membership criteria to be used is based on what is in the law.  The draft membership criteria, developed by the Legal, Governance, Membership committee, will be forwarded to the transition board and the Merger Design Team of the northern systems for comment, discussion and collaboration.

Lastly, and probably what you really want to know, the new System has a name. 

ILLINOIS HEARTLAND LIBRARY SYSTEM

 Beverly J. Obert, Executive Director

Rolling Prairie Library System
A Library for Librarians
Helping Libraries Serve Illinois Citizens