Meeting Minutes for 15 July 2003
Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, Austin, TX
3:30 - 4:50 p.m.

In attendance: (9) Adán Benavides (UT Benson), Sarah Bradley-Leighton (UT Benson, LBJ), Paola Ferate-Soto (APL), Irma Flores Manges (APL), Margo Gutierrez (UT Benson), Tom Moran (APL), Steve Reich (APL), Gustavo Soto (APL), Jennifer Thomas (APL).

Agenda
1. Bienvenida/Introductions - Paola Ferate Soto ( Sign-in sheet passed around )
2. Approval of Meeting Minutes from May 20, 2003 Meeting - Adán Benavides
3. Chapter Memberships and Financial Report - Gustavo Soto

Old and New Business
4. Verification of information for REFORMANet and records - Paola Ferate Soto
5. ALA report - Patricia Clark
6. Hoyos - Holes - Paola Ferate Soto
· Book Purchase?
· Discussion Groups: where? Who will lead? When?
7. Quilt Project - Paola Ferate Soto
· Distribute flyers from Children's Museum
· Locations? When?
· Tasks to be completed?
8. Book Lists - Margo Gutiérrez
9. New Member's Packet - Jennifer Thomas
10. Brainstorm on possible speakers for this year - Group Discussion
11. Additional Discussion Points and Announcements

Minutes

1. Paola opened the meeting and reminded everyone about the need keep membership up-to-date.

2. The minutes from the May 2003 meeting were approved as submitted.

3. Gustavo announced that the chapter treasury has a balance of about $1000. Discussion followed on reissuing a check for $500 to Día de los Niños because the first check had been lost. It was decided to send a new check to Bob Rush, but with a note that the chapter would like to be reimbursed for the costs for stopping payment on the first one.

Old and New Business

4. Paola announced that members whose REFORMA memberships have been properly credited should have or will shortly have verification through REFORMNet.

5. "Patricia Clark's report from ALA/Toronto 2003" was read by Paola. Patricia attended the following events: Committee Board Meeting, Scholarship Fundraiser, and the Membership Meeting. "Because there was not a quorum at any of the meetings, they became informational meetings only and no decisions were made." A copy of the report will be sent via e-mail to members by Paola.

6. Discussion then followed on Holes-Hoyos by Louis Sachar. It was decided to give $80 for the purchase of 10 additional copies to Austin Public Library. Paola would pursue the issue and look into the possibility of crediting the chapter with appropriate gift bookplates. A group discussion of the work will be held on 1 October at Republic Square with the author in attendance. It was suggested that UT faculty members and their graduate students in Spanish be asked to participate as moderators at other gatherings; these included professors César Salgado and Naomi Linstrom. Discussion groups would be held at APL branch libraries, Terrazas and Cepeda, on various dates beginning on 6 September at Cepeda.

7. Extensive discussion on the "Quilt Project" which will relate to the Carmen Lomas
Garza exhibit which will be at the Children's Museum from July 12, 2003 to
January 10, 2004. The idea is spear-headed by Brenda Zendeja at the Children's Museum. Quilting, in this case, involves using precut fabrics and other decorative elements applied with glue. Chapter members plan to participate by providing an opportunity of children to make their "quilt squares" at a branch library. It was suggested that sources for materials be sought from Hancock Fabrics and the Fabric Shop; that UT organizations be asked for volunteers, including the Chicana(o) / Latina(o) Graduate Students Association and the Hispanic/Faculty Staff Association; and that food and refreshments be sought from La Mexicana, McDonald's, El Sol y La Luna, and Las Manitas.

8. Margo Gutiérrez discussed the creation of annotated booklists appropriate for k-2 and k-3 on bilingual, Spanish, or English works with Latino themes. The lists would contain 15-25 titles, perhaps listed in sections by language. Other possible bibliographies might be made of "classics," picture books for a younger audience, and titles suitable for the next level all, of course, still in print. A meeting will be held on Friday, 18 July, Cepeda Branch at 2:00 p.m. of interested participants. The lists would be useful for Spanish-language book distributors. The lists would be distributed in a variety of ways: e-mailed to AISD, available through the REFORMA website, and included in the new members packet. Later in the meeting, it was mentioned that it might be useful to create a list of idioms (Spanish/English) and annotated list of specialized dictionaries (medical, legal, local Texas usage).

9. Jennifer Thomas introduced the topic of the creation of "new member packets" which would be useful for recruitment and publicity. Materials to be included would be our booklists, brochure, stickers, and bookmarks-all with our chapter logo and contact information. These could be distributed at REFORMA representation at TLA. Sarah Sarah Bradley-Leighton suggested that K-READ (Austin publishing company) might contribute stickers. Adán will inquire about costs for producing a bi-fold brochure.

10. Margo recommended that members contact Ron Pollack at the Information School about mentoring IS students.

11. Speakers who might be invited to make presentation to chapter members were discussed. Most tended to be historians and included Emilio Zamora, Andrés Tijerina, Teresa Palomo Acosta, Ruthe Winegarten, and Frank de la Teja. Emilio Zamora will be asked to speak in November.

12. Members were asked to start thinking about having a spring fundraiser.

13. The Texas Book Festival Committee will meet in Austin, 7-9 November. Elva Garza and Margo Gutiérrez are on the publicity committee for it. Members were asked to consider ways in which to increase the representation of Spanish-language books.

The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.

The next chapter meeting is 17 September 2003, at noon at Nuevo León Restaurant.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Adán Benavides, 16 September 2003.