Congregational Libraries Today, Volume 45, Number 4, 2012 Page: 3

                                
Mary Lou Henneman, awards chair, and Martha Huntley,
Rodda book award chair, have both done a wonderful job
keeping our awards programs going. Both are retiring this
year and we wish them well. Glenda Strombom, longtime
enthusiastic president of the San Jose Bay Area chapter,
will be the new awards chair. Phyllis Wendorf, the capable
president of the NE Ohio chapter, will be in charge of the
Rodda book award committee. Please watch the CSLA
emails and website for announcements about both of
these great programs.
Alrene Hall is retiring from the board after close to
twenty years of service. Alrene will be continuing with the
correspondence course students and is working hard to
finish a rewriting of Betty McMichael's book, newly titled
The Church Library in the 21St Century. We look forward to
reading Alrene's book but we will miss her on the Board.
Cheryl Cutchin, our talented outgoing chapters
coordinator and incoming first vice president/president
elect, had an idea for a virtual chapter about a year ago.
It was planned primarily for those who live in areas where
there is no chapter. The idea is still in its infancy and will
be nurtured further by Marcia Trauernicht, the incoming
chapters coordinator. Marcia is from the Western New
York chapter and is a librarian at the Rochester Institute of
Technology. In addition, Cheryl has volunteered to be our
interim website coordinator.
Pat Shufeldt, Finance Chair, continues to amaze all of us
with her research skills and her colorful Excel spreadsheets
containing all sorts of comparisons of CSLA income and
expenses during current and past years.
Dottie Lewis, outgoing publications chair has managed
to keep the quarterly journal going and oversaw the
production of two outstanding guides during a year
marked by personal sadness. She worked with a talented
editor, Jeri Zulli, and our own Monica Tenney who is the
Media Review Editor par excellence. Dottie also has taken
care of the CSLA Archives.
And, of course, where would CSLA be without Judy
Janzen, our devoted administrator, who spends endless
hours working on your behalf? She is the friendly voice on
the phone and the "JJ" who signs those neat emails. She
even has a new office from which to greet you.
In addition, we have had many members participate on
committees, and we ask everyone to join a committee
if at all possible. Some of our members are participating
as part of the website team. This is a new venture for
the association. You may be aware that it is not unusual
for small businesses and non-profit organizations, such
as religious congregations, to have a website where one
or more of the employees or volunteers post their own
entries. This is considered a content management system

and after extensive research it was decided to seek a web
designer to set up such a structure for CSLA. We settled
on a teenager, a high-school junior, who has his own web
design business. In the course of the past year there have
been many challenges with developing the new site and
some basic postings on the old site. The new site was
finally launched on June 21. Now, we are aware that some
have had problems logging on. If you have a problem,
please, contact Judy or me and we will do whatever we
can to help. The system is based on your email and for a
variety of reasons it may be that the email address you are
now using is not the same as what is in our directory. For
both the website and for email notices, it is important that
we have everyone's correct email address. We do have a
website team who will be trained shortly in the posting
of entries. Judy Janzen will take care of the membership
directory, Marjorie Smink will do the awards and
conference pages, Marcia Trauernicht will post chapter-
related items, Cheryl Cutchin will post advertisements,
Ralph Harstock is in charge of the Facebook page, and Pat
Shufeldt is eager to send you a tweet. All of this will take
time, but we are prepared to get started and build up the
new site. We have the basics. We are ready to embrace
the concept that "all the world's a stage." Now we have to
be the actors in it and make the most of it.
As you can see, there is a great deal to do, and it will
take a concerted effort by everyone working together
to accomplish our goal of keeping CSLA in the forefront
of congregational librarianship. So I ask you to join with
me and the outgoing and incoming board members in
strengthening your commitment to CSLA. We all have
something to give; we all have something to share. The
road ahead is not a smooth one-I wish it were. But we
can make our dreams come true by cooperating and
offering our services and support in a meaningful way.
Thank you all for the honor of serving as your president
duringthis past year and for the opportunity to serve again.
As I do so, these words from a section on Connections in
a book entitled Day By Day, edited by Rabbi Chaim Stern,
come to mind:
"Renew my vision, O God; give meaning to my life and
substance to my hopes; help me understand those about
me and fill me with the desire to serve them. Let me
remember that I depend on them as they depend on me;
quicken my heart and hand to reach for them, and teach
me to make my words of prayer fruitful by deeds of loving-
kindness."
Thank you and God Bless CSLA.
May the peace and joy of the holiday season be with
you, your family, and your friends.
-Evelyn Pockrass, epockrass@iquest.net
fourth issue  2012