Dear NJLA Members,

It’s just 41 days until the NJLA Annual Conference. This year’s theme is “Breaking Barriers.” We hope to see you there!

NJLA’s Executive Board met on Tuesday, April 16. Here are some of the highlights.

• NJLA Strategic planning continues, and we are on track to have a new plan in place by the time NJLA’s next fiscal year starts on July 1. Based on survey and focus group feedback from you and the rest of NJLA’s membership, the plan concept includes four areas of focus:

• Ensuring opportunities exist in NJLA for all library workers and advocates;
• Defining, investing in, and increasing member engagement
• Advocacy
• Organizational sustainability 

We are also developing a new mission statement and updating our core values. We look forward to getting your feedback on the proposed  plan at the conference, and incorporating your thoughts into the plan before it is approved.

• NJLA’s 2023 audit is complete, with no issues.  We anticipate an easier process next year, now that NJLA’s investment partner is the Community Foundation of New Jersey.

• NJLA and NJASL are close to signing a contract for a merged conference in 2026-2028, occurring the Wednesday-Friday after Presidents’ Day in February. 

• We worked with Porzio, NJLA’s lobbying firm, to adjust our funding request to legislators, and continued coordinating support for New Jersey’s Freedom to Read bill. We learned just before last month’s Executive Board meeting that the budget includes a proposed 20% decrease in “Network Funding” (See D-350, which is page 423 in the PDF version of the proposed FY 25 budget). Brett Bonfield, NJLA’s Executive Director provided testimony at the New Jersey Senate Budget Hearing on March 26 requesting restored Library Network funding, and continued to work on New Jersey’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget to ensure that libraries have adequate funding.

• We sent out a survey to every public and academic library director on April 4.  It has three goals:

• To identify potential needs and partners for library funding. Construction funding will be one of our primary advocacy goals next year.
• To create a resource list to share with libraries (e.g. attorneys).
• To identify potential exhibitors for NJLA's conference.

We have 57 responses as of noon on April 18.  If you are a director and have not received the survey, please contact [email protected].

• Section Election ballots were released to NJLA’s membership on April 15. Kate Jaggers led this process, ensuring it stayed on schedule. Thank you, Kate!

• Conference Registration is ongoing.  Registration as of 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 18 is 361 (vs. 268 on April 29 last year, which is the first time we took a snapshot) and Exhibitor registration is 54 (vs. a total of 57 last year). The Conference Committee has added a new program called "Lightning Talks." We would love to hear about your library program successes in this new, shorter, and more inclusive conference format.

Board meetings are open and we welcome your attendance. Check njla.org/executive-board-agendas for dates and meeting links. You can also find Organizational Updates at njla.org/organizational-updates.

We would love to hear your feedback about this update or any other NJLA service. Please contact us using the methods below.

We appreciate you,

- Brett, Katy, and Alicia