Members attending:

The meeting began at 10 a.m. with introductory remarks from Dorothy S. Ridings, President of the Council on Foundations. Ms. Ridings welcomed the Consortium, remarked on the valuable skill set that this group of librarians will bring to the Council, and confirmed the wisdom of the group's decision to formally align with the Council as an affinity group. Ms. Ridings also praised Council Librarian, Jamie Coniglio, for her outstanding leadership and organizational skills that have notably improved the Council's ability to provide information services and resources to its constituents. Sunshine Overkamp, Vice-President for Constituent Relations, then addressed the Consortium, welcoming the group and also echoing Ms. Ridings' praise for all of the work done by Jamie in moving the mission of the library forward.

Next, Suzanne Cole, CFL chair, welcomed Susanne Pichler, who has recently taken the position of Librarian at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, replacing the retiring Kamla Motihar.

Suzanne then discussed the progress of the application process for joining the Council on Foundations as an affinity group. She explained that though the paperwork is still in process, now that three Council grantmaking members have been formally identified as sponsors- Pew Charitable Trusts, Carnegie Corporation, and the Robert Wood Johnson - the group now expects the application process to be completed successfully and without incident. Suzanne then discussed some of the expected benefits of the Consortium's alliance with the Council:
(1) CFL now will have a vehicle to help direct its efforts outwardly toward the larger philanthropic community;
(2) CFL may now more easily contribute professionally to its niche within the field of special libraries;
(3) Consortium members hope to more easily obtain group discounts on information products and services;
(4) the Consortium anticipates working with the Foundation Center more closely to help improve the quality of grant coding;
(5) greater membership should improve the ability of the group in its quest to create a core philanthropy collection and establish baseline needs for new foundation libraries;
(6) the generosity of the Council in giving CFL its own Internet domain allows the group to create its own website and set up an electronic mailing list that allows members to communicate, exchange ideas, and swap resources; and
(7) the formal alignment with the Council of Foundations is a public relations boon for CFL members within their respective organizations - the professional respect accorded the Council on Foundations by its members will undoubtedly spill over into relations between CFL librarians and their own organization's staff.

Suzanne encouraged all members to sign up for the CFL electronic mailing list, which can be done through the Web site: www.foundationlibraries.org. Please follow the directions to sign up for the list.

Next, the group turned its attention to the upcoming Council on Foundations national conference that will take place from April 30 - May 2, 2001. Jamie Coniglio explained that CFL was unable to be included in the formal conference schedule. This, however, might be a blessing in disguise, as the group would still like to conduct a session at this conference - this "off the record" session, therefore, might help reduce the "glare of the spotlight" and provide for sort of a "soft entry" for this new affinity group of the Council. Jamie is working with the conference planners to find us a time slot and room. Together the group developed a panel session for the conference, with Susan Fingerman acting as moderator. The session is tentatively entitled, "Wouldn't You Rather Read than Search?"
The speakers will be: