Library Trustee Minutes 09.01.10
September 4, 2010
Draft Minutes from September 1, 2010
Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library
Attendance: Joan Perry, Bea Howe, Rod Jones, Patty Furness, Lorraine MacLeod & Meg Fearnley
1. The minutes from the last meeting were read and accepted.
2. A motion was made to accept gifts and donations made to Brown Memorial Library in August in the amount of $1233.75. This amount includes $502 raised at the fundraising dinner last Saturday night (net amount after deducting the cost of the food), two donations from grateful summer residents and from FVB for donated yard work. The treasurer’s report was accepted.
3. The librarian presented her report. We surpassed the 1000 mark in adult books circulated. More people are asking about e-books and downloadable audio books. The library was a mad house today, with a large number of children at story time and many patrons.
4. Our next book sale is this Saturday – shifts are covered. We have received many, many, many book donations and the volunteers have been hard at work organizing the sale.
5. The fundraising dinner was discussed. Most of the comments received re: the dinner were positive ones. Our thanks to the Masons for letting us use their hall, to Andy Anderson and the Sandy Gove for the great local vegetables (sold to us at a very low cost), to Oona Tropeano for all her help, and to the trustees who donated some of the food and worked so hard.
6. The 2011 budget was discussed. The treasurer will be presenting the finalized budget at the next meeting. Her recommendation is to keep the budget the same as last year’s, reflecting the current economic times. She pointed out that the staff at the library is traditionally frugal, as illustrated by a story she told about Elsa shopping for trash bags at the Dollar Store and searching through the bin for the ones that had 3 extra bags/box. This is typical of the mentality at the library.
7. The rugs need to be cleaned and it was agreed that Bruce Edwards will be contacted.
8. The state held a Safety Inspection at the library. It resulted in our having to contact the electrician to replace all the safety lights, plus two chairs that only have four casters. While Mike was here, he replaced a ballast on a light fixture.
The next meeting will be October 6, 2010 at 6 pm.
Meeting was adjourned at 7 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Rod Jones, acting secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 08.04.10
August 8, 2010
The Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library was called to order at 6:05 p.m.
Attendance: Patty Furness, Nola Jordan, Erica Gross, Lorraine MacLeod, Bea Howe, Joan Perry + Wilbur, Rod Jones, Meg Fearnley
1. The Secretary’s Report was accepted as presented.
2. A motion was made and passed to accept gifts and donations to Brown Memorial Library in July in the amount of $1,084.78. That amount includes the proceeds from the July 4th book and plant sale. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted as presented.
3. The Librarian’s Report was presented and discussed.
4. Plans for the annual fund-raising dinner on August 28th were discussed. The menu will be: baked “fried” chicken, squash casserole, corn on the cob, potato salad, green bean salad, and corn bread. A sign-up list for desserts is on the check-out desk. Bea and Meg will shop on Thursday using Patty’s Sam’s Club card. Anyone who is available will work at the lodge Friday morning to clean and get as much done ahead of time as possible, while most of the cooking will take place on Saturday. If Friday is especially warm, Erica’s husband will bring over extra fans. Tickets for the 50/50 raffle will go on sale August 14.
5. Bea reported that she has spoken to Cheryl Behr about asking the road crew to do something to alleviate the flooding problem the library experiences during heavy downpours. Water rushes down the side street and right into the basement.
6. Bea’s husband has been working on an improved web site for the library using WordPress. Meg will be able to access the site to put in announcements and information about upcoming programs, new acquisitions, etc. GoDaddy.com will host the site for $4.99 per month plus an annual fee for the use of whatever available name we decide on. The site should be up and running by next month.
7. The trustees agreed to prebuy 1,250 gallons of oil from Ayer & Goss at $2.699/gal. Because last winter was relatively mild, we did not use all the oil we ordered and have a credit of $701.66 to put toward this year’s oil.
8. Joan reported that the library made no request for capital improvement funds. While there are a number of matters that need attention, none would cost more than the minimum necessary to be considered a capital improvement.
9. Bea read a letter she received from the Henniker Rotary Club thanking us for our donation to their Books for Ghana project. Eight institutions in Ghana received books from the program and those books that did not meet the needs of any of the schools were given to individuals for their homes. Since the first shipment was such a success, the Rotary Club plans to fill another container. With help in sorting and packing from Patty, Rod and Tracy Quiqley, Bea delivered another 14 cartons of books to Henniker.
10. Plans were made for the Labor Day weekend book sale on September 4
The next meeting will be Wednesday, September 1, at 6:00 p.m. As the secretary will be out of town, Rod agreed to take the minutes
The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nola Jordan
Secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 07.06.10
July 14, 2010
Minutes
The Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library was called to order at 6:20 p.m.
Attendance: Patty Furness, Nola Jordan, Bea Howe, Lorraine MacLeod, Rod Jones, Meg Fearnley
1. The Secretary’s Report was accepted after two names were corrected.
2. A motion was made and passed to accept gifts and donations to Brown Memorial Library in June in the amount of $688.00. The Memorial Day book and plant sale brought in $574. Bea also reported that we have received the rest of our appropriation for the year. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted as presented.
3. The Librarian’s Report was presented and discussed. The numbers look good. Circulation of children’s materials has increased (probably because of summer vacation) as has the downloading of audio books.
4. Meg had hoped to bring the E-reader to the meeting to let the trustees have a chance to look it over, but it is currently checked out.
5. We were delighted to raise $958.00 at the July book and plant sale – it was a beautiful day and many people were in town for all the events. Once again, many thanks to Janet Sillars and Brian Carter for donating the plants.
6. Detailed planning of the fund-raising dinner will wait till the August meeting. It was decided that the 50/50 raffle will not be limited to the dinner. Tickets will be available a couple weeks ahead of time.
7. Bea thanked all those who worked on (and contributed to) the Reading Bug float for the Fourth of July parade. The float won the blue ribbon for best theme.
8. The trustees expressed their appreciation for all the hard work Sarah Chaffee has put in planting, weeding, and watering the library garden – she has been out there even in the extreme heat.
9. Patty’s friend Tom Turner has done an excellent job repairing the picnic table and coating it with water repellent. He may decide that it needs further attention.
10. Fritz Von Beren has donated $288.75 worth of clean up, bed work, and bush trimming to the library, for which we are very grateful.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, August 4, at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nola Jordan
Secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 06.02.10
June 7, 2010
Minutes from June 2, 2010
The Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library was called to order at 6:05 p.m.
Attendance: Patty Furness, Lorraine MacLeod, Bea Howe, Joan Perry, Rod Jones, Meg Fearnley, Nola Jordan
1. The Secretary’s Report was accepted after being corrected to show that we actually received donations in the amount of $130.50 not $103.50.
2. A motion was made and passed to accept gifts and donations to Brown Memorial Library in May in the amount of $296.00. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted as presented.
3. The Librarian’s Report was presented and discussed. Circulation in most areas was up from April and about typical for May.
4. The May book and plant sale brought in a total of $574.00. The Trustees expressed their appreciation to Janet Sillars and Brian Carter for donating the plants.
5. Though she has not done so yet, Meg will go ahead and purchase a Sony E-reader for the library.
6. It was decided that given what we charge for our August fund-raising dinner, it is just not feasible to have all or part of the meal catered. As before, we will prepare the meal ourselves. Possible menus were discussed and we will come to the July meeting with recipe ideas.
7. Bea reported that the bench and picnic table in front of the library took a beating during the winter. She contacted the man who built them and he suggested sanding them down, applying three heavy coats of marine varnish and building a plywood cover to protect them during future winters. He estimates 3 – 4 hours of labor at $35/hour plus materials. Before we make a decision, Patty will get a second opinion.
8. Bea also reported that she took two truckloads of books to Henniker where the Rotary Club is collecting them for shipment to Ghana. They have already filled a 20’ x 40’ cargo container and hope to fill another. This is a long-term project for them, and we hope to be able to give them more books in the future.
9. “Catch the Reading Bug” will be the theme of our float for the Fourth of July parade. We discussed transforming a small car into a bug that some of us will try to catch with butterfly nets. A planning session will be needed to develop our ideas and delegate the various jobs. The parade is the same day as our July book sale.
10. Trudy Willett and Kate Dobrowski of the Town Safety Committee did an inspection of the library premises and are concerned about the amount and type of items being stored in the furnace room. The wood and many of the other items will be removed soon.
11. Meg reported that the Friends are looking into purchasing a bike rack for the library.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, July 7, at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:58 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nola Jordan
Secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 05.05.10
May 8, 2010
Minutes from May 5, 2010
The Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library was called to order at 6:00 p.m.
Attendance: Patty Furness Lorraine MacLeod
Erica Gross Brooks McCandlish
Bea Howe Joan Perry
Rod Jones Meg Fearnley
Nola Jordan
1. The Secretary’s Report was accepted.
2. A motion was made and passed to accept gifts and donations to Brown Memorial Library in April in the amount of $130.50. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted as presented.
3. The Librarian’s Report was presented and discussed. Numbers were off a bit, possibly because of the early good weather.
4. The Treasurer explained that a number of changes are being made in order to bring the library in compliance with New Hampshire Department of Labor regulations. Payroll will be done every other week and checks will be distributed on alternate Mondays. Employees will have to sign in and out and have been asked to sign waivers agreeing to work through their lunch breaks. A copy of the town safety manual will be easily accessible and Dept. of Labor posters will be displayed.
5. After further discussion, the trustees authorized Meg to purchase a Sony E-Reader for the library. Lorraine will research prices.
6. The next book sale will be held on May 29. We have many duplicate books that are very unlikely to sell. Bea has heard about a group collecting books to send to Ghana. She will find out more. Rod gave Bea the name of a book dealer in Newport who might be interested in buying some of our excess books.
7. The annual fund-raising dinner is tentatively set for the last Saturday in August. The trustees agreed that it was important to repeat the event this year, but are looking into the option of having at least part of the meal catered to help make the workload more manageable. Joan will get some information and prices for the next meeting.
8. Our current page (who works on Sundays) will be leaving soon and Meg has hired a replacement.
9. The trustees approved Meg’s request to extend her hours, making her schedule on Wednesday the same as Monday. She has found it hard to get all her work done in the reduced time frame. Maggi Ainslie’s hours will be reduced accordingly. As Meg’s hourly rate is higher, there will be an increased cost, but the Treasurer says we do have the funds.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, June 2, at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nola Jordan
Secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 04.07.10
April 12, 2010
Minutes from April 7, 2010
The Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library was called to order at 6:00 p.m.
Attendance: Patty Furness, Bea Howe, Nola Jordan, Lorraine MacLeod, Joan Perry, Meg Fearnley
New Board Members Lorraine MacLeod and Nola Jordan were introduced.
Officers were elected as follows:
President: Joan Perry
Treasurer: Bea Howe
Secretary: Nola Jordan
The minutes of the March meeting were read and accepted.
A motion was made and passed to accept gifts and donations made to Brown Memorial Library in March in the amount of $570.59. Proceeds from the Mud Season Book Sale were $506.50, making it a very successful event. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted as presented.
The Librarian’s Report was presented and discussed. Circulation in all categories is up compared with February and better than the same month over the past three years. Attendance at programs has been especially good.
For the benefit of the new members, the Treasurer gave a brief overview of the library budget and of the way funds are managed and disbursed. She explained that certain funds or bequests have been earmarked for particular purposes and in most cases, only the income may be expended.
Lorraine demonstrated and explained how her Kindle works. In addition to purchasing e-books outright, they can also be downloaded from New Hampshire Downloadable Audio Books. Meg has discovered, however, that the system only allows you to download to a Barnes and Noble Nook or a Sony E-Reader. Lorraine will do some research on those two e-readers before the next meeting.
Bea distributed information and registration forms for the Spring Conference of the New Hampshire Library Trustees Association – that event will be held in Portsmouth on May 3.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 5, at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nola Jordan
Secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 03.03.10
March 6, 2010
Minutes from March 3, 2010
Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library
Attendance: Rod Jones, Joan Perry, Bea Howe, Patty Furness, Lorraine MacLeod & Meg Fearnley
1. The minutes from the last meeting were read and accepted.
2. A motion was made to accept gifts and donations made to Brown Memorial Library in February in the amount of $106.60. A partial payment of the town appropriation was requested and received. The treasurer’s report was accepted.
3. The librarian’s report was read for January and February. Circulation is down a bit because of snow days. The pre-schoolers are coming for Story Time every Wednesday when the weather cooperates. Meg looked into purchasing the “Colonial Craftsman” series of books so that we could apply for the New London Rotary Club grant, but the books are out of print and unavailable. She researched possible alternatives but didn’t find anything suitable.
4. The next book sale will be held on March 20th. There are enough volunteers to cover both shifts. We will offer some type of food and hot cider.
5. The purchase of a Kindle for use by library patrons was discussed. The Payson fund could be used for this, as it is set aside for books and technology – a perfect fit. Lorraine will bring hers for all to see at the next meeting.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, April 7 at 6 pm.
Meeting was adjourned at 6:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Rod Jones, acting secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 02.03.10
February 8, 2010
Brown Memorial Library
Minutes from February 3, 2010 Trustee Meeting
Attendance included: Joan Perry, Meg Fearnley, Bea Howe, Rod Jones, Brooks McCandlish, Patty Furness, Erica Gross and Lorraine MacLeod
1. The minutes from the last meeting were read and accepted with the change to #5. The Library budget cut was supposed to read $565.00 instead of $560.00.
2. The Treasurer’s report was read and accepted. A motion was made to accept all donations made to Brown Memorial Library for the month of January, in the amount of $66.50.
3. The Librarian’s report was not available so next month we will review two reports.
4. The water heater has been fixed. As far as the freezing pipes in the bathroom, it was looked at but there is still no resolution on how to proceed in fixing the situation.
5. On Jan 12th, Meg, Joan and Bea attended the budget committee meeting. The proposed library budget was noted and accepted.
6. Two slots for library trustee are opening up for the 3-year term in March.
7. A mini grant is offered by the New London Rotary Club. Meg suggested the Grant could be used towards the purchase of a series called “Colonial Craftsman”. It was noted that the elementary school uses this series during their Colonial Fair. A motion was made and accepted.
8. Next meeting is on March 3rd at 6:00pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:15pm
Respectfully submitted,
Erica Gross, Secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 01.04.10
January 11, 2010
Brown Memorial Library
Minutes from January 4, 2010 Trustee Meeting
Attendance included: Joan Perry, Meg Fearnley, Bea Howe, Rod Jones, Brooks McCandlish and Erica Gross
1. The minutes from the last meeting were read and accepted.
2. The Treasurer’s report was read and accepted. A motion was made to accept all donations made to Brown Memorial Library for the month of December, in the amount of $819.38 ($437.38 – FVB Landscaping donated the bed-work).
3. Librarian’s report was read and approved. Except for the lack of children, all other numbers were up.
4. The downstairs door has been fixed.
5. Bea spoke with Cheryl Behr regarding the budget which was reviewed without any trustee being present. The Selectmen decided that the library budget should be cut by $560.00 from the original budget request submitted to the town. All trustees agree that this cut is something that we can live with. The library budget does go before budget committee on Jan. 12th. All trustees are urged to go if possible.
6. Two slots for library trustee are opening up for the 3 year term in March.
7. A new time has been chosen for the monthly library trustee meeting. The new time will be the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6:00pm.
8. The water heater is still broken. Bea will contact Pickman & Son’s and see when they are available to look at it. While they are at the library we will also have them look at pipes in one of the bathrooms which have been freezing.
9. Next meeting is on February 3rd at 6:00pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm
Respectfully submitted,
Erica Gross, Secretary
Library Trustee Minutes 12.07.09
December 12, 2009
Brown Memorial Library
Draft Minutes from December 7, 2009 Trustee Meeting
Attendance: Joan Perry, Bob Manchester, Bea Howe, Rod Jones, Brooks McCandlish & Meg Fearnley
1. The minutes from the last meeting were read and accepted.
2. A motion was made to accept gifts and donations made to Brown Memorial Library in November in the amount of $260.25 ($241.25 from the book sale). The treasurer’s report was accepted.
3. The librarian’s report was read. Overall circulation is up a bit for the month.
4. The door downstairs has not been fixed yet, but Todd has said he will fix it.
5. Bob will not be running for re-election to the Board next year. Joan will have other commitments on Monday night, which will be a conflict with the trustee meetings, but possibly only for a few months. Discussion ensued regarding a change in the day and time of the meetings. Meetings will remain on Monday nights at 7:30 for the time being.
The next meeting will be January 4, 2010 at 7:30 PM.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:50 PM.
Rod Jones, acting secretary
