Minutes from October 1, 2014
The Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library was called to order at 6:05 p.m.
Attendance: Mary-Chris Duncan, Bea Howe, Connie Scheffy, Patty Furness, Nola Jordan, Robert Toppi, Erica Gross, Garry Kalajian, Meg Fearnley
1. The Secretary’s report was accepted as presented.
2. A motion was made and passed to accept donations to Brown Memorial Library in September in the amount of $567.00. $43.00 of that amount came from our on-going book sale, $194.00 from the Labor Day weekend book sale, and $330.00 from general donations. In terms of expenses, everything is running as expected for this time of year. The treasurer’s report was accepted as presented.
3. Meg expressed disappointment in the circulation figures for September. 33 distinct users downloaded e-books or audio books from the state system during the month and borrowed 134 titles. But so far she has not been able to find out how many times they visited the site. As library patrons are counted each time they enter the building, the patrons who are downloading ought to be counted each time they visit the web site. That would give a more accurate count of actual library users. Meg will continue to see if that is information she can obtain. She also reported that the library has added a new story hour on Wednesdays for toddlers. The Monday program is aimed at pre-schoolers. Live Wire Day Care is bringing children to the library and students from Bradford School are coming every two weeks.
4. Under New Business, the Trustees approved Bea’s draft budget request for 2015. The overall budget shows a 1.9 per cent increase with a 2% increase for employees. The salary line item also includes one extra hour a week for the children’s librarian to enable her to prepare for the two story hours. The budget goes first to the Selectmen, then to the Budget Committee and finally to Town Meeting.
5. Trick or Treating will take place from 5 to 7 on Friday, October 31. Meg, Bea, and Laurie plan to dress as witches and will hand out books to all the ghosts and goblins, super-heroes and princesses. All Trustees are invited to join them.
6. Under Old Business, Bea reported that some of the shingles on the roof are peeling and that there is real concern we could have a problem sooner rather than later. The Town Administrator suggested that we make a request for emergency funds to do the roof right away, before winter. The Trustees voted on a motion to accept Sunapee Valley Builder’s quote of $17,600 to remove the existing shingles and replace them with architectural grade shingles. They are available to do the work soon. After Erica abstained, the motion passed unanimously. The Trustees also approved and signed a letter to the Selectmen requesting the necessary funding.
7. Bea reported that she has pursued the matter of posting our fund-raising notices on the Post Office bulletin board, but that the Post Mistress is standing firm. She says she is already bending the rules to allow non-fund raising notices but that she will go no further. Other options were discussed.
8. According to Bea’s research, opening up the basement for an on-going book sale doesn’t seem to have had a major impact on the success of our two bigger book sales – Memorial Day weekend and July 4th weekend. It was agreed to keep things as they are for the time being.
9. Meg presented a request for $301.37 to sponsor a program called Creative Feast at the library on March 28. The woman who runs the program talks about food in literature and does a cooking demonstration with tasting as well. She recently gave a program at the Newbury Library. Garry and Patty will talk with the librarian there to find out more about it.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at 6:00 p.m.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nola Jordan, Secretary