Minutes from October 5, 2011
The Board Meeting for the Trustees of Brown Memorial Library was called to order at 6:00 p.m.
Attendance: Patty Furness, Garry Kalajian, Bea Howe, Lorraine Macleod, Rod Jones, Connie Scheffy, Nola Jordan, 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 September in the amount of $1,063.75. Two summer residents donated $100.00 each. The Labor Day book sale netted $416.75 and we received a $400.00 check from the Masons for the fund-raising dinner they organized on our behalf. The Treasurer also reported that we have received the rest of our 2011 appropriation from the town. Except for “maintenance” all budget line items are pretty much on target. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted as presented.
3. The Librarian’s Report was presented and discussed. Meg noted that while more patrons are making use of the library, the number of materials loaned out has declined. This most likely reflects a change in how libraries are seen by the public. More and more people come in to use the computers or our wi-fi connection. Bea commented on how many people are coming to the library on Sundays. Meg makes coffee, brings in nibbles and has music playing – all of which make the library a very welcoming place to hang out on Sundays. Patty noted the high number of ILL items we have both coming in and going out. The proposed drastic reduction in van service will seriously impact our ability to provide patrons with materials from other libraries and to share items from our collection.
4. Under Old Business, the Trustees discussed changes needed to update the library’s policies. Nola will retype the policies incorporating those changes and the draft document will be considered and voted on at the November meeting. We also need to revisit our policy for public internet access at the next meeting.
5. Bea reported that ESP returned a couple weeks ago and determined that, in fact, the cell phone was not working. Therefore, they installed a radio to serve as the back up line of communication for the alarm. The $444.00 yearly contract with ESP covers monitoring, the radio and a yearly maintenance visit. Problems with the alarm have cost us $2,500.00 so far this year. Hopefully, those issues are settled now and costs in the future should be less than before because we were able to give up the second land line.
6. No patrons have commented on the lowered fee for copying, but Meg has noticed “much cheerful copying” going on.
7. Under New Business, Trustees approved the Treasurer’s draft budget request for 2012. Last year we complied with the Budget Committee’s request for a zero per cent increase. We don’t believe we can do that two years in a row. The salary line item shows a .6% increase and $500.00 has been added to both the maintenance and fuel line items for a total increase of 1.3 per cent. The book budget serves as our slush fund if we overspend a particular line item.
8. Meg explained that “The Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service offered by the State Library is at risk due to a request by the state legislature to report on the possibility of using the federal funds that support this program for other undefined purposes. ” We used to have four vans working five days a week. One van has already been eliminated. Now they want to have only one van serving the entire state. This will drastically affect service. The NH State Library is working hard to fight this proposal and has requested help from library trustees and patrons. We have a petition at the desk which patrons are signing. Nola will prepare a draft letter of protest and circulate it to other trustees for suggestions and approval before it is sent to the appropriate recipient(s).
9. The Columbus Day book sale will be held this Saturday, October 8.
10. The library will once again be giving away children’s books during Halloween Trick or Treating beginning at 4:00 p.m. on October 31 (if that is, in fact, the actual date). Bea has been culling children’s books from book sale donations throughout the year so we should have an adequate supply. All trustees are invited to attend.
11. In observance of NH Open Doors the weekend of November 5 and 6, libraries have been invited to host a local food producer or craftsperson for a demonstration.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, November 2, at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nola Jordan
Secretary