PRELIMINARY MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Board of Trustees meeting
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012
Present: Neal Brown, Jami Bascom, Mary Ann Grant, Bruce Dodge, Kristin Readel, Gail Smith.
Absent: Bob Marshall. Scott Jones
Minutes Taker: Patricia LaPree
7:11 PM: The meeting was called to order by Chairman Neal Brown.
Review of the minutes of May 2, 2012 meeting. There were two corrections: Scott’s last name is Jones, not Brown, and on page three under other business, subsections c: it was Bob Marshall, not Bruce Dodge who reported. Bruce made the motion to accept the minutes as amended, seconded by Jami. The vote to accept was unanimous in the affirmative. ACTION: Pat will amend the minutes and submit them to the Board members via e-mail and to the Town office for posting on the Town website.
7:14 PM: Spending and Statistical Reports:
1) Bruce reported that he is re-designing the spread sheet to make it more users friendly.
2) Mary Ann reported that the Wensberg Account has been closed. The current month’s revenues included $171.85 for copies and $20.00. from donation. Sanford donated $100.00 toward the summer reading program. The monthly report from the Town Office reflects the budget expenditures accurately, and the current balance as of May 31 is $3814.88.
The Merrill Account has a balance of $5676.38 for books and $4863.91 in the building fund. The Technology fund has a current balance of 113.88 after him expenditure of 800.00 to contract hosting for the Alexandria system for a year.
Mary Ann reported that the Town office provided her with a print out of monthly accounts payables by line item, and will continue to do so monthly.
Neal asked if the town library budget for books has been expended. Gail reported that it will be used up by November, after which funds from the Merrill account will be used.
Statistical Report: The latest stats compiled through Alexandria indicate that Wednesdays have been busier. Jami asked about why the stats were broken down by ours, and staff said it is the best way to track traffic in the Library.
7:25 PM: Librarian’s “Korner”:
a) PDF of the summary of statistics for the month was mailed to the Trustees.
b) Status of transfer of data to the Alexandria system: Kristin reports that there will be a work force volunteer coming in to assist staff with the data transfer. The volunteer is well versed in library cataloging and will do data entry. The staff is averaging 1000 transfers a month. The goal is to have all the cataloguing completed by Fall 2014.
c) The contract with Alexandria to provide hosting services has been signed ad paid for.
d) New scanners will be purchased after some of the other minor glitches with interfacing have been worked out.
e) New thermostats are installed.
f) There is still some water in the basement of the building, but not as bad as it used to be. Mary Ann said that she comes to the building to check during downpours, and that the water quickly disappears if it does accumulate. Discussion followed about whether the final repairs should be a line item for the Town budget or a Capital Reserve item for fiscal year 2013, and to what extent the Town should incur any repair costs since it owns the building. No decision was made.
g) A police report was generated for the incident that resulted in an arrow in the library roof. No further action is needed at this time due to no damage done to the roof.
h) There have been problems with some lights burning out shortly after the bulbs have been changed. DPW recommends calling an electrician about the issue.
i) Kristin reported on summer programs: some donations have been given toward summer activities at the Library, and there are collaborations going on with Crotched Mountain Rehab Center. Area libraries are sharing information about summer programs in an effort to increase advertizing of activities. Bruce suggested that if other libraries are on Facebook that may be another way to increase networking.
7:40: PM: Bob wanted the Board to know that the chair of the Emergency Management Team is working on grants to obtain generators for Town buildings. An electrician has come to the Library to check the specifics out in order for a generator to be hooked up.
7:45 PM: Kristin talked about one of the workshops she attended about how libraries are coming into the e-book/digital age.
7:48 PM: Updating Library Policies: Kristin provided a book “Creating Policies For Results” which contains templates of many policies that can be tailored to fit the needs of the Library. Bruce stated that policies are living documents, always ready to be changed and will never be complete, and that there are many resources available on the Web. Mary Ann said that the Bennington librarian has shared the polices that she has written.Discussion followed about how to begin the process for this library, and that by-laws and an employee handbook should also be written. Jami suggested a subcommittee be formed to begin work on the computer use policy. And suggested that all work be done on the computer so it can be readily shared amongst the committee members. Kristin recommended that each Trustee develop a list of
five policies that they feel are most important to start working on and bring them to the next meeting. ACTION: The Trustees and Library staff will come to the next meeting with a list of the five most important policies that need to be addressed. After a priority list has been developed a sub committee will be formed and meet before the following month’s Board meeting.
8:06 PM: Bruce has talked with Dave Buchannan. He is ready to work on the sign as soon as Bruce has finished the art work. ACTION: Bruce will continue to follow up with Dave. Kristin will look into purchasing a magnetic sign with the library hours on it that can be put on the book drop box.
8:08 PM: Bruce continues to research weather stations and once one is found that will interface with the Library’s computer system, it will be donated by a benefactor. Bruce said that there are many resources on the web for classes and workshops geared toward school children using the weather station.
8:16 PM: Bruce reported that, according to NH RSA 35:72, the Town budget for the Library should be a “gross budget”, including the Merrill fund and that there should be a percentage of the budget indicated that needs to be raised by Town taxes. The Town has to give the Trustees the authority to accept any gift over 5000.00, not including the Friends of the Library because they are a non profit organization. Discussion followed about how concise bookkeeping can delineate what is used from the general fund and the other resources for the Library. Bruce attended a workshop on this subject, and will make the materials from it available at the Library for the Trustees to review.
8:40 PM: Discussion about other workshops that were attended, with topics such as how the Library can get the community excited about it and how to increase it’s visibility in the community. ACTION: Jami will purchase some colored Adirondack chairs to be put in the Courtyard in front of the Library.
8:59 PM: The motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Bruce, seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative.
The next meeting will be June 27 at 7:00PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Patricia LaPree
| 
