MINUTES
STPHENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY TRUSTEES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 2012
Present: Scott Jones, Mary Ann Grant, Neal Brown, Gail Smith, Kristein Readel, Jami Bascom, Andre Wood.
Absent: Bruce Dodge, Bob Marshall
7:00 PM- Before the formal meeting, Kristin, Scott and Neal walked the exterior perimeter of the building to look at the foundation, railings on the old Library steps and the bulkhead area. ACTION: Neal will talk to DPW Director Murray about the Library’s needs.
7:09 PM: The meeting was called to order by Neal. Scott Jones was asked to be a voting member for the meeting in lieu of Bruce Dodge’s absence. Scott agreed to do so.
7:10 PM: Review of the minutes from August 1, 2012, and review of Action items from last month:
One addition was noted: to put dollar signs ($) before the monetary figures in the Treasurer’s report. Neal motioned to accept the minutes as amended, seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative. ACTION: Pat will put $ in front of all monetary numbers in the body of the minutes, and will do so in the future minutes. The approved minutes will be sent to the Town Administrator to post on the Town website, and copied to Jami to put in the Secretary’s book.
Review of Action items from last month’s meeting:
Mary Ann followed up with Andre and he has provided a bill for services in the amount of $200.00 to date.
Gail looked into magazine racks, and the costs range from $139.00 to $173.00. This expenditure will be written into the fiscal year 2013budget.
Mary Ann spoke to the TA about the Trustee’s concerns with the Library staff tending to the weeding and bed cleaning. The request has been made that the Trustees know the scope of the Town contracted landscaping services for the Library. Discussion followed about how to get the flower beds ready for winter and other maintenance of the grounds. Scott suggested that it may be a community service project for the Boy Scouts. ACTION: Scott will look at what needs to be done at the Library and go to the next Scout’s meeting on September 6 with a proposal for a community project.
A budget work meeting for the Trustees and staff will be held September 12, 2012 at 6:30 PM at the Library.
7:27 PM: Treasurer’s report/Spending report.
The Trustees reviewed the expenditures and budget to date. Mary Ann noted that the budget overall is at 64% expended for the year, which is appropriate for the ninth month of the budget. Mary Ann reports that the fire/security system has had the annual inspection and service done and there is a balance of $186.00 in the line item for this. The $1886.63 amount left in the books/periodicals/videos line item does not reflect the $612.00 expended as of this time. Mary Ann also reported that she spoke with Karen Day about the Library contributing to the Meeting House repairs, and Karen said that the Library should use any leftover budget to attend to maintenance issues for the Library building. The trustees asked if Pat was willing to accept two month’s payment for clerical services in March 2013 ( for February 2013 and
March 2013 Trustees Meetings), so the clerical wages line item will not have to be reimbursed pending the acquisition of funds from the new budget, and she agreed to do so.
The status of the spreadsheet that Bruce has been working on will be tabled until the next Trustees meeting in October.
7:43 PM- Librarians’ Corner:
Status of the building maintenance list: The building maintenance list has been provided to the DPW director and the TA.
Monthly stats: Gail provided statistics for the month of August. The computer use continues to increase consistently, although Kristin noted that there is less use on Saturdays. There were slight decreases in the number of visitors and in circulation from August 2011.
Status of transferring catalogue data: The volunteer was on vacation for a week, and then had car trouble so she has not been back for a week. She has kept in touch with staff and will return as soon as possible. Dylan Jones has entered all the information to update the DVD catalogue, including the recent donations.
Other matters: Kristin reported that someone left a book donation to the library in the book drop box. She said it was a large amount of textbooks and most of it was not usable for the library or the library book sale. Discussion followed about how best to inform the public about appropriate donations to the Library versus taking the books to the Recycling Center book shed, such as a note in The Spirit, a sign n the book drop box and asking for a volunteer to sell them on E-Bay.
7:15 PM – 2013 Budget:
There will be a work meeting for the Trustees and the Staff on September 12 @ 6:30 PM at the Library. Neal will inform the absent Trustees via e-mail.
7:20 PM – Mission Statement and Goals for Library Policies Manual:
Jami reported that she and Bruce have been working on the existing by-laws and have gotten through three of them so far. Jami and Bruce provided the Trustees with a copy of a Mission Statement and Goals that they have worked up for the Policies update. Lengthy discussion followed about the generality of the Mission statement and the broad language in the goals statement. The Trustees agreed to revise the Mission statement to read as follows:
“Our mission is to link Greenfield to the world by providing information in a variety of formats that educate, inspire and entertain in a welcoming environment of life long learning.”
The Goals statement was revised to read as follows:
“1. To develop the collection to meet the needs of patrons and expand their horizons.
To become a cultural center for our town.
To maintain the building and grounds so that the Library remains an inviting place for the community to gather.
To embrace the process of continual improvement to meet the current and future needs of our patrons.”
Jami motioned to accept the Mission statement and Goals statement as revised. Neal seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative. ACTION: Jami will set up another meeting to continue work on the by-laws when everyone meets for the budget work meeting on September 12.
8:25PM – Old Business:
Rescheduling the Weston Lab visit: Bob, Kristin Jami and Neal want to go. ACTION: Neal will contact Weston Labs and e-mail these people with available dates for a visit.
Repainting the Library exterior: Neal reported that he has talked with DPW Director Murray and a painter will be sought that will be able to do the repairs needed as well as the exterior painting. The DPW Director will need to be consulted about the work.
Library foundation repairs: Neal suggested that the repairs should start at the bulkhead area. ACTION: Neal will talk to the DPW Director about a better way to divert water runoff from the bulkhead area.
Sanford’s proposal for installation of the air conditioning system: A copy of the three proposals that Sanford provided for the job were given to the Trustees and staff. Discussion followed about how to increase the cooling of the Library building for the next summer season due to the unlikely event that air conditioning will be installed in 2013. Some of the ideas were to put light blocking film or white wash the south windows. Jami suggested that the Trustees bring up the need for the air conditioning system at the budget meeting with the Select Board and identify that the need extends beyond the comfort of the patrons and staff to maintaining the book inventory. ACTION: Neal will contact Dale Sanford to inquire about the costs of electricity incurred with the increased
efficiency of the heat pump part of the bid.
8:45 PM- Jami made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Scott seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative.
The next regular monthly meeting of the Trustees will be October 3, 2012 at 7:00 PM at the Library.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia LaPree
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