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March 9, 2016 Trustees of the Gale Library Minutes
GALE LIBRARY

                                                                     Established 1892                                                                                                                               
16 South Main Street
Newton New Hampshire 03858
(603) 382-4691
        
DATE: Wednesday, March 9, 2016
TIME: 10:00am
LOCATION: Gale Library, 16 S Main Street

MEETING MINUTES
  • Call to Order: 10:10 A.M.
  • In Attendance: Lynne Camp, Chairperson; Kathy Meserve, Treasurer; Anne Banks, secretary; Terry Caswell, Director.
  • Minutes from the previous meeting held on 2/10/2016: Kathy asked Terry if we had updated the flash drive with the minutes for all months in 2015. Terry and Anne said that had been done and we were all set. Kathy motioned to accept the minutes as written. Lynne seconded. Minutes accepted unanimously.
  • Correspondence and Communications: Terry received a letter from Nancy Wrigley asking for information regarding the date that library staff was last reviewed and salary increases were given. Terry did provide that information.
  • Library Director’s Report: Anne motioned to accept the Director’s report as written. Lynne seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
  • Treasurer’s report: Lynne motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report as written. Anne seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
  • Unfinished Business
  • Board of Trustees’ Bylaws I and II: As discussed last month, we each researched Trustee Bylaws from other New Hampshire towns that were either nearby or of a size similar to Newton. We looked at Kingston, East Kingston, Plaistow, Laconia, and Moultonborough. After discussion we agreed to make several changes to the Gale Library Board of Trustee’s Bylaws. We will add a reference in Article I about the length of a Trustee’s term (3 years) and that the terms should be staggered to provide continuity. We also removed a reference in Article II stating term limits. Lynne wrote up the exact wording and she will type it in so we all have an electronic copy. After reviewing the format of the bylaws of these other towns we also discussed again if we, as a board, needed to have a mission statement separate from the mission statement of the Gale Library itself. We agreed we should have a mission statement, and that we do have words in the bylaws which might suffice, but will revisit the topic once we have finished the review of our current bylaws. We will continue reviewing the Bylaws, next time looking at Article III.
  • Statistical Town Report Review: There was a lot of disparity in the town reports from Kingston, East Kingston, Plaistow, and Moultonborough. Most included the same basic information, but some did it as part of a narrative and some simply listed the statistics. Many did not go into the level of detail that we have been using, and we felt the information was more compelling that way. Kathy pointed out that several libraries mentioned not only the number of materials added to the collection but also the number that were removed, usually due to space restrictions. We all agreed that would be a useful statistic. Terry will also start comparing the year’s statistics with the previous year’s data starting with 2017.  Terry will use a format similar to that used by Kingston and modify her reporting for next year so that it has more impact.
  • New Business
  • Town voting results: The warrant article sponsored by the Library passed, which will allow us to accept donations of goods as well as monetary donations. Anne was re-elected to another 3-year term as Trustee, for which she ran unopposed. Since the town budget did not pass, we will not be receiving the funds we requested to cover our original budget. We will need to review the budget for cuts.
  • Trustee Officer Elections: As required by RSA, we voted on the officer assignments of each trustee. We each agreed to continue in our current position. Kathy moved that we elect Lynne as Chair, Anne as Secretary, and Kathy as Treasurer of the Gale board of Trustees. Anne seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
  • NHLTA Spring Conference Review: The Trustees present all expressed an interest in attending the conference this year. Terry did not attend last year so would like to go this year as well. Julie had planned to go last year but had to cancel at the last minute, and we assume she would like to go this year. There are several sessions that would be particularly beneficial to new trustees. We agreed we will all make our session selections and fill out the forms in preparation for next month’s meeting so that Kathy can cut the check(s) and get us registered. We will apply for at least one scholarship this year, either for Terry or Julie or both.
  • Mileage Rate Adjustment: Terry received a letter from the Town advising that as of February 16, 2016 the selectmen have revised the mileage adjustment from $.58 to $.54. Kathy moved that effective today the library should adopt the same mileage reimbursement policy of $.54 in order to conform to the other town departments. Lynne seconded the motion. Motion passes unanimously.
  • CD Circulation Period Review: Terry has been thinking that the checkout period for CDs should be the same as it is for books, which is 3 weeks. Currently it is 1 week, after which the patron is subject to a fine. After some discussion we all felt this made good sense. Terry will look for references to the CD checkout period and rewrite the policy wherever it is found. She will bring the rewritten references to the next meeting for our approval. The matter has been tabled until then.
  • Carpeting Review: Terry has been working with the Friends’ group on the carpeting, which they would like to replace for us, but we have much research to do before we proceed with replacement. A recent incident has necessitated prompt action to have the downstairs carpet professionally cleaned, and pricing from Stanley Steemer is such that it makes sense to do all of the carpets, both upstairs and downstairs, at this time. Terry has gotten pricing on replacing the carpets, and the Friends are anxious for us to do so, but we know from the Fire Chief that there are insurance and safety considerations that must be weighed before we purchase anything new. Terry will continue working on that to ensure whatever we purchase is compliant with all regulations. She will talk to the Kingston and East Kingston libraries, which have fairly new carpeting, to see what guidelines they went by, and also will talk to the Fire Chief again. Discussion about the new carpeting will be continued at our next meeting.
  • Acceptance of Donations: The library received $.70 in donations, plus books, magazines, and some pencils from the public. Lynne moved to accept donations of $.70 and books, magazines, and some pencils from the public. Kathy seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
  • Friends’ News: The Friends had very successful bake sales in both February and March during the voting. They also sold a few more T-shirts.
  • Monthly invoice Review and Initialing: Review and initialing of invoices was done at this meeting.
  • Next Trustee Meeting: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 10:00 am.
  • Meeting adjourned at 12:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,

Anne D. Banks