Minutes of Friends of the Anacortes Library meeting, June 13, 2019
Friends of the Anacortes Public Library Minutes of the Meeting
June 13, 2019
Present: Kay O'Connell, Barbara King, Jeane Smith, Brian Tibbetts, Susan Rooks, Linda Falken, Ruth Barefoot, Gary Molyneaux
Call to Order: President Kay O'Connell brought the meeting to order at 2:05 pm.
Minutes: The 5/9/19 minutes were approved.
Treasurer's Report – Brian Tibbetts
The detailed balance sheet as of 6/11/19 and the detailed cash flow report from 5/9/19 through 6/11/19 were accepted as presented and are filed in the Recording Secretary's notebook. Income 5/9/19 through 6/11/19 was $2,889.38 and expenses were $593.68. The total in budgeted accounts, the future budget reserve, and special donation accounts as of 6/11/19 was $78,602.84. Total financial assets were $150,908.14. Ruth Barefoot indicated that the $191.45 remaining for adult programs is sufficient.
Money spent on promotional materials is for the library not the FOL.
Approximately $3300 from the Maxson Fund went for a play table in the Children's Library. The FOL will assign any internal audits to board members not associated with financial tasks. Treasurer Brian Tibbetts at an unspecified point will need to be replaced. Locating and training such a person is of the utmost importance.
Jeane Smith made the following motion: the four FOL Board officers should all be legally ableto sign checks. Barb King amended the motion to say: the treasurer, vice-president, and president are to be check co-signers with a procedure set up for due diligence. Linda Falken seconded. The amended motion passed.
Jeane Smith made a motion to ask Banner Bank for either free or paid monthly copies of cancelled checks. The Board approved.
Susan Rooks recommended that whether we were covered or not by OPMA requirements we should consider following as many of the requirements as possible. Ruth Barefoot will investigate this.
Correspondence Report – Corresponding Secretary Jeane Smith
No correspondence.
President's Report – Kay O'Connell
This month Kay wrote a Letter to the Editor of the Anacortes American in response to one entitled “Concerned with Change at the Library.” The complainant felt the library should own certain classic books and was not mollified when Interlibrary Loan was offered. She also deplored the Family Place Library.
At the Library Redesign Update workshop on June 5th Kay collected thank-yous for her letter from Mayor Gere and members of the audience, which was about thirty-three strong. As an outcome Ruth Barefoot is forming a writing group to promote the Library and address citizen concerns. Both Susan Rooks and Kay are invited to participate in the writing group. The City and the Library are not positioned to reply themselves via an editorial.
The powerpoint printout from the workshop and Kay's letter to the editor are on a clipboard in the FriendShop.
Jeff Vogel wrote a letter to Kay about the collection development policy in the face of limited
shelving and demand for new formats. It will be included in the summer newsletter (deadline July 4) along with the FOL history Susan Rooks researched.
Kay is having minor hand surgery before the next newsletter, so she is looking for completed text to print. Barbara King should have a profile in the newsletter as the Interim FriendShop Manager.
Kay will continue work on by-law revision with Gary Molyneaux, Linda Falken, and Barbara King.
Kay bought a new filing system to handle FOL mail, notices, etc. intended for Board members.
Vice -President/Membership Report – Linda Falken
This month has seen a sharp uptick in new memberships with ten new members joining and another six members renewing their individual/family memberships. A lot of these newer members were the result of people attending the June 2nd art show reception in the meeting room, where Linda sat with membership brochures at the entrance and encountered a number of people who were interested in becoming more involved with the Friends. Kudos to Jeane Smith and her FOL Art Committee members for the coffee, cookies, and lovely fresh flowers that graced the table at the door, all of which helped put people in the appropriate frame of mind to offer cash and/or checks toward their membership dues.
In addition, Linda updated the mailing label files to reflect the purging of thirty-four lapsed members as of May 2019 (some of whom were reported as deceased or for whom there was no valid forwarding mailing address). These lapsed members had not renewed their memberships since 2017. However, even with those thirty-four removed, our total active (i.e. paid through the end of last year) membership count is now at 172, in part because newer memberships are on the rise. (Thanks go to Gary Molyneaux and Jeane Smith for their efforts over the past month re: attracting newer members to our group.) Linda has created another mailing label file of addresses for those lapsed members for whom we have no updating information. She will be mailing out a notice asking them if they are interested in re-upping with the FOL. (If there are valid e-mail addresses for any of these, notices will be sent electronically.) Linda does not expect that this will result in many renewals – but it will give her an opportunity to start telling these members about some of the 50th anniversary events that are coming up this fall.
Current webmaster, Patrick Gallagher, has offered to help with setting up an e-mail contact list for members who have shared their e-mail addresses. Patrick and Linda are looking into using a Gmail account to do this, as there is no cost associated with those types of accounts. Linda will be able to report more details on this project later into the summer. She is hoping that this will be an additional option for contacting members regarding upcoming events for our anniversary, plus notification of proposed bylaw changes that will need to be approved.
Foundation/Library Report – Ruth Barefoot
The Maxson's dedication plaque is now up at the Children's Library.
The Foundation Board is excited about library changes. The Board will have a soiree for large donors.
The library will be closed September 16 - 30 for the laying of new carpet on the first floor. The first floor back areas will remain open and the FriendShop may also be open. There will be newspapers and seating in the lobby and/or meeting room.
Michele Hannah has been hired as the new administrative assistant.
FriendShop Report – Barbara King
The income for May 2019 was $2100.10.
Terry Todd and Barbara have been making minor changes in the FriendShop in an effort to
facilitate the sale of books, especially those deemed worthy of sale, but not selling. The existing volunteers are doing a great job not only at the desk but also pricing and weeding stock on the shelves.
Lots of book donations are coming in. Rhonda Doster takes anything we can give her except small paperbacks. Jeff Vogel is helping by initially filtering donations. Volunteers are needed, both regular and subs. Barbara has set up a FriendShop Volunteers group on her home computer for “bulk mailings.”
Old Business
Website: Patrick Gallagher, Stephanie Meehan, and Linda Falken continue developing the
Weebly website. Changes include making the site a FOL site not just FriendShop. Depending upon the service, site fees can range from free to approximately $120/year.
Ad: The FriendShop Clamdigger ad is now correct.
Art Gallery: So far $219 has been received in commissions. There is no fall exhibit. Membership: Outreach to various organizations and businesses has not been too successful.
The recruiting approach needs to be rethought.
Bylaws: The committee needs to set a date to continue work on the bylaws. Gary Molyneaux gave an overview of the committee revisions and stated the bylaws need to be a membership privy document.
50th Anniversary:
Jeanne Smith is finalizing the schedule. Jeane will contact schools about the clown event.
Susan Rooks was thanked for her work on FOL history and her publicity efforts. Susan will continue to help publicize the 50th celebration.
Ruth Barefoot is in charge of buying 500 magnets which will serve as a commemorative of the 50th anniversary. Magnet imprints will include: web address, founded 1969, and books. Linda Falken made a motion to limit magnet cost to $200. Kay O'Connell seconded. Motion was approved. Jeane Smith made the following motion: 50th anniversary expenses are not to exceed $400. Barbara King seconded. Motion was approved.
Stephanie Meehan is working on a 50th anniversary image presentation for the website. Ruth Barefoot again mentioned a slide presentation.
Meeting adjourned: 3:45 pm
Next Meeting: 2:00 pm on July 11, 2019 Respectfully submitted,
Barbara King, Recording Secretary
June 13, 2019
Present: Kay O'Connell, Barbara King, Jeane Smith, Brian Tibbetts, Susan Rooks, Linda Falken, Ruth Barefoot, Gary Molyneaux
Call to Order: President Kay O'Connell brought the meeting to order at 2:05 pm.
Minutes: The 5/9/19 minutes were approved.
Treasurer's Report – Brian Tibbetts
The detailed balance sheet as of 6/11/19 and the detailed cash flow report from 5/9/19 through 6/11/19 were accepted as presented and are filed in the Recording Secretary's notebook. Income 5/9/19 through 6/11/19 was $2,889.38 and expenses were $593.68. The total in budgeted accounts, the future budget reserve, and special donation accounts as of 6/11/19 was $78,602.84. Total financial assets were $150,908.14. Ruth Barefoot indicated that the $191.45 remaining for adult programs is sufficient.
Money spent on promotional materials is for the library not the FOL.
Approximately $3300 from the Maxson Fund went for a play table in the Children's Library. The FOL will assign any internal audits to board members not associated with financial tasks. Treasurer Brian Tibbetts at an unspecified point will need to be replaced. Locating and training such a person is of the utmost importance.
Jeane Smith made the following motion: the four FOL Board officers should all be legally ableto sign checks. Barb King amended the motion to say: the treasurer, vice-president, and president are to be check co-signers with a procedure set up for due diligence. Linda Falken seconded. The amended motion passed.
Jeane Smith made a motion to ask Banner Bank for either free or paid monthly copies of cancelled checks. The Board approved.
Susan Rooks recommended that whether we were covered or not by OPMA requirements we should consider following as many of the requirements as possible. Ruth Barefoot will investigate this.
Correspondence Report – Corresponding Secretary Jeane Smith
No correspondence.
President's Report – Kay O'Connell
This month Kay wrote a Letter to the Editor of the Anacortes American in response to one entitled “Concerned with Change at the Library.” The complainant felt the library should own certain classic books and was not mollified when Interlibrary Loan was offered. She also deplored the Family Place Library.
At the Library Redesign Update workshop on June 5th Kay collected thank-yous for her letter from Mayor Gere and members of the audience, which was about thirty-three strong. As an outcome Ruth Barefoot is forming a writing group to promote the Library and address citizen concerns. Both Susan Rooks and Kay are invited to participate in the writing group. The City and the Library are not positioned to reply themselves via an editorial.
The powerpoint printout from the workshop and Kay's letter to the editor are on a clipboard in the FriendShop.
Jeff Vogel wrote a letter to Kay about the collection development policy in the face of limited
shelving and demand for new formats. It will be included in the summer newsletter (deadline July 4) along with the FOL history Susan Rooks researched.
Kay is having minor hand surgery before the next newsletter, so she is looking for completed text to print. Barbara King should have a profile in the newsletter as the Interim FriendShop Manager.
Kay will continue work on by-law revision with Gary Molyneaux, Linda Falken, and Barbara King.
Kay bought a new filing system to handle FOL mail, notices, etc. intended for Board members.
Vice -President/Membership Report – Linda Falken
This month has seen a sharp uptick in new memberships with ten new members joining and another six members renewing their individual/family memberships. A lot of these newer members were the result of people attending the June 2nd art show reception in the meeting room, where Linda sat with membership brochures at the entrance and encountered a number of people who were interested in becoming more involved with the Friends. Kudos to Jeane Smith and her FOL Art Committee members for the coffee, cookies, and lovely fresh flowers that graced the table at the door, all of which helped put people in the appropriate frame of mind to offer cash and/or checks toward their membership dues.
In addition, Linda updated the mailing label files to reflect the purging of thirty-four lapsed members as of May 2019 (some of whom were reported as deceased or for whom there was no valid forwarding mailing address). These lapsed members had not renewed their memberships since 2017. However, even with those thirty-four removed, our total active (i.e. paid through the end of last year) membership count is now at 172, in part because newer memberships are on the rise. (Thanks go to Gary Molyneaux and Jeane Smith for their efforts over the past month re: attracting newer members to our group.) Linda has created another mailing label file of addresses for those lapsed members for whom we have no updating information. She will be mailing out a notice asking them if they are interested in re-upping with the FOL. (If there are valid e-mail addresses for any of these, notices will be sent electronically.) Linda does not expect that this will result in many renewals – but it will give her an opportunity to start telling these members about some of the 50th anniversary events that are coming up this fall.
Current webmaster, Patrick Gallagher, has offered to help with setting up an e-mail contact list for members who have shared their e-mail addresses. Patrick and Linda are looking into using a Gmail account to do this, as there is no cost associated with those types of accounts. Linda will be able to report more details on this project later into the summer. She is hoping that this will be an additional option for contacting members regarding upcoming events for our anniversary, plus notification of proposed bylaw changes that will need to be approved.
Foundation/Library Report – Ruth Barefoot
The Maxson's dedication plaque is now up at the Children's Library.
The Foundation Board is excited about library changes. The Board will have a soiree for large donors.
The library will be closed September 16 - 30 for the laying of new carpet on the first floor. The first floor back areas will remain open and the FriendShop may also be open. There will be newspapers and seating in the lobby and/or meeting room.
Michele Hannah has been hired as the new administrative assistant.
FriendShop Report – Barbara King
The income for May 2019 was $2100.10.
Terry Todd and Barbara have been making minor changes in the FriendShop in an effort to
facilitate the sale of books, especially those deemed worthy of sale, but not selling. The existing volunteers are doing a great job not only at the desk but also pricing and weeding stock on the shelves.
Lots of book donations are coming in. Rhonda Doster takes anything we can give her except small paperbacks. Jeff Vogel is helping by initially filtering donations. Volunteers are needed, both regular and subs. Barbara has set up a FriendShop Volunteers group on her home computer for “bulk mailings.”
Old Business
Website: Patrick Gallagher, Stephanie Meehan, and Linda Falken continue developing the
Weebly website. Changes include making the site a FOL site not just FriendShop. Depending upon the service, site fees can range from free to approximately $120/year.
Ad: The FriendShop Clamdigger ad is now correct.
Art Gallery: So far $219 has been received in commissions. There is no fall exhibit. Membership: Outreach to various organizations and businesses has not been too successful.
The recruiting approach needs to be rethought.
Bylaws: The committee needs to set a date to continue work on the bylaws. Gary Molyneaux gave an overview of the committee revisions and stated the bylaws need to be a membership privy document.
50th Anniversary:
Jeanne Smith is finalizing the schedule. Jeane will contact schools about the clown event.
Susan Rooks was thanked for her work on FOL history and her publicity efforts. Susan will continue to help publicize the 50th celebration.
Ruth Barefoot is in charge of buying 500 magnets which will serve as a commemorative of the 50th anniversary. Magnet imprints will include: web address, founded 1969, and books. Linda Falken made a motion to limit magnet cost to $200. Kay O'Connell seconded. Motion was approved. Jeane Smith made the following motion: 50th anniversary expenses are not to exceed $400. Barbara King seconded. Motion was approved.
Stephanie Meehan is working on a 50th anniversary image presentation for the website. Ruth Barefoot again mentioned a slide presentation.
Meeting adjourned: 3:45 pm
Next Meeting: 2:00 pm on July 11, 2019 Respectfully submitted,
Barbara King, Recording Secretary