Friends of the Orange County Public Library Hillsborough, NC Minutes of Executive·Board.Meeting., June 20~ 2011 c Approved at Board Meeting July 18, 2011 Present: Ann Burton, Janet Flowers, Sandy Gerstner, Lucinda Munger, Erin Hils Shepherd, Susanne Vergara Absent: Bill Barrows. Lori Graham Andrea Tullos . ' Co-Chair Ann Burton called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Minutes of May 16, 2011 Janet moved and Sandy seconded approval of the May 16th minutes as prepared by Lori Graham. The motion carried. Treasurer's Report Sandy Gerstner shared the treasurer's report. She noted that the FOCPL checking account has a current balance of $11,867.67. She also reported that we are earningl/4 of l % on the checking account and 1.25% on all other accounts. She also announced the receipt today of $38 more in our state income tax refund. Susanne moved acceptance of the report; Erin seconded. The motion carried. Endowment Task Group Janet reported that the group would be meeting with Robin Barefoot from Triangle Community Foundation. The group's goal is to have a report ready for the Board by one week before our September 19th meeting, which Robin will attend. Lucinda noted that' she thought the work of this group had been a very educational experience for all. Janet added, and Lucinda agreed, that we have been very fortunate to have the expertise of Jim Burton and Laura Eastwood on the group. Donations from Speakers Lucinda reported that Mark Hewitt, our recent guest speaker, had left a beautiful mug and exhibition catalog for us. We hope to raffle it off at our annual meeting. The talk was excellent and Mark made a nice profit. This program, though, .led us to question the development of guidelines for our speakers who sell books and other items at the programs. Lucinda thought that we should develop a certain percentage expectation for the speakers. She suggested that we contact the appropriate listservs (ALT AFF and FONCPL) for advice regarding the percentage. Book Sale C Ann noted that she thought it would be good to create a Book Sale Committee with 5-6 people. She envisions at least the following coordinator roles: emptying Room (hopefully Bill who has experience) set up, Friday, Saturday and Sunday sales (including boxing up). She also asked about buying bags for the bag sale. The group thought that this was a good idea Lucinda's Report Lucinda reported that the Board of Commissioners voted down the purchase of a book mobile. Part of their concern centered on the costs and the inconsistency of the Internet connections. The Library will, however, be allowed to keep the $128,700 as an ongoing part of the budget. Lucinda announced the very happy news that, with· these funds, the Library will be able to keep Sunday hours year round .. This means that many staff will be moving from part-time to fulltime. She noted also that there was some restoration of her materials budget. She will be able to purchase I 5 new e-readers. The Library will be adding a new range of shelving in the children's area to handle DVDs, CDs, etc. The Library also will be purchasing $22,000 worth of databases to provide comparable service to Chapel Hill Public Library. The Cybrary wiII increase its hours from 30 to 40. The hours at Carrboro cannot be increased because the hours and times have been negotiated through a contract with the school system. The Carrboro Library also cannot increase its collection due to space limitations which results in a one book in / one book out shelving situation. The Town of Chapel Hill is considering charging non-CH residents a $60 library card fee. The Orange County Board of County Commissioners has offered the Town $365,000 if they will agree to a Memorandum of Understanding. The Commissioners expect the Town to reject this offer. lf the fee is charged, it will go into effect on August 15th • lf 1hat happens, Lucinda expects an increase in traffic from former CH patrons. The Commissioners are trying to identify a way to reimburse low-income residents who need help with the library fee. Lucinda also rejoiced that the recent good budget news means that, for the first time, Orange County Public Library will be above the state average per capita for public libraries--over $22 per capita. Logo Erin presented an idea about a contest to create a new logo for the Friends. Her idea was to have the artists submit their logo to a small panel of local artists who would choose the final three. Then we could have Friends and patrons vote in the library. We might give a gift card to the winner. The group tentatively agreed lo make the contest for ages I 6 and above. to have the contest in the fall, and lo perhaps announce the winner at the annual meeting. Web Redesign Janet reported on the results of her survey asking for a web designer. Only one person responded. That person, who did not volunteer to do the web design, did offer excellent suggestions about the platform (Word Press) and considerations when setting up a website. Janet suggested two options for our next step: I) Just keep the pages up-to-date on the library server or 2) Set up a task group to flesh out what we need and then hire a designer to set up when we are ready. The group discussed the Newsletter situation and then concluded that it is more productive to invest our energies in the newsletter. Therefore, we will keep our existing website as up-to-date as possible. Newsletter Janet reported that she also received only one response to the message regarding the need for a layout person for the newsletter. This person, who is an editor, did not want to join the group once he learned that we already have an editor. So Janet thought we had three options: I) Do a simple newsletter using Word, 2) Purchase a copy of Publisher for someone to learn ($50 for non-profits but license only for one machine) or 3) Use expertise of a friend to do the first issue. The group agreed that the help of a Friend, while it would not get the newsletter established, would at least get out one issue for this year. Next. Board Meeting will be held on Monday, July 18, 2011. Meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Janet L. Flowers Co-Chair, FOCPL
