OCTOBER 12TH, 2023 Minutes
1) Called to order by Diane Kelly at 7:05 pm
Mark Alexander
Diane Decker
Grace Johnston ( via Zoom) Diane Kelly
Mare Miller Zoom (via Zoom) Melissa Bourbon Ramirez Wendy Scott (not present) Meg Stouffer
Tess Tessier
Jen Tolliver
Shannon Turlington (via Zoom)
2) APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING Approved unanimously
3) TREASURER’S REPORT We’re doing well after the book sale! In checking: $22,576.48 Money market:
$17,491.83. Booksale made $6,497.88. Even with fewer books, we did well. The kids loved getting 3 books free. We need to be sure we keep the librarians in the loop about the book sale, especially the kids’ free books. Shannon also gave props to Diane Decker for a well run sale. Tess thought the auction materials were very well evaluated.
4) MEMBERSHIP REPORT
Grace said the numbers 139 active now, so added a couple after membership day, and $230 in gifts.
5) LIBRARY REPORT
Jody said they interviewed 6 excellent people for outreach and engagement coordinator. There were also 9 internal promotions. He should be able to announce the candidate by next meeting, it was an excellent cohort of interviewees. They cast a wide net, removed masters degree requirement and added Spanish speaking as a preference.
Staff will be traveling next week. This week a staff member went to Hershey PA about outreach. Next week is the NCLA library conference. Jody will be in NOLA for a leadership conference. In December, the library will be a Toys for Tots location. Also will be a site for Be a Santa for a Senior.
They may be requesting money for Kindles and [Virtual Authors?]
Next year will be a heavy conference year.
[Book mobile discussion?]
6) OLD BUSINESS
A) NaNoWnMo
1) plans for the event — . a) food, drinks- there’s still time to plan and the budget is approved.
b) prizes- Melissa bought 10 prizes for the day. Diane D said she has earrings for prizes also.
2) publicizing the event — NextDoor, Facebook, Colleges, Coffee Shops, New of Orange,
etc. She also got more contacts to reach out to in the local schools.
B) Book Sale — Diane K said March 6-10, 2024 are the proposed dates, to make sure it’s not during Spring Break for the local schools. Jody said those days are taken already, so we have to look ahead to April. Jody said April 3-7 would work, and seems like a good plan to everyone else.
Jody said maybe we should start looking at the Fall 2024 schedule. We want it to be Hog Dya again. It’s September 20-21 2024. So we’ll take September 18-22 for the Book Sale. Mark said it is great that we got people at the Book Sale that normally don’t go to libraries.
Diane D the book flow was interrupted a bit because of the sections being put in the same boxes. The religious books did not sell. Tess said a philosophy section would be helpful instead, and they’re combined all of the time. Diane D said she’Il be screening some of those books. Tess said there was confusion between history and politics. Diane D said Tess might be a great help in categorizing in those categories. Diane K said what about different mystery and romance categories. Diane D said if we have too many categories, then we’ll end up with a lot of half full boxes and we don’t have room for it.
Mark said the signage for prices was lacking. We should have printed signs with the prices, not just written on the board. Diane D said the problem is that we do change pricing ad hoc and we shouldn’t spend money on printing, but there are big markers that are meant to be read on white boards from a distance. Tess said printed material is easier to read, but also we can’t ignore that things do change during the sale. Diane D said the markers are only $11. Diane K asked Mark to look into printed signs, Melissa suggested maybe putting promotional signs with prices to get more people in. Diane D said we need 3 people next time to put signs up. Diane K said maybe at least put out there about the free kids’ books.
Jody asked about the time for the book sale, and Diane D and Diane K confirmed the time would be the same as the last.
Tess said there needs to be more instruction on using the Square for payment. Shannon said that she likes to charge herself a dollar to make sure the Square is working. Diane D said that people have learned how to use it even if they were intimidated at the beginning.
7) NEW BUSINESS
Diane K asked for $250 for Prison Books Collective. Melissa said they were selected by people in Prison, and we could buy from Purple Crow. Lots of great selections, about $20 a piece since they all have to be paperbacks. Approved unanimously. There are a bunch more cards for anyone else to pick.
8) Adjourned at 7:57 pm
