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Minutes of August 13, 2014 Monthly Meeting of FOCPL Board Submitted by Lori-Anne Shapiro, Secretary
Present: Tommy McNeill, Mark Smith, Lori-Anne Shapiro, Marcia Cameron, Laura Simmons, Tori Williams, Bill Barrows Ex Officio: Andrea Tullos Absent: Linda DiGangi, Chris Holaday (resignation pending)
Call to Order: 6:07pm
Review of Agenda: one addition to Agenda made by Lori-Anne to discuss status of active/current FOCPL memberships and related database; second addition by Laura to discuss Nominating Committee.
Minutes of July 9, 2014 Monthly Meeting: Corrections made by Marcia Cameron re: on-going book sale; Motion to approve made by Laura, Seconded by Marcia, passed with corrections.
Committee Reports: Laura presented up-dated list of committee memberships.
Nominating Committee: Laura reported that according to By-Laws, this committee requires a minimum of three members; after some discussion, Laura, Marcia and Mark agreed to be on committee. RE: Chris’ replacement, Tommy acknowledged that he has not yet contacted Chris to accept his resignation; agreed to do so before next monthly meeting.
Andrea reminded us that the FOCPL By-Laws are available electronically, and that Janet Flowers pulled together notebooks on the various how-to’s with regard to the functions and duties of the Board. Bill and Tommy agreed to meet to discuss these various notebooks; Lori-Anne agreed to join them to assist as needed.
Membership Report: Lori-Anne voiced strong concern over lost memberships due to transition issues between previous and current FOCPL Boards. Problems appear to relate to database management and lack of pursuing renewals of expired memberships at the end of 2013. Currently Tori is working hard to reconcile available records; she has developed a notebook for collecting membership applications along with an up-dated copy of the current membership database. Tori has been able to identify only 51 current active paid memberships, and 126 names from previous years. Mark brought a zip drive of membership information for Tori pursuant to his phone conversation with Lori-Anne following last month’s Board Meeting. It is hoped this information will help address many of the unanswered questions that Tori has. Lori-Anne continues to offer assistance to Tori as needed. It is further hoped the upcoming Semi-Annual Book Sale will be an opportunity to recover memberships. Tori asked Mark about some additional information, to which he replied that he’d have to email her with that information later, acknowledging that this zip drive lacked that information. He asked that she prompt him with an email as a reminder.
Treasurer’s Report: presented by Mark for everyone’s review. Andrea presented report of expenses from Summer Reading program. Board agreed Report stands to Audit.
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Pavers Report: Andrea agreed to email Ed Flowers re: Excel spreadsheet of people who ordered bricks; Ed is anticipating major back surgery, so there may be some delay.
Secretary’s Report: Lori-Anne read email from Linda who was unable to attend today’s meeting re: the issue of thank you notes for memberships and/or donations that include mention of tax deduction; Linda posited the idea of pre-printed letters; Lori agreed to come up with a mock letter to bring to next monthly Meeting.
Newsletter: Tommy asked if there were any new articles for the upcoming newsletter; none indicated. Lori-Anne reported that she met with current Newsletter Chair, Sara Levinson, who indicates there may be some significant vacancies on the Newsletter Committee by the end of this year.
On-Going Book Sale & Consignment Report: Marcia reports that Ava of bookconsignment.com has previously bought 15 boxes of books, now 19 new boxes to be consigned. Stacy’s consignment group, mentioned in July, may also be interested in some boxes. Also, of note, Kindles will be coming to the on-going book sale, to be coordinated by Andrea.
Sept. Semi-Annual Book Sale: Bill, Chair, plans to contact Chris Holaday to ensure his willingness to help with publicity, volunteer recruitment, etc. as he has done in the past. Will plan to follow guidance made available in notebook developed by Janet Flowers, one copy of which is in Friends Room. Tommy will send email to listserve re: dates of Book Sale and need for volunteers. Laura asked for a Book Sale Planning Meeting, date of Aug 29th at 1pm set for meeting; Board Members who volunteered to attend Meeting include Bill, Laura, Lori-Anne, Marcia, Tori, and Linda.
Programming and Events
Tommy articulated concern re: small attendance to the Author Talk by Jessica Scott and asked if perhaps we should be doing more publicity; Members agreed that there is a natural ebb & flow to attendance, and no significant problem can be implied by a single isolated, or even a few, events over the course of a year. Marcia and Laura reviewed the many sources of publicity that are utilized at this time for events.
Carrie Knowles, 2014 Piedmont Laureate, will provide a reading and discussion of her book "Ashoan's Rug" on Tuesday, Sept. 30th at 6:30pm. Books will be available for sale and signing in cooperation with Purple Crow Books, event sponsored by FOCPL. Carrie will also be speaking at Chapel Hill Public Library on September 18th.
Kianna Alexander will be featured for an Author Talk in November; Tommy distributed the press release kit for this author.
Hillsborough’s Lee Smith will be featured at a reading at Iron Gate Winery, sponsored by Friends of Alamance County Public Library.
Maya Angelou Program: Tori reported that she has made contact with an individual at Central Elementary School who attends Mt Bright Church, and chairs their Youth Services. Tori states it is this church that serves as the African American church for residents of the Fairview community, which was initially targeted as the community of choice to co-sponsor this program. Laura made a Motion, seconded by Marcia, to aim for Oct-Nov. as the preferred time frame to schedule this event.
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OCPL Up-Dates: Andrea announced that Erin Hils, Communications Specialist, will be leaving the Library in Sept; she continues to be on leave for the summer; will return to serve out her last two weeks, namely, during the last week of August and first week of September. Lori-Anne agreed to contact Erin to ascertain her interest in continuing as a Friend. Group discussed option of presenting Erin with a gift card as recognition for her many years as Friend, Board Member and employee. Mark made Motion, seconded by Laura, to approve a $100. gift card at WSM to be linked to Central Elementary School. Andrea agreed to contact WSM on the mechanics of getting a linked card; Tori offered to purchase the card; Tommy will present Erin with gift at next Board Meeting.
Next Board Meeting: Sept. 10, 2014 Mark announced that, because of work obligations, he will be unable to make the September, November and December monthly Board Meetings.
Adjournment: At 7:27pm Mark made Motion to adjourn Meeting, seconded by Bill, passed unanimously.
