1 Friends of the Orange County Public Library Hillsborough, NC Minutes of Executive Board Meeting March 12, 2012
Approved at Board Meeting April 9, 2012
Present: Janet Flowers, Andrea Tullos, Robin Bedingfield-Brown, Chris Holaday, Kate Tozzolina, Lucinda Munger, Lori Graham, Bill Barrows and Sandy Gerstner
Co-Chair, Janet Flowers, called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m.
Minutes
Robin moved and Bill seconded the motion to accept the minutes, as written, from the previous regular Board Meeting [February 2012]. The minutes were accepted. The Board also went over the outstanding action items list.
Financial
Financial Report – A quick review of the monthly financial report submitted by Sandy was made. The requested contribution from the Garden Club was made directly to Can-Do Landscaping in the amount of $150 for their library landscaping project. Total checking balance = $16,092.00. Sandy wanted to point out that the current balance in all accounts is $35,365.53. $10,000 Gift from Sandra Peterson Estate – Bill moved and Chris seconded the motion to accept the Finance Committee’s suggestion to place these funds into the Triangle Community Foundation Agency fund. After no discussion, the Board voted unanimously to do so. Signatures on Checks – Sandy relayed that she, Janet and Erin went to the bank to change the authorized signatures. The Board members who may now sign checks on behalf of FOCPL are: Sandy Gerstner, Janet Flowers and Erin Shepherd. Financial Review – Sandy informed the Board that a financial review will be conducted on Friday, March 16, 2012. QuickBooks for Non-Profits – Sandy noted that there will no longer be support for the 2009 version she has, and strongly believes it is beneficial to use this software when she sends out the many contribution reports. An update will cost approximately $319. Robin moved and Kate seconded the motion to allow Sandy to purchase the updated software. The motion passed unanimously. Finance Committee Recommendations – The committee, consisting of Laura Eastwood, Jim Burton, Paul Parker, Sandy Gerstner and Lucinda Munger, presented their written report to the Board (attached). They have set up an account with Triangle Community Foundation, signed the papers, and sent the $25,000 check. 2 Sandy moved $10,241.06 into checking from the Idol Money Market account, which has been closed; moved $9,000.00 out of savings into checking, leaving a balance in savings of $54.24. There will be an administrative fee every quarter. One more $5,000 share certificate needs to be rolled over. Recommendation: Go into the growth oriented portfolio, a non-endowed fund, which is 70% S&P and 30% equity. Robin moved and Chris seconded the committee’s recommendation. All approved. The committee will meet again next month to go over gift acceptance policies and expect to present another report in June.
Updates
Membership – Robin reported that there are 79 memberships so far, after reminders were sent out. She will send another round of emails after the book sale. She is holding off printing new brochures until the ones we currently have run out. Andrea noted that she has already received requests to be added to the library newsletters.
February Program – Janet reported that the “Having our Say” program was very well-attended (30 people) and that we will continue our outreach efforts into the black community.
Ongoing Book Sale – Bill and Sandy relayed that Marcia’s organizational efforts are very noticeable and that it looks great.
Newsletter – Janet informed us that the newsletter is out now, and copies will be available at the March book sale to the community. She also plans to document this process and pass it along to someone else to oversee. Janet passed around the recent Chatham County Friends newsletter for review. Andrea will be gathering bios from library staff to include in a future newsletter, and perhaps pictures by department. Pictures from the April 10 th breakfast will also be added.
Book Sale – Chris and Kate reported that the volunteer list is in good shape, and Chris will be sending information to the newspapers this week. Kate asked for confirmation on the dates and times of assembling the tables, removing the books from the back room, including withdrawn books. This will all happen on Tuesday, with Bill, Jim, Ed and Chris available to help.
Staff Appreciation Breakfast – Janet reported on the status of the planning for the event. Erin, Sandy, Robin and Janet held a recent meeting, presented a planning report and proposed budget (attached). Janet will send out a request for food items to the listserv this coming Wednesday; are awaiting a response from Weaver Street Market on our request to subsidize part of the breakfast costs; there will be pictures taken of the Board, FOCPL members and library staff. Andrea happily informed the Board that all permanent staff are very excited and are planning to attend. Janet mentioned that greeters are needed. The proposed budget is up to $500. Robin 3 moved to authorize expenditure of up to $500 and Kate seconded. Janet noted that the outstanding requests to Weaver Street Market and food items from the membership may help offset the expense. The motion passed unanimously.
Program Committee – Janet reported that a group met recently to discuss possible programs (report attached). This group consisted of Jess Arnold, Dani Brecher, Margaret Granbery, Janet and Erin. Margaret (the Library Science student) will make a manual. Janet will try to find a Program Chair and work to get a committee and Chair together to start planning programs. The following proposals came out of this brainstorming session: o E-Books Panel – May 5, 2012 two confirmed speakers already: Chad Haefele of UNC Libraries and Dani Brecher, SILS Student at UNC waiting to hear from Algonquin Press, a publisher of e-books (it was suggested that Janet contact Heidi Perry for a point of contact). o Joy Sparrow – September 8, 2012 at 2:00 pm Author of the genealogy Sparrows’ Nest of Letters o Moreton Neal – Annual Meeting on December 1, 2012 Author of Food Lover’s Guide to Orange County
Library News
Lucinda relayed that she, Mary Shaver, Brandi Martin are attending PLA in Philadelphia beginning this Wednesday. Received the response from the Carrboro Alderman to the BOCC and site criteria plan for the Southwestern Library; will be going over their recommendations. She met with the Carrboro Friends group, mentioned the possibility of a joint meeting in the summer, and they were very open and excited about having that. The library’s operating budget discussions will be starting in the next week or so – new ILS system is in the budget, for which an RFP will be drafted & put out. OverDrive is up and running. A few items of note: this collection is just starting; the cost of hardcover books is the same as E-books; regular books will still be purchased; some publishers only allow a certain number of E-book downloads; Amazon selects the books that go into OverDrive, which are also available to purchase through Amazon after reading; have had 98 E-books checked out in 7 days; publishers are still trying to come to grips with this emerging technology.
Misc: Janet and Erin will be attending the upcoming Friends of the NC Public Libraries Workshop in Mebane.
The next meeting will be held on Monday, April 9, 2012. The meeting adjourned at 6:55 pm - Lori Graham, Secretary
