NPL Friends Meeting

November 13, 2007

 

Attendees:

 

Carole Barker

Martha Barrett

Ken Bateman

Judy Blachek

Tina Donovan

Carol Eyman

Valerie Fletcher

Marjorie Morse

Yurdagul Ozcayir

Liz Ullrich

 

NEXT MEETING/Holiday social: Monday, December 11, 7:00 PM in the Media Wing (short meeting followed by holiday cheer at an appropriate Nashua venue).

 

Review of September minutes: Accepted

 

Treasurer’s Report: Current balance is $7988.58. Tina noted that the receipts show we have a sale every day, ranging anywhere from $9 to $60. Monthly daily totals:

 

October 2006                 $664.87

September 2006            $536.33

August 2006                  $733.89

July 2006                      $872.89

 

Membership Update: 82 members

 

Director’s Update

 

·         Rotary donated a lot of books for the book sale

·         Live Homework – September had 113 uses, October had 185 uses (Spring was about 175); a lot of 9^th graders and seniors are using it

·         Annual report – working on it for fiscal year 2006 (June 2005 – July 2006)

·         Tom Corbett Assistant Director resigned; job has been posted – need a Master’s in Library Science and technical skills

·         Queuing at front desk isn’t working well and library is assessing the issue; it was noted that there should be one point of entry only (now there are two)

·         Holiday Stroll in Saturday, November 25 – there will be 3 venues in the Library, all for children, at 6:00, 7:00, and 8:00PM; Art walk is same day from 1-7PM

·         No new developments on Chandler; still going through court system

·         The Live Homework help raffle was held; an enthusiastic winner received the IPOD paid for by the Friends

·         Parking raffles – have had two so far; 300 people entered in September; less in October (can we get their address to see if they want to join Friends?)

·         There is an interesting site off the main state library’s website that let’s you calculate what it would cost you if you had to pay for the services the library offers: www.tinyurl.com/ko9dt

·         4 library blogs now (look for Library Blog Button on main page): Director’s Blog; Teen Librarian Blog where teens review books and videos; Reference desk Blog – explains how to buy a used car, or find a good book to read, etc.; Carol Eyman book discussion Blog

 

Fundraising Updates

 

Bags: They are on sale at the Library, but we don’t have sales figures yet

 

Cards: Need to figure out pricing. They cost us 48 cents each. We decided to charge $2 a single card and $10 for a pack of 10. We’ll put a sticker with a Friends logo on the packet and tie it will jute.  The teenagers will be in November 14 and will put them into plastic bags; some Friends will meet (possibly Sunday the 19^th) to do the final packaging.

 

Judy will visit DesignWare and Absolutely New Hampshire to discuss the possibility of having them sell the cards.

         

Quilt: Table for now

 

Booksale Debrief:

 

The Book Sale was a big success; we were better organized and did even more sorting this time. The categories/boxes were easier to fill in and maintain, plus it was a beautiful day. Things to improve upon or remember for the next sale:

 

·         Higher priced books ($5) didn’t sell at the sale, but went fast after the book sale in the book shelves.

·         Author signature not a big draw.  

·         The real high priced specialty books did not sell.

·         We need to spend more time sorting and pricing the children’s books; have a separate section for vintage children’s books.

·         Some people still didn’t realize we had a ton more inside, so we could have more signs.

·         Need to place the banner somewhere else – maybe in front of library.

·         Need to be open longer for the amount of work we do. Next time we’ll have the inside Friday preview, be open all day Saturday outside, be open all day Sunday (inside) 1-5. 

·         Signs for categories were beautiful, but need to be bolder.

·         Especially with longer hours, we need more people trained on the register and a schedule for who is ringing.

·         It is difficult to sort in our room while there are meetings going on in the East Wing – awkward for us and them. Carol will come up with a list of free nights.

 

Art Auction: Held one meeting so far and three people attended; next meeting is Monday, November 20, in Hunt Room. We need more volunteers. We’ll auction off 20-25 pieces. The art will not be crafts. We’ll accept original paintings, sculpture, photography, drawings, stained glass.

 

Membership Mailing: Memberships will begin to expire; we need to send out notices/letters to people. Membership runs from January to December (grace period October/November/December). In the letter, we will update them on what we’ve accomplished over the year.

 

Non-profit Book Giveaway:  

 

Sort and set up Tuesday, Nov. 28; 7:00-9:00 (Judy, Margie, Val, Carole Barker)

Staff on Wednesday Nov. 29 from 1-3:30 (Carol Eyman – Margie is NOT available)

Staff on Wednesday Nov. 29 from 5-7 (Judy, Val, Ken at the end)

                  

Each group can take up to a 100 books per group. We are contacting the following groups (let me know if I’ve missed some here):

 

Senior Center, Hunt Community, Home Health and Hospice, the Friendship Club: Carol Eyman

Soup Kitchen and Shelter, Friendship House, Bridges: Judy

Nashua Children’s Home: Liz Ullrich

 

Programs we sponsored: Both the Clutter and Camp Stark programs both went well and were well attended.

 

December meeting: Next meeting is December 11. We’ll have a short meeting and then move on to a dining establishment for some holiday cheer.

 

Petty cash fund: Set up.

 

Tax-free status: Judy updated and gave a draft to board members; they will meet to review on the night of the book giveaway (Nov. 29). Needs to be submitted by January.

         

Action Items

Note: we need to find someone else to help Carol with the book giveaway on Wednesday, November 29 from 1-3:30

Carol Eyman	Do a calculation for what an average person who uses the library saves.
	Provide list of free time for East Wing for sorting. [DONE]
	Contact Senior Center, Hunt Community, Home Health and Hospice, the Friendship Club for non-profit book giveaway
	Provide email addresses of parking raffle winners to Marjorie for Friends dist list [DONE]
Judy	Contact Trustees for participation on Art Auction committee
	Contact Soup Kitchen and Shelter, Friendship House, Bridges for non-profit book giveaway
	Visit DesignWares and Absolutely NH re: notecards
	Write membership letter and send to list
Marjorie	Update/reorganize the membership spreadsheet so we can use to to send a mailing; assist with letter and mailing
Judy and Marjorie	Complete final packaging of notecards, possibly on Sunday the 19th
Judy Marjorie Carol Eyman Val Carole Barker Ken	Non-profit book giveaway: ·         Sort and set up Tuesday, Nov. 28; 7:00-9:00 (Judy, Margie, Val, Carole Barker) ·         Staff on Wednesday Nov. 29 from 1-3:30 (Carol Eyman – Margie is NOT available) ·         Staff on Wednesday Nov. 29 from 5-7 (Judy, Val, Ken at the end)
The Board (Judy, Ken, Marjorie, Tina)	Review tax-free status document; meet after book giveaway on Nov. 29 to review
Liz Ullrich	Contact the Nashua Children’s Home for non-profit book giveaway
Valerie Fletcher	Ask Marilene Sawaf if she will donate a small picture to raffle