Minutes
Webster Free Public Library
Trustees Meeting
June 27, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:09 p.m. Present were Cathryn Clark-Dawe, Director, Nancy Picthall-French, Chairperson, Marty Bender, Treasurer, Leslie Collins, Secretary and Dot Bourque and Barbara Corliss, both of the Historical Society.
The Secretary’s report for April was reviewed and accepted after a date was changed (5-18-18 to 6-18-18) and a suffix was removed from a word (seed exchanged to seed exchange).
The Treasurer’s report through June 27 was reviewed and accepted. Marty will create a category in the budget named Programming for reimbursement checks (currently listed in Miscellaneous) and the Summer Reading Program (currently listed in Supplies).
Dot Bourque and Barbara Corliss presented the Board with three donations toward the equipment needed to pursue recording oral histories. Both Dot and Barbara made personal donations and then presented a third donation of $80 from the Historical Society. The Board extends their sincere gratitude for the donations. Dot inquired if the library had ever considered offering computer classes to the public. Laura French from the Telephone Museum in Warner was suggested as a possible resource/speaker on genealogy. Barbara has a genealogy website with 139,000 people recorded, familyrecord.net.
Old Business
Nancy contacted Andy Timmons from NH Fish and Game to see when he is available to speak about bears. Andy’s program is free and he is available in March or April for a presentation. The presentation is an hour long and he did not recommend it for elementary school children. Friday, March 29th at 7:00 was picked for the presentation, with Friday, April 5 as a backup date. Nancy sent Chris an email with the details.
Sue Rauth invited a representative from the library to attend a meeting to review the revisions made to the Master Plan. Nancy attended the meeting and shared the library’s updated Master Plan. Nancy will contacted us by email when she knows the date of the next meeting when the revisions referencing the library in the Cultural Resources Chapter will be shared. If we are able to attend, we are to bring Chapter 3 – Historic and Cultural Resources Nancy sent us in an email on June 15.
Nancy contacted the Squam Science Center and presented twelve different programs for our review. Cost for a non-profit is $250 per workshop plus mileage. This will be readdressed at a later date.
The Trustees went to the NHLTA Spring Conference in Manchester on May 14 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The NHLTA is still having trouble with their website so we have not been able to evaluate the conference. Each trustee reviewed highlights from their respective workshops. Topics included oral histories, Robert’s Rules, a Storybook Trail, a tool room/cake pan lending program, but of special interest was the Hiking Backpack. The Hiking Backpack would contain maps of local trails, field guides, a magnifying glass, paper, pencil and could be checked out. At our Annual Meeting, when developing the budget for the year ahead, it is appropriate to review/utilize the library’s ten-year plan. Steven Buckley’s information on speaking opportunities for the public at our public library meetings was very surprising.
Marty submitted a check to Andy for the work done on the computer so the computer can now be picked up. Andy suggested a Solid State Drive for $70. Nancy asked Cathryn to keep us informed about the state of the computers. In October, we will examine the budget for money for a replacement(s), if necessary.
Reviewing the Bylaws written in 2007 was postponed until the July meeting.
Another quick visit to the front gardens determined where the Drop Box would be placed, and John Collins placed it in its new spot after the meeting. The bench will stay where it is. Marty offered to freshen the bench with some teak oil. Marty, Leslie, Nancy have offered donations of herbs from their gardens. Leslie and Nancy made a tentative date to transplant herbs in the garden in front of the ramp on September 19 at 2 p.m. Leslie created a map of the garden area prior to the meeting.
The movie, The Crooked House, was held in the Library’s Meeting Hall on Friday, June 22 at 7:00 p.m. Six people attended.
New Business
Cathryn inquired if our seed project is a Seed Exchange or a Seed Bank. It was unanimously decided that our seed program will be a Seed Exchange.
Marty will be attending the next Historical Society Meeting. He is interested in interviewing George Little (currently at Presidential Oaks) with Tara Gunnigle. He will find out if there is a specific Cloud storage vehicle available for libraries at no charge. Marty will look into purchasing lapel microphones with the newly acquired donations.
Marty will look into specific restrictions/options from SWANK for our movie selections and compare it to the Motion Picture Licensing Corp. (an additional $135).
Leslie will be delivering three Celebration Bags to Peg Foss at the Food Pantry on July 11 at 5:30. She will enclose a brief note into each bag wishing the recipient a happy celebration. She will send thank you cards for the donations to the Oral Histories Project. She will print out 2019 calendars for planning purposes.
Nancy reminded us that the Oral History Project will require training/guidelines for the interviewers, a list of questions/topics for the interviewers to ask, as well as a list of people of different ages to be interviewed. Nancy also suggested that Sally Becker from the VNA may be a great resource for seniors. At the meeting when the Master Plan was discussed, the suggestion was made to post a sign along the roadside identifying where the library was located. Nancy will look into where to purchase and the cost.
There will not be any movies shown during the months of July and September. Marty will compile a list of movies for our review in September.
The meeting ended at 5:45 p.m. The next meeting of the Webster Free Public Library will be on Wednesday, July 25, 2018 at 4 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Leslie Collins, Secretary