Minutes
Webster Free Public Library
Trustees Meeting by Zoom
Thursday, January 28, 2021
The Zoom meeting began at 3:04 p.m. Present were Cathryn Clark-Dawe, Director, Nancy Picthall-French, Chairperson, Marty Bender, Treasurer, and Leslie Collins, Secretary. The Zoom meeting took place on the library’s Zoom link.
The Secretary’s report for 12/17/2020 was reviewed and accepted. The date was changed on this line from 10/29/2020 to 11/19/2020. Cathryn asked for a clarification about where the Director’s Report would be kept. She was told it would be kept in the binder with the Trustee Meeting Notes and the Treasurer’s Report. Under Old Business in the fifth paragraph, the words “Two tablets with keyboards” were deleted and “Chrome Books” was corrected to be one word “Chromebooks”. The library has purchased two Chromebook laptops for patron use and one Apple iPad Air for Cathryn’s use. The Zoom link printed in Summary of Duties was deleted because the link will change each month.
The Treasurer’s report was reviewed and accepted. Marty voided two checks last month, one to Amazon and one to Staples. He reissued the check to Staples ($163.12) and paid Amazon online ($336.49). Marty owes Michael a check for cleaning the carpet.
The Director’s report was reviewed. All agreed it was very thorough and informative. Leslie commented that she did not realize Cathryn spent so much time doing library chores at home (approximately 5.5 hours from 1-3-2021 to 1-23-21). Nancy asked if the time spent at home was in place of the time provided to do chores at the library (M 9-12). Cathryn clarified it was in addition to the chore time built into her schedule at the library.
Old Business
All agreed to put the donations from Judy O’Donnell and Mary Lou & Phil Demarais toward the purchase of two Chromebooks for patron use and an Apple iPad for Cathryn’s use.
Marty will contact Emmett Bean and ask him about the blue/white Library signage before ordering. He will inquire about size, placement and mounting materials in February.
All agreed that Cathryn did a great job writing the draft of the Annual Report. Nancy noted two corrections: fir was changed to for in the first line of the fourth paragraph. In the sixth paragraph, fourth sentence, “library passes” was changed to “museum passes”.
Marty arranged for the carpet cleaning and it has been completed.
A discussion was held regarding on how to proceed with transcribing the Little’s diary. After a brief review of past practices and transcriptions done by Cathryn and Barbara Corliss, Nancy volunteered to proceed. She will have recommendations on how to proceed at the next meeting. Marty recommended working with the members of the Historical Society. Cathryn provided a resource from the Smithsonian on transcribing. She recommended that a record be kept of the name of the people pages are given to, the number of pages and what page numbers they are given. She also recommended a consistent font (Times New Roman) and size (#16). The copied pages of the diary Nancy is picking up from the library will need to be numbered.
New Business
During the course of our meeting today, we were “Zoom bombed”. Cathryn closed down the meeting immediately. She sent us each a new link and the meeting continued approximately ten minutes later. All agreed that from now on, if anyone wants to attend our meeting, they will contact Cathryn and the link will be sent through email. The link will no longer be posted on the website. We apologize if someone wanted to attend the meeting and was unable to join.
Cathryn requested the use of the library credit card. All agreed and Marty will order another one.
Cathryn requested the use of the library’s front garden for an art project in conjunction with the Summer Program. She would like summer participants to paint rocks and place them in the garden. Everyone enthusiastically agreed. The 2021 Summer Library Slogan is Tails and Tales. The theme for the program is Animals and Stories.
Leslie inquired how Cathryn felt about having the Trustees Meetings on her day off. Cathryn responded favorably since the Zoom meetings allow her to be at home.
Nancy reminded us that the Trustees Annual Meeting will be held in March. There will be an election of officers and Director’s evaluation.
The Zoom Meeting ended at 4:25 p.m. The next Zoom Meeting will be February 25 at 3:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Leslie Collins, Secretary
Summary of duties during January 2021:
*Marty will pay Michael for the carpet cleaning.
*Marty will contact Emmett Bean regarding Library signage, location, size, mounting.
*Marty will renew the credit card for the library and request a second card for Cathryn.
*Cathryn will set up the next Zoom Meeting for February 25 @ 3 p.m. and send us the link.
*Cathryn and Nancy will invite the public to the Trustee Zoom Meeting in February on the town website and the Library’s Facebook page. Anyone interested in attending will contact Cathryn and she will send the Zoom link via email. They will keep the public informed of ongoing communication in the Grapevine, Concord Monitor, Merrimack Valley Voice, with signage and the message board.
*Leslie will monitor the need for Celebration Bags at the Food pantry. (Last contact was 1-28-21 and Peg Foss said they had plenty.)
*Nancy will work on transcribing the diary and determine how/if others can help.
*Nancy will be on call for cleaning services.
*Nancy will welcome new residents to Webster and the Library with the revised letter.
All the decisions made take into consideration the health and safety of the staff/patrons and are subject to change. The Trustees and Director are meeting monthly and are making informed, cautious decisions.