Minutes
Webster Free Public Library
Trustees Meeting
March 28, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:06 p.m. Present were Cathryn Clark-Dawe, Director, Nancy Picthall-French, Chairperson, Marty Bender, Treasurer, and Leslie Collins, Secretary.
The Secretary’s report for February was reviewed and accepted after one clarification was made. On page two, in the second paragraph, “restrictions of the state approved library list” was changed to “restrictions of the approved list of the licensing company, SWANK”.
The Treasurer’s report through March 27 was reviewed and accepted.
Old Business
Cathryn, Marty and Nancy attended an Advocacy Bootcamp on March 12 given by Lori Fisher of the NHLA. They all agreed that the morning session (advocacy) was more helpful than the afternoon session (censorship).
On Mar. 16, 9 people attended the movie The Big Sick @ 7:00 p.m.
On March 24, Nancy and Marty attended the NHTLA Regional Trustee Meeting at 10:30 a.m. at the Pillsbury Free Library in Warner. Five other libraries were represented and both Nancy and Marty felt the meeting was a delightful 90 minutes of sharing ideas with other trustees.
On April 6, a presentation on Bobcats by the Fish and Game Department will be held in the Library Meeting Hall at 2 p.m. Nancy will set up for and facilitate the meeting. Nancy will drop off a sign to publicize the event at the library Thursday. The message board also will be put out Thursday.
The movie, Pete’s Dragon, will be held in the Library’s Meeting Hall on Wednesday, April 25 at 2:00. Marty will contact Dee with the date/time for The Grapevine. Leslie will put out the message board the week of April 15.
Marty has registered the trustees for the NHLTA Spring Conference in Manchester on May 14 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Cathryn presented her three goals on her Annual Evaluation and the progress made on each goal (outlined below). The Trustees unanimously agreed she is doing an impressive job.
Because of the recommendation from the auditor, whenever Marty receives a reimbursement check from library funds, the two signatures on the check will be those of Marty and Michael Jette. Marty will do more inquiry through NHLTA resources.
Marty handed out the RSA’s from the NH Municipal Association regarding electronic communication. The Trustees unanimously agreed that email would be used minimally, and when it was used, it would be used only for reminders about decisions previously made at meetings. Cathryn will store all email in a file.
New Business
The Trustees held their annual elections. Nancy was nominated for Chairperson, Marty for Treasurer and Leslie for Secretary. All the nominations were confirmed. Congratulations, Trustees!
Nancy reviewed the rough draft of the Library’s new goals for the Master Plan and they were adopted unanimously. Cathryn will write the first part of the Master Plan containing the statistics, patronage, physical description, technology and funding.
Nancy asked everyone to make a statement about the library for 2017 and make to a goal for the library for 2018.
Cathryn:
2017: Cathryn stated she is pleased with the implementation and response of the “Make or Play” activities provided on Monday.
2018: Cathryn developed three goals for the upcoming year:
- She would like to add new materials to her rotations of “Make or Play” activities. She would also like to enrich some of the existing rotations, e.g., Legos now have challenge cards available.
- Cathryn would like to catalog her numerous folders/posters/display materials (over 500 files) in a systematic, efficient way.
- Cathryn would like to continue to promote the Summer Reading Program by applying for grants, ordering supplies, and booking a guest presenter as a culminating event. She has applied and received a grant (Kids, Books and the Arts) from the NH State Library. She has booked Steve Blunt and Marty Kelley ($470) for this summer. The grant awarded $370, a substantial savings to the Library.
Marty:
2017: Marty is encouraged by the evolving movie nights for the community.
2018: Marty would like to pursue a seed exchange. Residents could donate their extra seeds. Speakers (e.g., Jim Ramanek, Donna Frost) could be invited to inform patrons of seed saving techniques.
Leslie:
2017: Leslie is impressed by the scope and depth of the goals in the Master Plan that were achieved in 2017.
2018: Leslie would like to develop a reference page of all the movies/programs containing the day, date, time, number of people in attendance, sources of publicity and how many days the message board was on display.
Nancy:
2017: Nancy is pleased with our community outreach efforts with the Conservation Commission, the Historical Society and the movies.
2018: Nancy would like to continue to expand the community outreach efforts.
Marty reported that the auditor inquired if there were any changes to the bylaws written in 2007. Nancy stated a review of the bylaws will be put on the agenda for April.
Marty will attend the Meredith Public Library on Saturday, April 21 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for an all day workshop on Building Community Through Oral History by Jo Radner. This workshop is paid for through a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities Council.
The meeting ended at 5:30 p.m. The next meeting of the Webster Free Public Library will be on Wednesday, March 25, 2018 at 4 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Leslie Collins, Secretary