Present: Mary Farwell, Chairperson, Mary Leger, Secretary, Heather Shumway, Director, Mac Broderick, Trustee Candidate
Secretary's Report: Approved and filed.
Treasurer's Report: Approved and filed.
Director's Report: Attached
Unfinished Business:
New Business:
Items We Are Tracking:
Next Trustee Meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005 9AM
Correspondence:
Bill Estey, Principal of Underhill Elementary School sent us a lovely thank you note for the recent book donations to the classrooms of Underhill School. We also received a very nice thank you note from the Hooksettites for rearranging furniture and helping to set up for a recent concert they held here.
Circulation:
We had a recent request from a patron in town to reconsider our procedures in handling library cards for homeless residents in our town. After consulting with the Directors present at the GMILCS Board meeting that afternoon, the decision was made to allow patrons who do not have a physical street address in Hooksett to register as borrowers with a two-month registration period on their card which can be renewed and a limit of 5 items to be checked out at a time.
Many new displays are appearing throughout the library to work at increasing circulation of book titles, including our new staff favorites display at the circulation desk. Mark and LeeAnn created the staff favorites display in the rack after returning from the NELA Conference and looking at the library with the approach of a bookstore's eye on internal marketing.
GMILCS RefNet has created an online users survey which is being distributed to all patrons as well and accessible on our website. The main focus is downloadable audio books, e-books and online reference services. We have had a large response to completing the survey in our library as well as online. The online version can not be sorted by library so we will have to rely on the consortium's numbers and our own paper copies for our patron's views. GMILCS has also arranged for a trial usage on downloadable audio books if anyone is interested in using them and providing an opinion on the two companies we are looking at.
Themed displays for the entryway display case are needed for the upcoming months. If anyone has a collection of items at home they would like to put on display, they would be welcome. Discussion at a staff meeting was held to advertise in the Banner but I felt that this might invite trouble and having to say no to inappropriate displays. We will be sending a request on our email list instead.
Staff:
LeeAnn, Mark and myself attended the NELA Conference in Worcester, MA and brought back many great new ideas for the library. Mark attended a fantastic program presented by the Teen Advisory Board from the Chelmsford Public Library. This group of teen patrons presented what they liked, what they didn't like and what they wanted from their libraries. Mark will be compiling his five pages of notes to be shared at an upcoming staff meeting. LeeAnn attended several noteworthy programs including how to be a support staff leader. I attended several fantastic programs, including how to market your electronic resources, how to be a strong advocate for the library in your community, partnerships between academic libraries and public libraries. I will present information on these programs at the next trustee meeting as well as at upcoming staff meetings.
I attended the READS Fall Conference on Internet Policies at Kimball Union Academy. Melissa Martin, a lawyer who works with libraries from Lebanon, NH was present to share the legal ramifications which need to be addressed in internet policies as well as the impact of CIPA on libraries and their filtering policies. I will present on this topic at our next meeting along with a copy of an updated internet policy for the library. The highlight of the day was when I, as past-president of READS, presented the new READS award to a circulation librarian from the Franklin Public Library for her outstanding service to the library.
Through a Gates Foundation grant the New Hampshire State Library presented the program, Lifelong Access @ the Library: Connecting with Baby Boomers and Active Adults in Your Community. It was a daylong program with presenters from Lifelong Access, AARP and a library consultant specializing in volunteer programs. The overall program was an overview of a new program that will be coming to libraries in New Hampshire to address the needs of the Baby Boomer generation who will start turning sixty this next January. It sounds like an outstanding program which I will report back on in the future, as I would like Hooksett Library to participate.
The staff participated in a recent fundraiser for breast cancer where staff is allowed to wear jeans to work in exchange for a donation of $5.00 each to the breast cancer fund. It was decided that this could be a weekly event with a donation of $1.00 for each day and the staff would choose a charity to send our donations to each month. The expected level of professionalism will be maintained in personal apparel by those participating.
Programs:
We had a very successful book sale this year, raising a total of $2238.96. We raised our prices this year to be more in line with other book sales. We are hoping to recruit several volunteers to work on book organization throughout the year in preparation for the annual book sale. There were many requests for books to be arranged by topic and author, it is our hope that if we have a volunteer who can handle this project, it would allow us to do so. In addition, I will be working to arrange more open space in our storage room to allow for this project of more involved sorting. We will also be looking for more volunteers at the time of the book sale to help set up the books over two days, rather than the previous arrangement of one afternoon. Facing the large number of leftover books, we arranged the books in the meeting room for a week and invited non-profit organizations and patrons to take any they would like at the very costly price of free! We have names of organizations that we will contact for the remainders next year, as our main contact was not interested this year.
Our first ever Open House had very minimal attendance, but we feel that there were a number of factors involved and have ideas on how to improve for next time. Those who did attend enjoyed crafts, live music by two of Patrick Hebert's students and yummy refreshments. Those in attendance registered for email and made several music collection suggestions for our upcoming collection.
Mark your calendars for April of 2006 for the Library's Birthday Party in celebration of National Library Week. We recognize that the new building here was opened in August, but felt that the time of year for optimum attendance is the late-winter/early spring and happened upon National Library Week.
Children's Department:
Dick Marshall has agreed to attend our Children's Holiday party as Santa Clause on December 10.
Building Maintenance:
Our insurance will cover our electrical fire damage with the exception of our $1000 deductible. According to Diane Savoie we are all set to go ahead with this, pending clarification the insurance company wishes to conduct with the town fire department.
We have noticed a possible roof leak in the area above the staff room, immediately outside the Director's door. Wes will investigate to make sure it is not a leaky pipe, afterwards the Director will contact the roofing company who installed our current roof, which Wes believes to be a membrane roofing which has a lifetime warranty.
Difficulty with our fax line has been taken care of with visits from Vision Communication & Verizon.
I registered the library for Keyspan's fixed price option of $1.3192 per therm. It is currently $1.2992, but I felt that the lock-in price was a smart option for us to take part in.
We have had a request in our suggestions box for a changing table in the men's room. I feel that this is something we should pursue.
Be sure to check out our newly redesigned spaces in the meeting room, young adult area and now a cozy reading area behind reference!