FRIENDS OF THE KEYSTONE-LAGRANGE LIBRARY
Meeting Minutes – May 21, 2015
- The meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. by President, Mary Gress. In attendance were Paula Pietch, Marilyn Offenberg, Sylvia Hack, Linda Chapin, Pauline Chaffins, Mary Gress, Jane Fitzhugh, Celeste Brlas, and Eileen French.
- A motion was made by Sylvia Hack and seconded by Marilyn Offenberg to approve theMarch minutes with the following corrections: (1) Under III. Director’s Report – Delete the sentence, “The interior cart could cost an additional $2,000 if the interior cart can’t be used.” (2) Under III. Director’s Report – change the wording of the first sentence regarding the replacement for Debbie Pilivant to read,” Lyn stated that Jen Harmon is the new Marketing and Communications Director for the Elyria Public Library.” The March minutes were approved as amended.
III. Treasurer’s Report – April
Income for the month of April
Membership Dues $ 545.00
Revenue (Brunch) $ 950.00
LeBron James Book Raffle $ 13.00
Sale of Book Bags $ 5.00
GFS Rebate $ 6.00
Total Income $1,569.00
Expenses for April
Uncategorized $ 23.00
Author Brunch Expense $ 120.00
Celebrate Ray Dill Day $ 27.00
General Postage $ 69.00
Lib. Programs, Supplies, Equipment $ 1,554.00
Mystery Dinner Theatre Reimbursed
Expense (Tablecloths) $ 76.00
Plaque to Honor Ray Dill $ 50.00
Tax Fee $ 50.00
Tax Preparation for 2013 and 2014 $ 280.00
Total Expenses $ 2,239.00
A motion to approve the treasurer’s report was made by Jane Fitzhugh and seconded by Paula
Pietch. The treasurer’s report was approved.
- Old Business
A.) Linda reported that it may be the end of June before the Little Library is finished and ready to install. The question was asked if the Friends are responsible for providing the post for the Little Library, and Linda stated that Ray Dill said we are responsible for obtaining it.
B.)Celeste presented a report on the cost of a new book drop-box.The cost of a new box would be $4,340.00 minus a 10 percent discount ($ 434.00) plus a $270.00 freight charge for a total cost of $4,176.00. It would take between nine to fifteen days for delivery and the box would be installed by the Elyria Public Library. The new box will be able to hold up to 240 books and a maximum of 525 DVD’s. The box will be made of stainless steel to prevent rusting. A motion to approve allocating funds for the new drop-box was made by Linda Chapin and seconded by Pauline Chaffins. Discussion of the funding followed. The motion to allocate some funding for this project was then approved unanimously.
Paula made the motion that we allocate the carry-over funds of $2,645.00 from unused project money and add $1,000.00 to that amount for a total of $3,645.00 to give to the library to help pay for the cost of a new book-drop b ox. Marilyn Offenberg seconded the motion. Discussion followed. After discussion, Paula amended the motion to reflect giving the carry-over amount of $2,645.00 plus an additional $500.00 for a total of $3,150.00 to support the new book-drop box expenditure. Sylvia Hack seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
C.)Membership Letter discussion was tabled.
D.)Book Sorting – Linda reported that Ray has retired and that she has taken over “logistics” of transporting book donations to the fire station. Coulton, a library staff member, has been very helpful in loading books for her. She stated that book sorting generally takes place at the old fire station at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning. However, there will be no sorting on Monday, May 25th due to the Memorial Day holiday.
E.)Mary stated that the next thing we need to discuss is advertising for the November Book Sale. She suggested that we find a way to add items to the annual book sale to increase the donation profit. Linda said that we will need to find someone to take the left-over books after the sale. Mary said that she may have someone who is interested in acquiring our left-over books to be used in a library in Michigan.
- Eagle Scout Storage Unit Project – Ray may have to speak with the scout who is leading the project to encourage him to move forward with his plans.
- Thank you to Ray for hanging the vertical sign holder with brochure pocket on wall next to the membership tree.
- Author’s Brunch Review – Mary stated that we sold 92 tickets, including the Friends who paid for tickets . The number of surveys submitted after the brunch was forty-two. The over-all rating indicated that the majority of guests thought that the brunch was excellent. Suggestions for improvement for future brunches included inviting authors to speak at the brunch for no more than two years in a row to allow us to invite different authors, and insuring that authors be given a shorter speaking time. We need a method to hold authors to a strict speaking time. It was suggested that we indicate to authors that we would like to hear less personal information and more about their writing style.
- “Celebrate Ray Day” Review – We had at least 75 people in attendance. Mary Gress has created a scrap book and a “write-up” of the event. Jen Harmon wrote a wonderful proclamation to honor Ray Dill.
- Friends Exchange Day Review – Mary reported that the Friends Exchange Day was held on May 2ndat the West River branch of the Elyria Public Library. Six tables representing different countries were set up with the flag for each country and an authentic cultural snack on each table. Attendees circulated between the tables in order to share ideas in response to a different question asked at each table. Some of the county Friends’ groups represented at the workshop were from North Ridgeville, Lorain, Elyria, Grafton, Avon, and LaGrange. The workshop provided attendees with a wealth of information via an interesting format. North Ridgeville’s Giving Tree contains “clouds” and “rocks” as well as “leaves” to indicate membership. North Ridgeville has a “Junior Friends” group. Celeste, Paula, and Linda indicated that LaGrange has a “Junior Friends” group as well. Grafton’s Friends group life membership fee is $100.00 They have 120 members, 20 of whom are active. Some of the groups sponsor an event for National Libraries Week which is in the month of April. It was suggested that we look into this type of event and add a “Volunteer of the Year.” Avon’s Friends organization serves a meal to the Library Board members. Mary indicated that we need to investigate ways to keep our organization in front of the public such as submitting articles to the Rural Urban and etc. Marilyn informed us that one of the past Friends Exchanges that she attended had members sit around a large table so that everyone could meet each other and hear all of the ideas shared at the same time. Mary indicated that she would have liked a follow-up survey at the end of the workshop. LaGrange Friends members who attended the workshop thought it was very informative and interesting.
- Book Drop-Off – The Book Drop-Off will be held on June 13th at the Keystone-LaGrange Community Library. It was decided not to include a garage sale with the book drop-off as members weren’t sure if it would result in enough proceeds to make it worthwhile. We will include a Staff Appreciation Day on the Book Drop-Off Day. We will provide a picnic lunch for library staff members to recognize their work and support. We will donate food items for library staff members and for the Friends volunteers who are going to work at the Book Drop-Off.
- Membership Drive – We will hold off on the Membership Drive at the present time. Cindy Klinect and Paula Pietch have created a detailed membership list.
- Volunteer Training – We need to find a date to hold a training session for persons who are interested in volunteering to help at the library when an emergency situation arises. Celeste will ask Lyn Crouse to come up with two possible dates for volunteer library aide training.
- Lions Festival – We will need members who are willing to march in the parade as well as volunteers to work in the Friends booth.
- Fundraiser – Marilyn Offenberg reported that Bob Evans would be willing to hold a fundraising day for us. We would receive 10 percent of the proceeds from people who present a coupon indicating that a percentage of the cost of their meals would be donated to the Friends.
XIV. Friends Files – Files for the Friends are currently stored in Linda’s basement.
- A motion to adjourn was made by Paula Pietch and seconded by ? The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.
The next meeting will be held on June 18th at 6:30 p.m. at the Keystone-LaGrange
Community Library.