Stowe Free Library

Stowe Free Library Board of Trustees Meeting Feb. 5, 2010 Present – Dick Johannesen, Jo Sabel Courtney, Frits, Momsen, Phyllis Thibault, Stephanie Chase ( SC), Trisha Fong, Meg Kauffman Minutes – of the January meeting were approved. Anecdotally Jo mentioned that it was apparently the HR dept. at the Mountain that failed to notify the student guest workers of the reception we held in January for them. Treasurer’s Report – Dick distributed a report for the first half of FY2010. Total income is +/-$2100 less than the same period last year, due most likely to removing fines, and fewer registration renewals. The market value of the Endowment Funds recovered by about 15% in the period. The Development Account contains about $5,000 in accumulated unrestricted smaller donations, in addition to the $50,000 unrestricted bequest from the estate of John Wood. Director’s Report – SC distributed copies of articles regarding librarian trends. She also updated the board on circulation figures, ongoing programs ( children and adult) as well as projects such as a firm plan with Mort Butler to upgrade our public access computers on a regular basis, reorganizing the periodical room, and on-going weeding of the collection. Staff had suggested revamping the annual award for a Volunteer of the Year, honoring instead volunteers who have retired from service at the Library. Meg questioned how the issue of scheduling staff meetings is progressing – this has been difficult because of diverse schedules and the inability to use overtime pay in order to have all staff in at once for a meeting. Trisha discussed our book plates which need to be printed in higher resolution. Space Needs – There was a walk through by Tom O’Brien on 2/3 with SC and Julie. Tom will return soon with ideas. Again the idea of using HDAC space for Community meetings was broached. Dick has not yet met with Shap Smith regarding building congeniality. On-Going Building Work- While the HVAC work has been postponed, work should be finished on the front porch this summer. Unfortunately, the money we were originally allocated from the Town Capital Budget for the HVAC system, which was to be the final segment of the protracted building restoration project, has been diverted to the Akeley building cupola repairs for this year. Board members expressed frustration with the delay in our HVAC work, a project that not only impacts creature comforts for our patrons and staff but energy efficiency as well. Fiber-Optic Grant –we will be part of a state group applying to receive Federal stimulus money to bring F-O connectivity to 50 libraries in VT. Our speeds would vastly improve and costs per month would drop. Remaining time was spent continuing to review our by-laws,. Meeting adjourned at 10:35. Next meeting will be March 12, 2010 – please note the off –week date, due to members’ schedule conflicts. Respectfully submitted, Phyllis Thibault, Board member