Minutes of Morrill Memorial and Harris Library Trustees, April 2, 2018

Present: Cindy Binzen, Curt Albee, Carol Wilson, Melissa Strayton, Rachel Kurland

Minutes of the March meeting were approved.

Librarian’s Report:

Melissa will attend a half-day workshop for new library directors on April 12. 

Melissa will open a Facebook page for the library and will use it to post closings due to weather and potentially add links to reviews of new books purchased.

The theme of the Summer Reading Program is Libraries Rock.  Melissa met with Emily Zolo and they discussed activities to support the program.  Emily would like to conclude her involvement in May, transitioning to full time work elsewhere.  Melissa will take on the running of the activities and we’ll explore volunteer support for her.  Melissa will give the children a calendar of the summer’s activity nights after a date is firmed up with the volunteer firemen.

Melissa has been negotiating individual reading contracts with the children so each will read according to their abilities.  We will purchase prizes and pull new children’s books from the book sale so children can choose a book or prize when they complete their readings.  Melissa applied for and received a $200 Department of Libraries grant to support the reading program.  We need to submit a certificate of insurance and a W-9 to the state to receive the grant.

Melissa asked for permission to apply for a CLiF Grant for Rural Libraries.  The award incudes $2000 in children’s books for the town library chosen by the town librarian, $500 in children’s books for the elementary school library chosen by the school librarian, four storytelling sessions at the elementary school or day care facility,  a brand new book for each child who participates, and a $250 mini-grant to support a library project. Melissa feels she can make a good argument that as a children’s librarian newly hired here she has identified gaps in our collection which we do not have the funds to fill.

There is still some confusion about the date of the benefit concert for the library this summer.  We agreed that July 6 would not work, as it conflicts with our own book sale and the Morrill Homestead gala next door.  Curt will contact the organizer.

Baby books are purchased as a batch buy at the end of the year.  Melissa was happy to report that someone came in looking for “their” baby book.

We don’t know the schedule for cleaning the library, but it seems we need better coverage.

Treasurer’s Report:

Nothing in the budget to cause alarm.

The bank card has been signed.  Melissa can now get a signature card.  Finally.  (sorry)

Rebecca has given Kerry Claffey the information he needs and is he is working on the library’s taxes.

Friends Report: 

No report.

The Friends of the Library have not had a meeting since they last reported to us.

Other Business:

The screen door, approximately three and a half feet wide and over seven feet tall, blew off its hinges this winter.  Curt wrestled it into the basement.  The door is thick and hardwood.  We discussed the cost of replacing it with something that would weigh less and decided that for now we will re-mount it with reinforced hinges.  It would be prohibitively expensive to build a new less weighty wooden door and we don’t want to put a metal screen door on this historic building.

We agreed to try to sell the old card catalogue.  We need the space it is taking and we don’t anticipate going back to a paper filing system.  The face of the drawers is wood, but the drawers themselves are plastic.  Cindy will research prices for similar cabinets.

The next meeting of the board will be May 7^th at 7PM.

The Trustees Cleanup Day will be May 20^th at 10AM.  Hopefully we’ll have some strong backs to bring the screen door out of the basement.

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Rachel Kurland

Temporary acting secretary