Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Meeting of October 10, 2012

The meeting was called to order by president John Landrigan at 7:34 PM. Present were Jane Darby, John Landrigan, and Vesta Smith, trustees, and Nanci Myers and Anne Ballam, librarians. John noted two discussion items not on the agenda: board development and fund-raising ideas. The minutes of the August 27 meeting were reviewed but not approved, lacking a quorum.

Building 
Ken has rebuilt the front walk and has taken down the growth in the back yard. These were big jobs for which he should be properly acknowledged. Perhaps we will put up a sign in the foyer as we did to thank Mike Welch for this work on the floors. The new walkway has drawn considerable comment and praise. Russ Wilcox is continuing with the brickwork on the west façade. In addition, on his own initiative, he spent quite a bit of time helping Ken with the walkway and the brush clearing.

Meanwhile, Nanci reported a new issue. As a result of the water problems in the east vault room earlier in the year, water has seeped into the masonry in the first floor ceiling, and dust is falling into the children’s section. Russ Wilcox had a look and said that, while there is no pressing danger, this will continue to happen until the ceiling is redone. Nanci will talk with Russ about submitting a bid for this work.

Financial Report 
John reviewed the financial report, noting that with the completion of the third quarter, he has added the column of percentages to show how we stand going into the final quarter of the year. Nanci and Anne asked about the book budget; they are slightly ahead of budget not greatly so. John will be preparing a draft of the 2013 budget for review at the November meeting. He asked that all trustees be thinking of ideas for new fund-raisers for the coming year.

Librarians’ Reports 
Nanci reported that the adult side has been “super busy” this summer, and that she has signed up 24 new patrons since May. She notes that she is still in need of the shelves that she has discussed, and she has been moving books around in anticipation of new shelving. She will await Mike’s return to the area, since he thought he’d be able to assist there. The annual visit by the middle school students is scheduled for Friday, October 5. Anne reports that she had nine regular participants in the Summer Reading Program, plus some other occasionals. Thanks are especially owed to the Pike Store, which donated coupons for free individual pizzas.

Fundraising/Programming Book Sale: the book sale took in $539 on the 22nd and about $50 has come in since; combined with some earlier book sale income, we have now exceeded our projected income in this area. Nanci reported one patron comment that the sale could have been better publicized. Publicity and other ideas for next year include: announcement on the town listserv; listing on the sign in front of the town offices; cross-promotion with the other libraries; offering ancillary events such as face-painting for kids; ask Alumni Hall about scheduling a concurrent event.

Event Space: Discussion of Nessa Flax’s offer to do a program led to a discussion of our lack of programming space. Now that the growth in the back yard has been cut down, there may be an opportunity to create a summer event space there, perhaps with benches, an awning that would stay up for the season, even a brick-paved area. Nanci is already in discussions with the prison work program about another project, and she will inquire about having the program help us create an event space out back.

Fall Events: John noted that the writing workshops will begin this Saturday (Oct 6), that the fall book discussion series will begin Oct 8, and that there will be another installment of the Book Club for Writers discussions on Oct 25.

New Business 
NHLTA: John reported on the open discussion sponsored by the New Hampshire Library Trustees Association and hosted by the library in Warren.

Banned Books Week: Nanci noted that she has a display planned.

Board Development: The board identified three candidates to approach with the suggestion that they would start in January.

Mystery Date: Nanci described a new program she is considering, Mystery Date with a Book. Patrons are presented with a selection of books wrapped in plain paper and invited to borrow one to read.

Holidays: Nanci would like to hold a raffle for a holiday gift basket as a fund-raiser. It would be displayed some 3-4 weeks prior to the drawing, and would feature high value gifts. Nanci and Anne will develop a list and will seek suggestions from trustees; we will ask trustees to donate the items for the basket. Vesta reminded us that we need a permit from the town to conduct a raffle.

Adjournment 
The next meeting will be held Monday, November 5.

Minutes of August 27, 2012

The meeting was called to order by president John Landrigan at 7:35 PM. Present were Landrigan, Mike Marshall, and Vesta Smith, trustees. The minutes of the August 6 meeting were reviewed but not approved, lacking a quorum.

Building 
John noted that the brickwork on the west façade is now underway, and that Ken still intends to repair the front walk, but has not yet set a date.

Financial Report 
John reviewed the financial report, noting that it does not reflect the August salaries for the librarians due to our early meeting date. He also noted the contributions received so far in response to the annual appeal.

Fundraising/Programming 
Book Sale: the book sale is scheduled for Saturday, September 22. The trustees will visit the library as they have time available before the sale to work on sorting the books. We will again seek to borrow the Ed and Anne’s tent. Mike will check with the guy who took our left over books last year and see if he will do so again this year. Nanci has arranged to have the Currier brothers help move books on the day of the sale.

NHLTA: John mentioned the open discussion scheduled by the New Hampshire Library Trustees Association, which will be hosted by the library in Warren. He plans to attend.

Writing Workshop: John reviewed his revised plan to offer three half-day fiction writing workshops in the fall.

New Business 
Tasco Alarm System: Mike reported his experience with the alarm system that brought out an emergency response team. John will consult Ed Ballam about the alarm. Banned Books Week: John noted as an FYI that Banned Books Week is coming up at the end of September. This is an annual program organized by the American Library Association.

Adjournment 
The next meeting will be held Monday, October 1.

Minutes of August 6, 2012

The meeting was called to order by president John Landrigan at 7:30 PM. Present were John Landrigan, Mike Marshall, Susan Lewis, and Vesta Smith, trustees. Susan Brown was also present to explain the Founders Day plans to the trustees.

250th Anniversary Celebration 
Susan Brown explained the plans as they stand now for the Newbury/Haverhill 250th Anniversary Celebration taking place next year. There is a sponsors book that can be pre-purchased that will contain pictures of homes in the area. The book will be available November 1, 2012.

December 31, 2012 is the kick-off ball for the year-long celebration.

Founders Day will take place May 18, 2013. There will be activities in the Clifford Building from 10-12 in Woodsville, NH. At 2 pm the Charters will be read on the commons of both Newbury and Haverhill. There will be crafts and vendors set up at the commons, and if the library would like to do something the offer is there. At 3 pm the committee would like the school to plan a program about the town.

New Business 
The Historical Society has requested the use of the library’s storage space until the work in Pearson Hall is complete. They will bring in a storage consultant who will help organize the space efficiently. The trustees voted to allow the Historical Society to use the vault. The trustees who are also members of the Historical Society abstained from voting. It was brought up that that the HLA is not responsible for damage due to fire, water, humidity, and theft.

Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the June 4 meeting were approved as presented.

Donations 
VHS tape donations were discussed. The condition of many of the tapes is poor and we are essentially just throwing them away. A discussion followed about whether we should discourage the donation of VHS tapes or if we should just take them and along with the other things people also donate. It was decided to leave it the way it is.

Progressive Dinner 
The last word on the dinner was that it had been cancelled. We are awaiting final word on this.

Building
Russ Wilcox: has not come yet, was supposed to be here is July. Ken will call him.

Walkway: The bricks need to be lifted and new sand needs to be brought in. We can fill in where the puddle forms near the road. We can set up a day when Ken can do this with help from other trustees.

Backlot: Scrape top layer off -- should be done in either spring or fall.

Financial Reports
The bill for the roof repairs has been paid. The annual appeal has come in which brought in $2,000.

Fundraising/ Programming 
John will be working on a Thank You Letter which will be sent shortly for the annual appeal. The Byrne Foundation matching funds grant that we were approved for last year were discussed and John said he would work on a letter to send out for that.

Nessa Flax, a local author wants to offer a program at the library. The trustees approved of this.

John is working on getting another writing workshop together this year.

There will be a fall book sale as well. A date to be determined with input from the librarians.

Correspondence
The trustees received a letter requesting information. The information requested was sent previously or will be shortly.

Adding Documents/Procedures to Website 
A discussion about putting information on the HLA’s website followed. It was decided unanimously to put the HLA’s policies and procedures on the website but not the minutes from 2009.

Librarians’ Report 
There was no librarians’ report as Anne was on vacation.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Minutes of June 4, 2012

The meeting was called to order by president John Landrigan at 7:30 PM. Present were Jane Darby, Landrigan, Mike Marshall, and Vesta Smith, trustees. The minutes of the May 7 meeting were approved as presented.

Old Business
SB214: John reported that the New Hampshire Senate concurred with the amended version of the bill that was passed by the House, and it was subsequently signed by the governor on May 29. Under the terms of the bill, it will now go into effect on July 28. Mike suggested that a copy of the final bill should be provided to the librarians for reference.

Building
Roof work: John reported that the initial payment has been made on the repairs to the slate roof, and that the company has projected a start date of early June. It appears that it will not be possible to re-use the slate from another job as the company had at one time hoped.

Property Map: At the May meeting, John had promised to ask Jim Alexander for a copy of a property map for Haverhill Corner, and John now reported that Jim had supplied this map and John has shared it with Ken. The map was wanted in connection with Ken’s plan of removing the brush behind the library with his grading equipment; the concern was whether there is anything just under the surface that might be damaged. Unfortunately, though the map shows the property line clearly, it does not seem to indicate what might be buried.

Financial Report
John noted that the May financial report indicates that we are currently about $10K behind for the year, as compared to about $5K behind at this time last year. The two primary reasons for this difference are: 1) the annual appeal has not yet been sent and the resulting income therefore not yet received; 2) this figure includes the substantial down payment for the roof work, though in fact that will be covered by the special building funds carried over from last year. The library regularly shows an operating deficit in May because we do not receive the second quarterly payments from the town and the Mildred Page Fund until June. The contribution from the Haverhill Corner Precinct, however, has been received. Although our finances are in keeping with previous years, John reminded the board that we are still looking at a difficult year since the contributions from both the town and the precinct will be less than projected.

Librarians’ Report
The librarians sent word that they will provide a two-month report at the next meeting.

Fundraising/Programming
Annual Appeal: John noted that he has failed to get the appeal mailing done on its usual schedule this year, but he arrived at the meeting with the elements completed, and the trustees present prepared the mailing during the course of the meeting.

General Fitz John Porter Program: The trustees had previously agreed to co-sponsor this program with the Haverhill Historical Society, since it is based on a book and will include a booksigning, and John announced that it is now scheduled for Thursday, June 14. Our co-sponsorship primarily involves helping to publicize the event, and to this end, John has announced it in the appeal letter and will put it on the library’s web site.

Shakespeare Discussion: John announced that he will hold a discussion of “The Taming of the Shrew” a week before the first performance at Alumni Hall by the Shakespeare Under the Stars troupe. The trustees expressed pleasure at the opportunity to support our neighbor organization in a small way.

Strawberry Festival: The trustees had previously agreed that the library would once again participate in the church’s annual Strawberry Festival, and John reminded everyone that it will be held on June 30.

Writing Workshops: Driven by the need to write the appeal letter, John has set dates for three half-day fiction writing workshops to be held in late July and early August. These will be fund-raisers for the library, and will experiment with a new format, compared to the six-week workshops we have run in the past.

Fall Festival: At one point, the trustees had considered the possibility of assuming responsibility for the Autumn Festival, in order to create an opportunity for another pig roast or some other fund-raiser. No progress had been made on this, however, and John felt it was time to close the loop on the discussion. The board decided that, at this point, it is not feasible to assume responsibility for this event.

New Business 
Haverhill Historical Society Request: The Historical Society has requested permission to hold the dessert portion of its annual Progressive Dinner at the library. The plan for the dinner is to focus on former Grafton County buildings in Haverhill Corner, including the former jail, the courthouse (Alumni Hall), and the records office (the library). The dinner is tentatively scheduled for October 27. The board agreed to grant permission to use the library, but expressed concerns involving capacity/crowding, seating, and access to the second floor. John was directed to share these concerns with the Society.

The meeting concluded with the completion of work on the annual appeal mailing.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Minutes of May 7, 2012

The monthly meeting of the Haverhill Library Association was held at the library and called to order by Board of Trustees Chairman John Landrigan at 7:35 P.M. on May 7, 2012. Present were Trustees John Landrigan, Vesta Smith, Susan Lewis, Mike Marshall, Ken Frank and Jane Darby.

Minutes of the March 5th and April 2nd monthly meeting were approved.

SB 214 Report: Amended version passed the house. There was no word when the senate will take up the legislation. John will keep looking at the state website to see the progress. The lawyer fee for the consultation was $100.

Records Management Policy: The policy reflects what is currently being done. Policy was approved by the board.

Building: Weather Check is the company doing the roof. They will be beginning work soon. There is a possibility of using slate from another job they are doing. That would reduce our cost. The brick work needs to be finished on the other end of the library building. We will be calling him to see when that work will be finished. The mess in the back of the library will be cleaned up. Ken has offered to scrape the weeds off and spread some seed in back of the building. The location of the property line was discussed and it was decided to ask Jim Alexander if he knew exactly where it is located. The condition of the front walkway was discussed. Ken said it would take a day to tear p the brick and lay down a new walkway that is flat and safer for the patrons. There will be an email asking for volunteer help when he is ready to do the work.

Financial Report: The town income came in. There were 2 unbudgeted items that were paid. One was the update to the Intuit Software and Lawyer fees.

Librarian Report: A young man has inquired about the job. It was decided to award him the mowing job as the other person who mowed last year has not asked about it. Charter has offered to carry both phone and internet. We will compare prices and service to see if it is worth it. $150 has been donated to purchase a table for the children’s side of the library. Nanci and Anne are researching to find a table that would be suitable for our unique space. The rest of the cost would need to be raised through fundraising. Volunteer efforts were noted. Vesta will send a Thank-You note to Carolyn Danielson for weeding the flower beds.

Fundraising/ Programming: Dave Major gave a 40% discount for books purchased at the Jane Cleland author tea. There will be an all day writing workshop program this summer.

Annual Appeal Mailing: John will forward the list. Look at list to find people who should be on list actually are. We send this out soon.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:27 P.M. The next regular meeting will be held at the library at 7:30 P.M. on June 4, 2012.

Respectfully submitted,
Susan Lewis

Minutes of April 2, 2012

The monthly meeting of the Haverhill Library Association was held at the library and called to order by Board of Trustees Chairman John Landrigan at 7:30 P.M. on April 2, 2012. Present were Trustees John Landrigan, Vesta Smith and Susan Lewis.

Minutes of the March 5, 2012 monthly meeting were not approved due to a quorum not being present.

SB 214 Report: There is a working session on the bill being held April 3. Voting will probably take place on the amended bill at this time. John will follow the process online and will report via email what happens. As soon as we know what is happening we will inform other local libraries.

Records Management Policy: The policy reflects what is currently being done. We will discuss this again when more trustees are available.

Building: Slate from North Haverhill are not usable as they are the wrong color. We will need to purchase slate. Work will begin when we are able to be fit into the contractors calendar.

Financial Report: John presented financial statements from March. The income from town and precinct was down from what we budgeted. The income reflected the chicken biscuit supper and book sale. Next month we will need to pay 40% of the estimate for the roof work.

Author Tea: Jane Cleland will be here Sunday April 15th. Susan Brown has offered to host the tea or to have it at the parish hall as previously planned. We will charge $10 a ticket. Like the chicken dinner it was decided that the trustees will provide the food. This will be coordinated through email. John will contact Dave Major to have some books on hand for people to purchase.

Annual Appeal Mailing: John will forward the list. Look at list to find people who should be on list actually are. We will try to send this out in April.

Book Discussions: Great Expectations will be held Monday April 16.

Librarians Report: Currently we have no Jane Cleland books in the library. The printer is not working properly. Nanci will talk to Mike about getting it repaired. The annual report is due to the state by the end of the week. The librarians will get it to John so he can add some information and send it to the sate.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 P.M. The next regular meeting will be help at the library at 7:30 P.M. on May 7, 2012.

Respectfully submitted,
Susan Lewis

Minutes of March 5, 2012

The monthly meeting of the Haverhill Library Association was held at the library and called to order by Board of Trustees Chairman John Landrigan at 7:30 P.M. on March 5, 2012. Present were Trustees John Landrigan, Vesta Smith, Ken Frank & Mike Marshall and Librarians Nanci Myers & Anne Ballam.

Minutes of the January 2, 2012 & February 7, 2012 monthly meetings and January 16, 2012 Annual Meeting were approved with corrections.

Removal of books from vault room: John reported he has started moving books out of the second floor east end vault room because of the presence of the boiler in that room. During his cleanup, he found stacks of old minutes that he is organizing for storage.

Roofing Contractor: Ken presented a contract proposed by Michael Mayo of WeatherCheck LLC for repairs to the library’s slate roof. Ken explained the price is more that obtained from another contractor last year who failed to follow through, but it includes more work. Ken has received good recommendations of WeatherCheck and feels their price is reasonable for the scope of work contemplated. Mike moved and Vesta seconded that we accept the offer. In discussion, John requested that the contract be corrected to indicate it was with the Haverhill Library Association and not the Town of Haverhill. The motion passed with the understanding the correction would be requested.

Financial Report: John presented financial statements for February. John has paid the outstanding bill to Hood’s Plumbing and included a letter indicating our dissatisfaction with their work. John has learned that the Haverhill Precinct Commissioners have recommended lowering the precinct’s contribution to the library this year from $1,500 to $1,000.

Librarians’ Report: Nanci submitted a Librarians’ Report. Nanci discussed the need for a kidney shaped table for the children’s room. Nanci has been communicating with North Haverhill’s Patten Library and reports they would like us to take their left-over slate tiles soon if we want them; Ken will contact North Haverhill. Nanci noted that the library’s computers have been having difficulties with Internet Explorer and email programs. The copier is making copies with black streaks; Mike will bring it to Ross’s Business Machines for repair. Nanci noted some parking difficulties with attendees of an exercise class held at Alumni Hall and talked directly with the instructor to remedy the situation.

Haverhill Historical Society: John reported that the Haverhill Historical Society intends to hire an intern during the summer to work on cataloging HHS holdings currently being stored in our library’s vault. The HHS has also proposed that we cosponsor a program in June of this year on a book by Kim Alexander and her husband about the diaries of Civil War General Fitz John Porter and a program during next year’s 250th Newbury-Haverhill Anniversary on Frances Parkinson Keyes.

Records Management Policy: John provided the board with a copy of a proposed “HLA Policy on Document and Records Management.” Discussion of this policy was tabled until next month’s meeting.

Proposed Right-to-know Law concerning public libraries: John received consensus of support from the board for a draft email proposed to be sent to members of the State of New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee outlining the concerns of the HLA concerning SB 214.

HLA Book Sale at Strawberry Festival: The board agreed that the HLA would have a book sale table set up during the annual Strawberry Festival sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Haverhill on June 16.

Fund raising / Programming: The board finalized plans for the March 10 Chicken & Biscuit Supper. The next Winter Book Discussion will be on Dickens’ Bleak House on March 19.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 P.M. The next regular meeting will be held at the library at 7:30 P.M. on April 2, 2012.

Respectfully submitted,
Michael Marshall

Minutes of February 7, 2012

The monthly meeting of the Haverhill Library Association was held at the library and called to order by Board of Trustees Chairman John Landrigan at 7:00 P.M. on February 7, 2012. Present were Trustees John Landrigan, Mike Marshall and Susan Lewis.

We took a tour of the vault room to see how many books needed to be moved and see the work that was done on the boiler.

Minutes of the January 2, 2012 and January 16, 2012 meetings were reviewed. As there wasn’t a quorum a vote could not take place.

NH Library Trustee Association: We currently have memberships for 2 of our trustees. Each membership costs $10.00 per year. In the past we have utilized the NHLTA to help find a lawyer for our lawsuit. More recently we have utilized the NHLTA for guidance in responding the ILL van issue. Currently John is one of the members. Mike Marshall will be the second member.

Alumni Hall and Parking Issues: The issue of storing the “Library Parking” signs was discussed. John has spoken to Keisha about making the group using Alumni Hall for an event during library hours responsible for putting out the signs. It was decided to leave the signs folded in the library and become more aware of upcoming events at Alumni Hall. Keisha also brought up the idea of a small parking lot that could be shared by Alumni Hall and the library; the idea was shelved due to concerns about location and cost.

Boiler Switch Problem: Mike will look into getting a cover for the emergency shut off for the boiler. It was noted that it is next to a light switch so it might accidentally get shut off. There are covers that can be placed over the switch so this doesn’t happen.

Building: Ken met with Gerand A Leone Slate Roofing Company. They looked at the library roof.

Financial Report: The month of January has no income only expenses. The propane bill was paid so the issue of the emergency switch being triggered due to lack of propane was dismissed. The idea of prebuying propane was discussed as an option for next year in an effort to save money. John will check on that this fall. The town of Haverhill budget advisory committee met and it will recommend that the libraries receive level funding.

Hood’s Bill: Hoods Plumbing and Heating are pressing for payment of the outstanding bill. It was decided that we would pay the bill and enclose a letter explaining that we were disappointed with the service we received.

Chicken and Biscuit Supper: Ted Shiffman is unable to cook for us. He recommended that the trustees do it themselves. After discussion it was decided that we could indeed do this. We will be looking for help from former trustees and other community members. John will look at the numbers from last year to see how much we need to purchase. We can cook the main dish on site and bring salads, drinks and desserts. We will plan this event via email. There will also be a book sale during the supper.

Winter Book Discussion Series: The day of the meeting was noted to be the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth. The remaining books and dates are David Copperfield 2/20 Bleak House 3/19 Great Expectations 4/16

Removal of Books from Vault Room: There was a discussion about the best way to go about moving books from their current location with the boiler and water pipes to the other vault room. The trustees will clean and prep the west vault room for the incoming books and begin moving them.

Fire Alarm: The HLA currently pays $500 per year to TASCO for the fire alarm service. It currently is not working properly. We need to fix this service.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 P.M. the next meeting will be March 5, 2012 at 7:30 P.M.

Minutes of January 16, 2012 Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the Haverhill Library Association was held at the library and called to order by Board of Trustees Chairman John Landrigan at 6:30 P.M. on January 16, 2012. Present were Trustees John Landrigan, Ken Frank, Sue Lewis & Mike Marshall and Children’s Librarian Anne Ballam.

John noted the minutes of the 2011 Annual Meeting had already been approved at an earlier monthly meeting of the board.

A slate of officers for 2012 was proposed and approved: President – John Landrigan, Vice-President – Ken Frank, Treasurer – John Landrigan and Secretary – Sue Lewis.

John presented a revised 2011 Financial Report. The Board voted approval to submit the report for the town report. John also noted he will have copies available for the town’s Budget Advisory Committee meeting.

A review of activities of the past year was made in preparation of the 2011 Annual Report to the town. Major repairs to the bricks of the building, which will continue in 2012. The March supper, book sale and gift basket raffle. Book discussions. A Shakespeare program done in conjunction with the series of Shakespeare performances at Alumni Hall. Author luncheon with thanks to Keisha Luce for use of Alumni Hall. Library visit by the Haverhill Cooperative Preschool and Haverhill Cooperative Middle School sixth graders. Children’s reading program. Children’s cookie sampler. Annual book sale in September. Holiday Tea with thanks to Bill & Mary Emig. Thanks also to Cheryl Barnes for donating a ‘Harry Potter” quilt for use in the children’s room and to Library Volunteers Tasha Simmons and Charlene Aldrich.

Anne presented a Children’s Library Report. She also noted that the number of people accessing Wi-Fi with their personal computers has increased, but while some do it successfully, others have had problems.

Sue reported she was asked by a member of the public if the area behind the library could be used as a shared parking area for the library and Alumni Hall. Ken and Mike noted that probably would not work due to the location of the library’s drywell.

John thanked Ken for ‘No Parking’ signs he made to preserve parking in front of the library when Alumni Hall events attract large crowds.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 P.M. The next monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, February 7, 2012. (Note this is not on the usual first Monday of the month; it was changed due to schedule conflicts.)

Respectfully submitted,
Michael Marshall

Minutes of January 2, 2012

The monthly meeting of the Haverhill Library Association was held at the library and called to order by Board of Trustees Chairman John Landrigan at 7:30 P.M. on January 2, 2012. Present were Trustees John Landrigan, Jane Darby, Ken Frank, Sue Lewis, Vesta Smith & Mike Marshall and Librarians Nanci Myers & Anne Ballam.

Minutes of the November 7, 2011 and December 5, 2011 meetings were approved.

State Library Van: John reported that libraries across the state had provided feedback concerning proposed cuts to the State Library Van to State Librarian Mike York, who in turn prepared a report to the state legislature arguing against the cuts.

Status of 2012 Fall Festival: No information is available yet.

Alumni Hall Parking Issues: Nanci reported she had conversations with Alumni Hall Executive Director Keisha Luce concerning parking problems during events held at Alumni Hall. Ken volunteered to make some no-parking signs and John said he would email Keisha asking her to deal with organizations using Alumni Hall to make sure their patrons did not park in front of the library.

Board Development: John will approach some potential candidates for positions on the board.

Building: Ken will contact Gerard A Leone Slate Roofing Company of Sunapee, NH as a possible contractor for repair to the library’s roof. John reports that he still intends to respond to the Byrne Foundation’s offer of a matching funds grant.

Financial Report: The library received payments from the Town of Haverhill and the Mildred Page Bequest in December and we ended the year with a loss of $1,832.18 in our regular operating budget when special amounts received and expended for building repairs in 2011 are disregarded. The deficit was ameliorated by a generous special year end contribution to the library by Jane Darby & Jack Carlock. John presented a draft ‘Operating Receipts & Disbursements’ statement he prepared for the annual town report, noting it shows a balance which might inaccurately portray an inflated cash on hand balance. After discussion, it was decided that the report should have an explanation of the major building repairs being the cause for the buildup of cash on hand, but that cash is already designated to be spent on repairs.

Town Funding Request for 2012: John will find out when the town’s Budget Advisory Committee is meeting so we can be present to support our request for increased funding.

Librarian’s Report: Anne reports that a tutor and seventh grade girl arrived at the library asking for a quiet place for a tutoring session as part of the ‘ACES’ program in the schools. Anne will contact the school to get confirmation of the program and the tutor’s background check. Anne reports that Hood’s Plumbing & Heating left messages on Nanci’s home and cell phones looking for payment for work done at the library last winter; John will call them. Ken will check current problems with freezing lines.

Fund raising / Programming: The Books & Music Holiday Dessert Tea held December 10 at Bill & Mary Emig’s home was a success. John noted special thanks to the Emigs for hosting the event and providing the refreshments & food; they also paid for a newspaper advertisement. The Board was in favor of asking the Emigs to host our April 15 Author’s Luncheon and to repeat the Holiday Tea. The Chicken & Biscuit Supper is scheduled for March 10; John will approach Ted Schiffman; more planning will be done at next month’s meeting. In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, the Winter Book Discussion Series will feature Pickwick Papers on January 16, David Copperfield on February 20, Bleak House on March 19, and Great Expectations on April 16. The Book Club for Readers will meet on January 26 to discuss stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Philip Roth.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 P.M. The Annual Meeting will be held at the library at 6:30 P.M. on January 16, 2012 and the next regular meeting will be held at the library at 7:30 P.M. on February 6, 2012.

Respectfully submitted,
Michael Marshall

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Minutes of December 5, 2011

The monthly meeting of the Haverhill Library Association was held at the library and called to order by Board of Trustees Chairman John Landrigan at 7:30 P.M. on December 5, 2011. Present were Trustees John Landrigan, Jane Darby & Mike Marshall and Librarians Nanci Myers & Anne Ballam. Absent were members Vesta Smith, Sue Lewis and Ken Frank and therefore Chairman Landrigan declared a quorum for voting was not present.

Minutes of the November 7, 2011 meeting were read. Approval was deferred until next month.

Town Funding Request for 2012: John presented a copy of the letter he submitted to Town Manager Glenn English, with copies to select board members, in which the Haverhill Library Association asked, and gave reasons, for an increase in funding next year. John reports that Mr. English informed him that he was going to recommend level funding for all nongovernmental agencies.

Building: Exterior brick work on the building has stopped for the year.

Financial Report: There was no income in November, but we expect to receive payments from the Town of Haverhill and the Mildred Page Bequest in December. John explained that the last entry on the ‘Profit Loss Statement’, a shortfall of $4,767.25, shows how much over budget the library is without the special amounts received and expended for building repairs in 2011. When the final payments from the Town of Haverhill and Page Fund are received, John estimates our year-end deficit will be approximately $2,000.

Librarian’s Report: Nanci and Anne submitted a written report of numbers of uses of the library for May through October. Nanci reports that Stephen Hebebrand has done an excellent job of shoveling snow.

Fund raising / Programming: The Board noted the upcoming Books & Music Holiday Tea to be held December 10 at Bill & Mary Emig’s home.

Board Development: A discussion was held concerning potential new board members.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 P.M. The next meeting will be held at the library at 7:30 P.M. on January 2, 2012.

Respectfully submitted,
Michael Marshall