Board Members Present: John Stevenson, Cecilia McCormick, Marcia Dillon, Sally Kantzes, Jackie Harris, Eileen Lynch, Joyce Li, Kathy MacDonough, Sandy Ebbott, Carol Einhorn. Also Present: Kristie Moore, Tom Weaver

Minutes: The minutes of the January meeting were approved as e-mailed.

Treasurer's Report: When Eileen prepared the budget forecast for 2006 [handed out at the meeting], she spread the income out to indicate when it would be received. The key factor is the ending cash, which is projected to go up slightly by the end of this year. Eileen proposed using this forecast as a guide; as we move through the year, the forecast for the previous month will become actual receipts and expenditures. The cash balance [excluding the building fund] on December 31, 2005, was $48,824.00.

The subject of getting bank statements earlier so that a current statement could be presented at the board meetings was discussed. Marcia said she'd see if the cycle date could be moved back.

Requests for Funds: The board approved spending $134.91 to renew the Friends domain name for a nine year period. Cindy Albright registered our domain name originally and has offered to renew it.

A motion was also made and approved to spend $1,240.00 on 300 tote bags to be used as premiums during our annual membership drive.

Kathy presented an invoice for the 95 bricks that were placed in the Colonnade of Freedoms walkway at the end of January. [We charge $100/brick and pay out a little over $17 for each one.]. A motion was made and approved to pay the brick invoice, which was $1,774.22.

• 2005 Audit: Eileen thought we should prepare statements and let an auditor review it. Phillip Spiegelman might be willing to do the audit for free; Marcia will contact him.
• Annual Membership Drive: Sally said the sign up sheet would be available at the March meeting; each board member will be asked to sign up for two two hour shifts. Sally suggested asking high school students who need volunteer hours to help out [e.g. honors students] and both Sally and Sandy will contact area high schools regarding this request.
• Brick Locator: Kathy said the information is currently in both Microsoft Works & Access files. Joyce said that if Kathy can export the data to a spread sheet & send it to her in two separate files, Joyce could transfer it to the website.
• Communications Committee: Articles to be included in the April newsletter were discussed [e.g. FAQ, new regular item that highlights current website features, volunteer profile, letter from the board which John & Joyce will write], as well as the need for an editor/Communications Committee Chairperson. Carol's first experience with mailing the Friends Newsletter went very well — may they all be as easy! Jackie asked if we could publicize the need for an editor on a Power Point slide that could run on the computer screen people see as they wait to check out. Tom said he could take care of getting that done.
• Landscaping Extension: Marcia said the information we filed with the IRS said our purpose is to enhance the collections at the library and was concerned that landscaping wouldn't fall under that category. There were also concerns about how well plants would look and fare in the mulched areas across the road from the library. After further discussion the board voted not to pursue the landscaping option at this time.
• Friends Only Event: Sally & Jack had discussed having a wine & cheese event in the fall, possibly with chamber music. Marcia asked if we would need to go through the café to have it catered [we're not sure] and Tom verified that food couldn't be brought into the library. Other possible programs were discussed; Kathy mentioned a special fall event relating to local history that we might be able to adopt as a focus for the evening. She'll locate and send us a website with the relevant details.
• Friends' lease of copiers: Tom believes our best option is the proposal made by NWC Services, located out of Philadelphia. The Friends would not be charged a fee to lease the copier(s); the service would provide paper, toner & next day service on any repairs; NWC would give the Friends 10% of the funds generated by the copiers. Tom will find out what the contractual obligations will be; if he receives this information before our next meeting, we can conduct an e-mail vote on the proposal
• Building Fund: Kathy reported that a check for $17,000 had recently been given to the country from the Building Fund Account. That account is at PNC and currently contains just under $3,000; once the final installment from the Levin foundation is received in April, the account will be closed.
• Brick Orders: Since the last brick order was placed, four new orders have been received. Kathy tentatively set July 31st as the next deadline for brick orders. Kathy is redoing the brick order form [updated pictures & information] and plans to request funds to have it printed professionally. Jim Hedrick, Special Services, sent the following e-mail to Kathy on January 13: "My mason crew completed the installation of the latest group of engraved brick pavers, and were very pleasantly surprised when they discovered a brick engraved thanking them for their work. These crews do work extremely hard in performing all of their masonry tasks, and this was very much appreciated!"

Library Managers Report: Tom presented statistics on computer use throughout New Castle County [NCC] that showed Bear, Brandywine Hundred [BHL] and Newark libraries as having the greatest number of users. All the public computers at BHL will be swapped out on Tuesday, March 7th. Once this happens the public will be able to access and use flash drives & CD-ROM drives with the computers at BHL.

Shelving in the teen area, behind the circulation desk and for the large type collection is being improved. Tom plans to relocate the large type books near the elevator on the second floor and new shelving will expand the capacity of the large type collection. Additional new shelving will house transit materials currently located on old book carts; this new shelving will accommodate more materials in the same space.

The 6th Annual Black History Celebration, organized by Kay Lacy, was discussed, as were two special exhibits ["Black Sports History", a history of "Howard High School"]. Tom worked with Kevin Turner on a technology article for the Program Guide and sent out instructions that enabled staff to backup files on their PCs. Beginning this month, tax assistance will be provided at the library.

Proposals

• Acknowledge donations: Eileen stated that we need a letter the highest ranking member [president] could sign and a list of those who contributed $250.00 or more. Kathy will work with Joy to take care of this.
• We need someone to volunteer to take care of commissioning and hanging signs that identify the podiums containing the Donor and Brick Locator books.

Eileen handed out a "Conflict of Interest Policy" that board members were asked to review before the March meeting.

Home