Sherman Free Library, Port Henry, NY, Board Meeting Minutes March 16, 2023
Sherman Free Library
Minutes of Board Meeting held at Sherman Free Library, Tuesday, February 14th, 2023
In Attendance: Sue Nephew, Gail Baker, Staley Rich, Joe Kazlo, Tara Orr, Shane Thelan, Janelle Jurkiewicz, Betty LaMoria, Kris Jarrett
Meeting convened, 4 pm
Staley moved, Gail second, to disregard prior meeting minutes due to no minutes being taken, approved unanimously.
Sue introduces Kris as new library staff, beginning in November.
Staff report to the board, Kris reported on cleaning and sorting of library records, physical plant, doing a lot of cleaning and some moving of shelves and computer stations to improve flow and space usage. (see report for details)
Discussed possibility of using newly reclaimed floor space for lectures, programing, traveling exhibits.
Annual State Report is in progress. Mostly done, will be finished in the next few weeks. Due end of January before Kris’ vacation.
Looking at patron numbers, 10-15 average through the door daily, small increase from last January.
Social media: new Facebook page, on track to recapture friends list from old Facebook page, have been doing historical photo series with good numbers of views. Facebook analytics presented. Plans going forward to set up Instagram and YouTube.
www.shermanfreelibrary.com has been secured and a basic landing page put in place. Website will be printed on new patron cards which should arrive soon. The library’s page on the town website has been updated with current hours and information and we have in-house access to make changes to that page going forward.
Report on staffing: Barbara and Ronnie helping out on some days. Staff level is comfortable.
Kris requests to set the special events schedule for the season. (Rummage Sale, Champ Day, Wine and Cheese, Basket Raffle on Labor Day)
Kris would like to add a spring volunteer work day this year; yard cleaning, basement cleaning.
Could JobCorp in VT help? Honor Society? Perhaps on Earth Day? Will want to check on other state site volunteer dates.
For basement cleanout, could the town donate a small dump truck and wave dump fees?
Gail asked about books still stored in the fire house. Janelle reported that most had already been removed.
Kris suggests starting to think about next capital project being an accessible restroom. Location options were discussed.
Kris asked if we want to restart late fees. Suggested that we go with a donation system.
Motion to use a donation system made by Gail, seconded by Joe, passed with no opposition.
Old business:
Budget: town has increased their contribution to $25,000 (double last year), slated to be on the school budget for $45,000 in May when the vote takes place. Need to learn what the tax burden per homeowner will be. The vote will be for a separate line item, school will collect tax funds and redistribute to the library. Line item can be voted up or down independently. Sue is looking for ideas on how to spread the word and promote voting yes to support the library. Could the Sun/Times of Ticonderoga run an article, interview Kris as new librarian? Kris mentioned that they did such an article last time there was a new Director.
Should we restart a newsletter? Need to collect email addresses from patrons.
Second Tuesday in May should be the vote date.
Good news! The company that owns Mill #7 will be making a donation to the library in the amount of $12,500. It was decided to hold those funds for possible future needs.
Sue requests that we have a program (like a talk) in April. Kris will look into options; a small honorarium could be used.
Sue was approached by Vicky Sergeant about possibly serving on the board, as treasurer. All would be happy to have her help.
Board Officers: Sue agrees to serve another term as president. Gail agrees to take over as vice president.
Request made to establish Earth Day/Volunteer Day committee: Staley, Joe, Kris
Question raised by Staley: can a board member be a non-resident?
Sue recommended that we review bylaws in general, and to answer questions such as this, review a few lines per meeting. Kris will attempt to locate most recent version and send to Sue.
Next Meetings:
March 23rd, 4:10 pm
May 11th, 4 pm
August 10th, 4 pm
Budget Meeting: TBD
Collections: Kris talked briefly about the type of items in our collections, difference between historical in-house collection and loan collection. Could some items be deaccessioned to make space or if they are not relevant to our collection.
Motion to adjourn by Shane to adjourn, seconded by Joe, meeting adjourned.