Friends
of the Grace Balloch Memorial Library
Meeting
Minutes
October
16, 2019
The
meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by President Brian Gebhart.
ATTENDEES
Rick
Boyd, Ben Cerwinske, Lennis Larson, Hailey Foglio, Chris Avison, Gary
Johnson, Wanda Johnson, Brian Gebhart, and Amber Wilde
1.
AGENDA
The
motion to accept the distributed agenda was carried unanimously.
2.
2018 MINUTES
The
motion to accept the previous minutes written and submitted by Chris
Avison, as presented, was carried unanimously.
3.
TREASURER’S REPORT
The
motion to accept the treasurer’s report by Sharon E. Hoggatt was
carried unanimously.
4.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Presented
by Library Director, Amber Wilde.
State
of the Library
- The circulation figures are as follows:
2017 120,000
in-library transactions 16,000 e-book transactions
2018 117,000 “ 24,000 “
2019
is moving at a similar level, with e-book activity increasing
6,500
people attended programs in 2018, 5,500 of whom were children.
- The library received a state award for their summer programs, congratulations!
- The new Friends of the Library logo has been introduced.
- Drop-In Tech was introduced for people to get answers to technical questions related to cell phones, email, etc.
- Craft classes were held for children, with art classes for adults.
- The history room was reorganized.
- Eric obtained state certification this year, as did Stephanie and Shayna last year.
- The Trivia project is going well, into its second year. Many thanks to Tom for running it.
- The state library convention was held in Spearfish this year, hosted by the Grace Balloch Library.
- The library participated in the Big Read project early in the year, in conjunction with the Opera House and the University. This included several events including book discussions at the library, a play at the Opera House written by the University Proff, and a “horse” drawn truck in the art gallery and Light Parade made by the University welding class. All in all a good community effort.
- Story Time with Santa was considered a success, with Friends funding books as givaways.
- The Reach program was considered a success, with the Friends providing readers to first graders with a book for each child. Many thank-you “cards” were received from the recipients.
- The summer reading program was another success, with materials and prizes provided by the Friends.
- A book delivery service has been implemented by the library. The Friends may be asked to assist if it gets too busy for the library.
2020
projects and programs
The
Big Read was such a success that it will likely be repeated in 2021
if the appropriate grants can be obtained by the Opera House.
5.
OTHER REPORTS
Quarterly
Book Sales
The
book sales are held quarterly, with a permanent book sale wall in the
library and generated $5,718 last year. This effort will continue.
Endowment
Status
As
noted in the Treasurer's report, there was a $50,000 donation to the
fund by descendants of Grace Balloch. The balance of the endowment is
therefore around $130,000. Per the by-laws, the interest may now be
used to fund library projects as agreed by the Friends, and the
capital will be saved until a suitable major project is identified.
Reach
Program
About 200 new books were presented to all first-grade students at West Elementary School. Friends enjoyed reading to the kids as always and the kids liked getting the books. The funds are available to continue this program for years to come, and it is much appreciated. Many letters of appreciation were received and passed around at the meeting. Thanks to Helen Auer for organizing this program.
About 200 new books were presented to all first-grade students at West Elementary School. Friends enjoyed reading to the kids as always and the kids liked getting the books. The funds are available to continue this program for years to come, and it is much appreciated. Many letters of appreciation were received and passed around at the meeting. Thanks to Helen Auer for organizing this program.
6.
OLD BUSINESS
- The Teen Friends project is continuing. Each month they have an event for teens. The notification goes out via the school librarian. Participation is a challenge.
- The Library Traveling Trivia program is doing well, see item 4.
- The Friends digital media pages are functional but not very attractive. Current pages will continue to be used until a suitable volunteer can be found to update them. The current pages are:
Facebook Friends
of Grace Balloch Memorial Library
- The Coffee and Conversations monthly meetings were initially well attended but that dropped off as the summer progressed. Some new members and ideas were generated plus it provides a more frequent get together for Friends. A rescheduled calendar was therefore recommended; the Saturday prior to each book sale.
7.
NEW BUSINESS
Book
sale work day
The
library basement needs reorganizing and tidying up. On Thursday 24th
October we will meet from 9-11am to assist the library to do this
prior to the next booksale on the 7th
- 11th November.
Anyone is welcome to attend, just check in at the front desk to sign
a waiver.
On-line
book sales
On-line
book sales have been a discussion point, especially at the coffee
mornings. The meeting consensus was that this would be a full time
volunteer task to load and manage all the used books. Randi is
logging the “special” books which may be processed on-line
depending on the outcome of her review.
8.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Slate
of officers for consideration:
President
– Brian Gebhart
Vice
President – Hailey Foglio
Secretary
– Chris Avison
Treasurer
– Sharon Hoggatt
The
motion to elect the above officers was carried unanimously.
Note:
Prior VPs William Aycock and David Nickel were not present.
Election
of Endowment Committee member Helen
Auer was appointed to a 3-year term on the
endowment committee in her absence!
9.
BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR
- Amber requested funds for a new table to replace a damaged one. The meeting agreed.
- The meeting agreed to continue with the Festival of Trees.
- It was suggested that the Friends look at participating as a non-profit in the Amazon “SMILE” program where a % of Amazon orders can be directed to charities.
- Amber mentioned “Little Libraries” at laundromats, where people and their kids can read while they wait. The concensus was that this is worth looking into.
- Rick Boyd mentioned placing books in hotels for visitors. Subsequent discussion concluded that managing this would be time consuming, but placing flyers or bookmarks in hotel lobbies advertising the Friend's wall of used books at the library may be possible.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion
to adjourn the meeting was carried unanimously.
Minutes
respectfully submitted by
Chris
Avison
Secretary
