Cornwall Library Association

Minutes of the February 10, 2006 Meeting

Present: John Green, President, Carla Bigelow, Paul De Angelis, Louise Dunn, Alec Frost, Pam Jones, Roxana Laughlin, Julie Schieffelin and Ann Schillinger. Absent: Dominique Lasseur, Jean Vitalis. Also present: Amy Cady, Library Director

John called the meeting to order at 3 p.m.

Approval of Minutes. Upon motion by Paul De Angelis, seconded by Carla Bigelow, the minutes of the January 13, 2006 meeting were accepted with the following amplification of the role of the Trusteeship Committee (formerly the Board Development Committee):

The Trusteeship Committee reviews the current board membership, determines the qualifications needed in the future and assists the board in evaluating prospective board candidates. It also works with the Nominating Committee to propose future officer candidates and recommend committee assignments.

President’s Report. John Green announced that Norma Lake has submitted her resignation from the board of trustees, effective January 23, 2006. The board accepted her resignation with regret and expressed appreciation of the service Norma has rendered the Library in her role as board member. Since Norma was a member of the Personnel Committee, John also announced that Carla Bigelow has been appointed in her place. John is also a member ex officio of this committee. There was discussion about establishing an “alumni association” of former trustees.

John also announced two forthcoming special events to be sponsored by the Friends: the Manhattan String Quartet concert in early April (Alexa Venturini and Juliet Hubbard will help) and the Francine du Plessix Gray reading and dinner, now scheduled for April or May.

Treasurer’s Report:  John Green distributed a written report and added the following remarks. The second annual appeal letter will go out soon. Several generous donors have given less this year than last. He noted that the planned special events come late in the fiscal year and therefore do not help the spring cash flow situation; the MSQ concert and the yearly drawdown of endowment income will provide stopgap cash. The Library will have about $4,500 in cash after the second (and last of the year) Bibliomation payment. John re-emphasized the need to develop an annual event that will provide fairly predicable income and prevent the Library from ending each fiscal year “in debt” to the endowment. He reported that the expense side of the budget is on target, with fuel costs lower than expected. The Library’s new wi-fi status means that the computers can be turned off overnight, a significant anticipated saving of electricity. (They are now left on to permit Bibliomation system maintenance.) The wi-fi system will be activated once the public computers are un-linked from Bibliomation.

Louise Dunn commented that one potential source of income is a percentage of the sale price of art works sold while on exhibition in the Library. Paul De Angelis noted that the artists will expect the Library to provide more assistance with publicity in return. Amy Cady reported that

Ellen Moon had made a contribution equal to ten percent of her sales from her recent show; it consisted of cash plus replacement bulbs for the Library’s track lighting. Upon motion by Louise Dunn, seconded by Ann Schillinger, the Development Committee will develop a policy for contributions from exhibition artists and present it at the March meeting.

Amy Cady reported that she has delivered the Library’s request for Town funds to the Selectmen, asking for a $2,500 increase over last year’s grant. In response to a question, she said that she will gather information about comparative public support for libraries in the neighboring towns and present it at the next meeting.

Director’s Report. In addition to her written report, Amy Cady mentioned three possible special events:

• a benefit dinner produced with recipes from the Library’s cookbook collection;
• a holiday Open House in Cornwall Village, with a charge in the $10 range for viewing decorations and having some food and drink; and
• the planned Book Sale, which has a $5,000 target

Report on May Book Sale. Louise Dunn circulated a written report. In response to a question, she said that prints can also be donated to this sale.

Report on CartoonFest. Paul De Angelis reported that he is working on the following:

• preliminary sketch for a poster
• final list of participants
• designs for a press release and program
• getting estimates for producing them; and
• recruiting people to sell ads.

He is drafting a letter to about 25 cartoonists and estimates that approximately 100 cartoons will be available for sale. Notecards with New Yorker cartoon images may also be available. Paul suggests arranging a special benefit dinner (or dinners) attended by the cartoonists, who will be here in Cornwall between the afternoon reception and the 8 pm panel discussion. Suggested cost: $100 per person. An organizational meeting will be held on February 26. There will be a postcard mailing; board members should give Paul addresses of people outside Cornwall who might attend.

Report on Friends Activities: In Tom Levine’s absence, John Green listed the current special events calendar:

• February: the Read-a-Thon being planned by Deirdre Fischer and Bridget Lynch;

· April: the MSQ concert and a pruning seminar that will include a demonstration using the Library’s plantings as examples;

• April or May: Francine du Plessix Gray.

Reports from Selected Committees/Task Forces:

Public Relations: Paul De Angelis distributed a written report and added the following:

• e-mail list: Amy Cady and Roxana Laughlin are working on compiling this;

· website: Juergen Kalwa has been approved by Bibliomation as the webmaster (Note: the Library may need to purchase web development software for his use, since Brenda Underwood had her own); and

· domain name: Paul is looking into establishing one, such as cornwalllib.org or cornwallfreelib.org (this name, though less intuitive, avoids having 3 Ls in a row).

Use of Space: Carla Bigelow distributed a written report and commented that the Committee is having a good time recommending changes. The members are now researching catalogues and discounts to see what might be possible within budgetary constraints.

Trusteeship Committee: John Green announced the following appointments to this committee:

John Green, Chair

Louise Dunn

Roxana Laughlin

Jean Vitalis

Other Matters: John Green announced that the Connecticut’s Department of Information Technology (DOIT) has established the Connecticut Education Network (CEN), which will provide Connecticut's schools, libraries, and higher education institutions with free high speed access to the Internet. When this new system is installed, the Library will no longer have to pay for its DSL connection.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Julie Schieffelin

Secretary