CORNWALL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the February 9, 2007 Meeting

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

Louise called the meeting to order at 3:00.

Approval of Minutes: Upon a motion by Ann Schillinger, seconded by Alec Frost, the minutes of the January 12, 2007 meeting were accepted with the correction of one spelling error and the deletion of one sentence in the PR Committee report.

Treasurer’s Report: John Green presented to the board a summary of actual expenses to date vs. the annual budget. Expenses are running about as expected. We are running over budget with electricity. Cleaning expenses are also running above budget and Amy is not pleased with the quality of service, so we need to find someone else. At present we have an additional $7000.00 to go on the annual appeal.

Library Director’s Report: Amy Cady reviewed the written report she had previously circulated.

Committee and Task Force Reports

Development Committee: Jean Vitalis reported on our upcoming event entitled

Artworks. This will be a children’s book illustration festival and will take place on Saturday, June 2, from probably 11AM until 10PM. Committed illustrators so far include Laura Cornell, Valerie Fisher, Susannah Gretz, Robert Andrew Parker, Marc Simont, and Dirk Zimmer.This event will have a festival atmosphere, and will include panel discussions, book sales with signings, and a reception for artists and illustrators. We will have press releases in early March and we need to get ads for the program.

PR Committee: Paul DeAngelis reported that the Library Website will be discussed at our next meeting. It was also reported that patrons’ input on the newsletter’s new format was positive.

Cornwall Authors Task Force: Ann Schillinger reported that the cataloging of books was moving along. It was suggested that we might reprint E. C. Starr’s A History of Cornwall, Connecticut and have them bound in either soft or hard covers.The last edition was put out in 1982.

Space Task Force: Carla Bigelow reported that they were mulling over two separate projects, which included the renovation of the office, and redoing the hall to include a large display case. It was decided that the renovation of the office space needed to be done first. Both projects will cost between $4000 to $5000, so we need to raise the money to do this .It was suggested that proceeds from the selling of the war posters could be used to start the renovations.

Governance Committee: Bylaws Change-Action Item: A proposed bylaws change was amended to read as follows:

The President of the Friends of the Library shall serve as an ex-officio, non-voting member of the Board of Trustees but shall not be counted for quorum purposes. A member of the Board shall be appointed as liaison with the Friends.

The following shall be deleted: and shall report to the Board on a regular basis on their activities.

Upon motion by Carla Bigelow, seconded by Julie Schieffelin, the vote was unanimous.

Personnel Committee: Jim Sheffield has been appointed chair of the personnel committee. It was also reported that Amy Buck will be working on a reduced schedule-3 days per week and 21 hours down from 26. We need to look for someone with experience to cover Saturdays, and hopefully keep the library open until 4:00.

Other Business: A copy of the letters read by Sam Waterston and Jill Clayburgh from Other People’s Mail was requested by someone unnamed. It was undecided as to how to handle the situation

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 3:50.

Respectfully submitted,

Pam Jones

Secretary

NEXT MEETING: FRIDAY, MARCH 9 AT 3:00 PM

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