martha canfield library

PO Box 267 • 528 East Arlington Road, Arlington, VT • 05250
802.375.6153 • martha_canfield_lib@hotmail.com

  • Tuesday — 9:00AM – 8:00PM
  • Wednesday — 9:00AM – 5:00PM
  • Thursday — 9:00AM – 8:00PM
  • Friday — 2:00PM – 6:00PM
  • Saturday — 10:00AM – 3:00PM

Russell Collection

Open 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Tuesdays or by appointment

MARTHA CANFIELD MEMORIAL LIBRARY
MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
April 1, 2019

**Minutes are considered to be in DRAFT form until approved at the next scheduled meeting**

The Board meeting was called to order at 7:08 PM

Board Members In attendance: Brian Allen, Sally Ayrey, Sheila Kearns, John Spencer, Laura Crosslin, Carol Farley, Betsy Habberfield, Denise Koller, Dave Van DeWater, Cathy Taylor

Staff: Phyllis Skidmore (Librarian), Bill Budde (Russell Collection)

Guests: None

Board Members Absent: None

 

Additions to the agenda–

  1. Discuss the finance committee

 

Minutes

  • Previous meeting’s minutes – Sally moved that the February minutes be approved as amended. Dave seconded. The motion was unanimously approved.

Treasurer’s Report (summary):

  • Sally has been back for 5 days so does not have a lot to report
  • Two things missing – will review with Cindy
    • No Russell income or expenses
  • Sheila reported no unusual checks signed during Sally’s absence.

Librarian’s Report (summary):

  • Check out the community calendar. Phyllis has been posting (temporarily)
  • Grant received from Stewarts for $600
  • Peggy starting to work on summer programming
  • No changes to the name of Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award – interim State Librarian so no decision until a new State Librarian is found
  • Alarm system causing some issues (trouble lights and low battery light)
  • Program on maple syruping was fascinating – attended by 10 people
  • We don’t have a baby changing station anywhere in the library. Phyllis is looking into the options.

Martha’s Book House Report

  • Looking for volunteers to pack up books to send out
  • Sandy has started getting ready for opening day Memorial Day weekend

Programming (Adult, Youth, Children’s)

  • This Sunday, April 7th – “Won’t you be my Neighbor” (Mr. Rogers) movie at 2PM
  • May 5th – Guiding Eyes (with puppies) at 2PM

Gallery

  • Dave reported the Rockwell Arlington at the Vermont History Museum – putting together meetings with potential donors. Working on the specifics of the design so we can get more solid numbers for donors. Probably getting things out of the gallery for June.
  • Had hoped to have an exhibit of the Type Directors this month but it was going to cost $1,500 to ship it in. Maybe at some point in the future.
  • Idea to create an on-going exhibit of a celebration of the best artists of the area. Draw in those with good reputations, etc. Get a select committee and have them select the artists. The artists could choose what to exhibit (small number). Each artist would be profiled. All art would be for sale. Two seasons – artists would change. Some artists have contracts with galleries that won’t allow them to exhibit. The gallery would be a place to go to see the art community of the area. Artists would rotate through. Sally asked whether any of our non-profit status would change with the galleries involved. Something to consider. Dave’s idea would be to have the relationship with the artist, not the galleries. There would still be other times, January – May to do other exhibits. Need to consider the “Battle Day” exhibit in August. Board would review the “contracts” for the artists and overall funding.

Russell Collection Report

  • Bill reported he went to a meeting in Newfane on small libraries and collections. Made some good connections
  • Going to Burlington on Thursday to Northeast Archivist meeting
  • Donation this week of a painting by Marion House. Skaters in Vermont. Independent evaluation of around $2,000.
  • Historical society is meeting monthly (except in April). Meeting again in first Thursday in May. Goal is to still establish a non-profit status. Still looking for someone to do the non-profit paperwork and build the board.

Old Business:

  1. Board business calendar – Sheila wants meetings to be conducted to cover substantive business. Could there be months when meetings are less critical? Sheila has determined that November, December, January, and February had the months where the most critical business is conducted. Is there an interest in less frequent meetings? General consensus was to continue with monthly meetings with a break in July as provided by the by-laws.
  2. Volunteer Recognition event – Phyllis has scoped out some dates and chosen May 19th from 3-5PM. A list will be circulated at the May meeting to ask for food donations. Invitations should go out in late April. This might be a good time to recognize Dave Thomas for his many years of service – make him a board member Emeritus. Bill would also like to recognize Robert Alexander.

New Business:

  1. Finance committee update – ran into some weather issues. John Koller was going to come to review his view of things, but that got sidetracked. Might be best if John would become a board member and then be more active with the Finance Committee. Brenna Warren of The Bank of Bennington, contacted Sally about status of a meeting. The direction from the board for Brenna was to, “please hold”. Next steps – John put together and analysis and sent it to all finance committee meeting members. He can speak to the group if necessary, but the report says most of it. Denise will send the report to the full board. The finance committee can meet in May, with John, if desired. In the end it was decided that we were happy with our current investment company (although we will likely discuss the investment strategy with them) and that we will not meet with Brenna or other advisors.
  2. Board Vacancy – Carol has had no luck getting students to join the board. Denise said that John would consider being an advisor, but doesn’t want to be a member at this time. We still do have a vacancy. We will continue the search.
  3. Town meeting results – positive results from all towns including Shaftsbury.

 

Next meeting – Monday, May 6th at 7PM

Meeting adjourned at 8:27 PM.

New Books

for all ages

clean-up

Click to see updated lists