Present: Morrison, Hubbard, Reynolds, Love, Johnson, Richter, YaekAbsent: Hoagland, Minne, Hawthorne, Vincent, Cho, Kalluri

Visitors: Amy Hughes

Terry Reynolds called the meeting to order at 4:00pm; action items are in bold. Faith Morrison agreed to take the minutes.

The minutes of the March meeting were reviewed. Dana Richter moved and Karen Hubbard seconded that the minutes be approved. Motion passed.

Terry Reynolds gave the treasurer's report. Both the Michigan Tech Fund Account and the Tech Friends Accounts are down due to the last few expenses related to the library lounge and the travel grants. The travel grant recipient was from the U.K. and had to be paid out of the Tech Fund Account due to IRS regulations. The total Friends assets are $7,021.04 with $600 committed to the Archives Speaker Series. The book cart sales from July 1 to present total $585. The accounts do not include the proceeds from the 2001 book sale.

Terry Reynolds reported that the 2001 Friends of the Van Pelt Library Book Sale was a tremendous success, and that it could not have happened without the enormous help of the Tau Beta Pi volunteers. The board concurred that a great deal of thanks should go to TBP. We had approximately 6700 books for sale, and we netted $2644.36, including memberships taken at the sale. This is an all-time high (at least since Reynolds has been treasurer) (1998-$2293.14, 1999-$1579.95, 2000-$1894.26). The board asks that the secretary (Erin Minne) send a thank you letter to Tau Beta Pi and to the Society of Intellectual Sisters to thank them for their help with the sale. The mechanics of the sale were discussed later in the board meeting.

Amy Hughes reported for the Audit Committee (Hughes, Minne, Kalluri). The committee found no serious issues or omissions. One invoice from the library for a computer is missing; Johnson will supply to the treasurer. The treasurer was not reimbursing board members for sales tax on expenses he reimbursed; the committee informed him that he could do so. At the treasurer's request a policy was agreed upon where if the treasurer has a reimbursable expense, he will have another board member sign off on the expense. The committee noted that our archives grants are now $600, which is the threshold to require a 1099 to be issued by the university. Faith Morrison moved that the archives grants be lowered to $599 to avoid this. Motion died for lack of a second. The board thanked the Audit Committee. Dana Richter moved to accept the audit report; Faith Morrison seconded. Motion passed.

The board discussed the mechanics of the book sale. Terry Reynolds noted that this was the first year that the Friends had full responsibility for the sale, including pricing books. In the past Library personnel had assisted. The board agreed that pricing should be kept high, although we do desire to move books quickly since it is only a one day sale. Faith Morrison suggested that perhaps we could adopt a system whereby at 2pm the books go on sale for half price or two for one? That way we could put the prices up for the first part of the sale (and the presale), but still move books. The board agreed this should be considered next year.

Dana Richter commented that it was a lot of work to move books, records, and magazines, and the prices should be high enough to justify the work. In particular, the records should have been more than $0.10. Faith Morrison noted that we had previously agreed that our minimum price for anything is $0.25, although this year we sold records and magazines for $0.10. Dana Richter also suggested that we should disallow magazines, except perhaps National Geographic, which should be priced at $0.25. The board agreed that next year we will not accept magazines except for National Geographic, and we will stick to our $0.25 minimum price policy.

Renee Yaek asked is there any way to extend to sale to two days? Students would find that more convenient. Terry Reynolds noted that the difficulty is with reserving the MUB.

Terry Reynolds noted that former board secretary Wil Slough had worked the sale both days, and his contribution was considerable. The board expressed its appreciation for Wil's efforts. Karen Hubbard will write a thank you note to Wil.

Amy Hughes said that for part of the sale there was a sign indicating when the bag sale was (4pm), but that it would be better to have pre-made signs indicating the time of the bag sale and that these signs should be up throughout the sale. The board agreed.

Dana Richter noted that we should thank those who donated books to the sale, and we should put out a general report to the community on the success of the sale. The board agreed. Faith Morrison will compose a note to Tech Topics and alldepts-l. We will also indicate that donations to the sale are ongoing throughout the year and pickups will be handled by Dana Richter.

Faith Morrison announced that Udaya Kalluri has agreed to pick up the receipts from the collection box in the Chemistry department by the deadline for the Econo receipts program. All receipts must be in by June 1, and the program then stops for the summer.

Terry Reynolds reported that there are 12 afghans in inventory. He is still waiting to hear from Erin Minne if the Tech Fund will be purchasing afghans. Given that the graduation season is upon us, Reynolds asked for board approval to order 26 afghans for an estimated cost of $760. The board approved. Reynolds will order 26 afghans. They will take about 2 weeks to arrive.

Phyllis Johnson announced that the Library Lounge funded by the Friends will be dedicated Monday April 23 at noon. Poetry will be read in celebration of poetry month. There will be refreshments and Friends should try to be there. Johnson also updated the board on the lounge project. The carillon will be staying in place; the railing will be theatre ropes instead of a hard railing; the plumbing for the coffee machine will go in within a few weeks (order is in to facilities); the Library will pay for the plumbing; artwork is planned. The lounge may be open for graduation, but it is not certain.

Faith Morrison asked if there should be another newsletter to report on the book sale? The board said no, wait until fall.

Faith Morrison nominated Amy Hughes to board membership to fill a vacant position. Karen Hubbard seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Hughes term will expire in 2002.

The board also expressed its thanks to Terry Reynolds for his hard work on the book sale. Reynolds reiterated that Tau Beta Pi had made an enormous difference in our ability to put on the sale this year.

Morrison noted that during the May meeting we should sort out how to get Tau Beta Pi involved in the book cart project with Reynolds. The board agreed to discuss in May.

After the meeting Karen Hubbard provided the comment that we forgot to solicit bags for the sale this year, and we ran short. Next year we need to be sure to solicit bags.

The meeting adjourned at 5pm. The next meeting will be Thursday, May 3, 2001, 4-5:00pm in room 309 of the J. Robert Van Pelt Library.

Submitted by Faith Morrison, April 13, 2001. Amended May 3, 2001.