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Minutes

Board Meeting

Friends of the Van Pelt Library

Thursday, May 4, 2006

Present:  Amy Hughes, Mary Marchaterre, Karen Hubbard, Terry Reynolds, Dick Rupley, Dana Richter, June Hawthorne, Patrick Quimby, Dee Vincent, Phyllis Johnson

Absent: Faith Morrison, Gail Mroz, Bette Mongold, Brian Geiger, George Love, Don Durfee

Guest: Eloise Haller

Dee Vincent called the meeting to order at 4:06 pm. 

The minutes of the April 6, 2006 meeting were reviewed and approved.

Terry Reynolds handed out the Treasurer’s report which showed that the FVPL had $16,942.37 as of May 2, 2006.  The Treasurer’s report included the book sale revenue history.  The total revenue from the April 18-19, 2006 book sale was $1,934.63, which is almost exactly the same amount we took in at the 2005 book sale.  The Treasurer’s report was approved.

A.  2006 Book Sale Recap

      We discussed the 2006 book sale and ideas for changes to be made next year.  We discussed what to do about the “problem” people who help with set-up, arrange books together that they are interested in, and then rush around at the pre-sale scooping up books as fast as they can and doing so in a most discourteous manner.

      Some of the ideas discussed at (or after) the meeting included:

      Having only the set-up committee doing the set-up of the book sale.  We would need to determine in advance the group of people who will do the set-up.  Students from the student groups will be welcome to help with the set-up.

      Allowing people who set-up to select a small number of books to purchase before the sale begins. 

Allowing people who set-up to purchase books at twice the marked price prior to the sale.

Having a “Mystery Box” of better books which are added to the sale somewhat randomly throughout the public sale so that more folks will have a chance to buy some of the better items.

Some people are not aware that library discard books are not included in the pre-sale.  We should publish and post information about this.

The International Office is interested in un-sold textbooks.  We should coordinate with them for the 2007 book sale so that they can pick up the books they are interested in at the end of the sale.

Some books are not good sellers, such as romance novels.  We should get rid of them soon after they are donated so that we don’t have to store them and move them.  Adrene Remali may be interested in these types of books to donate to the VA and other places.  We could contact Adrene throughout the year when we have a box or two of these types of books so she can take them.

Pricing the books takes a great deal of time.  We could simplify the pricing by using different colored stickers to mean different prices – this would allow us to change the prices easily for a group of books if we wanted to.  We could have all books be the same price so that no price stickers of any kind would be needed, such as all books are $1.00 except paperbacks which are 25 cents.  We could have a separate table for higher priced books and non-book items.

No final decisions were made on any of the suggestions for the book sale. We will continue to brainstorm ideas for how to improve the book sale and how to simplify our processing of donations at future meetings.

B.  Laptops

      Dee Vincent reported that she received a cudos about the library laptops  -- someone told her that they use the laptops and are very appreciative that they are available.  Phyllis Johnson reported that the six laptops have been used 623 times since they became available.

C.  Resignations and New Board Members

      Dee Vincent informed us that Bette Mongold has resigned from the FVPL board.   Today is June Hawthorne’s last meeting – she is moving to Rochester, MN.

      Two individuals agreed to join the FVPL board: Eloise Haller and Mark Griep.

D.  FVPL Note Cards

      Dee Vincent reported that Copperworld will take 6 packs of note cards, and the Historical Society in Lake Linden will take 3 packs of cards.  Dick Rupley will find out if some other places are willing to stock FVPL note cards.  Amy Hughes will find out if the Quincy Hoist Association is willing to stock FVPL note cards.

E.   Econo-foods slip report  

      Mary Marchaterre told us that Econo receipts dated through June 4, 2006 can be accepted.

F.   Art Committee

      The following individuals will be on the Library art committee to help select art work for the library:  Dana Richter, Karen Hubbard, Phyllis Johnson, and Dick Rupley.

G.  Library Art Funding

      We discussed donating some FVPL funds to assist the Library in purchasing art work for the Library.  Dick Rupley moved that we allocate $3,000 for permanent Library art work purchases.  The motion was seconded by Mary Marchaterre.  The motion passed.

The meeting adjourned at 5:05 pm. 

The next meeting will be held on Thursday, September 7, 2006, 4-5:00 pm, in the library. 

Submitted by Amy Hughes, May 9, 2006.



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