Minutes of the Friends of the Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Knox Library
March 6, 2019
The meeting was held in the meeting room at the Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Harley and Bessie Knox Library. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 P.M. by Phyllis Marion, President. An attendance list is at the end of the minutes.
Minutes: The minutes of the February meeting were approved with one correction which is attached to the February minutes.
Foundation Update: Charlie Goldberg said that the Foundation continues to reach out to potential donors and to make tiles available for engraving with donor names. The Foundation is working with an engraving company to make donor signage. An event is being planned for summer to reveal all the tiles. Phyllis verified that our Friends gifts will be recognized.
Charlie thanked the group for signing the Foundation agreement.
He also explained that Corporate Friends and the Foundation are advocating for the libraries. Last year, a two percent proposed cut in funding was not done, this year Misty Jones has been asked to present a three percent cut. There will be a meeting with the city council members to ask them not to support the cuts. The mayor will present the budget on April 12th .
Financials: Don Rudesill presented the financial report. During February, Amazon sales were $514.94, and bookstore sales $1,138.00. Total memberships were $140.00 and donations and gifts $124.00. Our expenses included Amazon shipping and supplies of $815.13, and bookstore supplies of 628.34. The Amazon expense includes a new computer for processing books to sell. Bookstore supplies were for initial supplies to set up the store. We also paid $505.87 for the Chinese New Year program for this year. Our balance in all accounts is $163,052.75.
Membership: Nancy Carol Carter said that the new memberships have been acknowledged.
Programs: Phyllis said that we are currently deferring to Gina for programs as the schedule for the library gets up and running. However, Corporate Friends will sponsor a program during Library week if we want $50.00 for one.
Website: Al Hoefer said everything is working on the new website, but a few things are still in process. Al asked for a PDF of the library schedule. Gina said that she will provide it.
Corporate Meeting: Phyllis said that most of the meeting was spent on the 40th anniversary events. Cory Doctorow will be speaking as the main event.
Misty Jones will attend the next Corporate meeting to discuss the matching funds program.
Fundraising/Book sales: Elaine Kalin said that an article about the new branch will be in the “Sentinel” and may also be in “Uptown.”
Bookstore: Phyllis provided a book sale comparison between last year and this year. Last year sales from the cart and book sales averaged $856.00. Last month, we took in $1138.00 and the first week in March we sold $403.00 in the store. In February of this year, we had 260 customers from the tally sheets. Our best sales day is Saturday, then Tuesday. The least sales so far are on Wednesday.
Librarian’s report: Gina Bravo said that the branch has $68.000.00 in general funds for materials, supplies for the new branch, and programs.
Rebecca Jang, Children’s Librarian, is working on volunteer led programs in addition to the regular programming.
Gina said that the first month of the branch there was an uptick of 4,000 in circulation and a total circulation of 12,000 in February. There was a daily average of 700 visits in February. At first, the busiest days were Monday and Tuesday, but now every day is about the same.
A volunteer event may be held here for our volunteers, North Park and Mission Valley.
On April 20th, a program Jazz for All Ages will be held here. On May 18th, the How To Festival will be held all day. The event offers short demonstrations and information on a variety of topics, many of which are unusual.
President’s report: Phyllis advised bookstore volunteers that the individual boxes are now in the cabinet in the store.
She is meeting tomorrow with a donor for staff development and team building. The plan is to pay for things that the library is not able to fund now.
Old business: The agreement with the Foundation has been signed.
New business: We discussed having a phone line installed or purchasing a cell phone for the bookstore as a security feature, but after discussion, we came to the preliminary decision to keep our personal cell phones in the bookstore and to use them in an emergency. Gina added that if a volunteer feels uncomfortable, he/she may come to the library and call “911.”
We voted to change the name of the Friends to the Friends of the Mission Hills-Hillcrest /Knox Library. This will align the name with the official name of the branch.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 P.M.
The next meeting will be on April 3rd at 6:30P.M. in the meeting room.
Attendance at March 6, 2019 Friends meeting
Phyllis Marion, Gina Bravo, Charlie Goldberg, Robin Baker, Al Hoefer, Philip Detwiler, Michele Pieters, Leanna Selleck, Alan Sparks, Elaine Kalin, Wheeler, Don and Ruth Rudesill, Nancy Carol Carter, Pat Littell, Marcia Schulman, Yolie McLeland , Jean Stein, and Armin Kuhlman