Minutes of the Friends of the Mission Hills-Hillcrest/ Knox Library
November 20, 2021
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 10:00 A.M. by Anne Box, President. An attendance list is at the end of the minutes.
Minutes: The minutes of the October 23 meeting were approved with corrections.
Special guest: Misty Jones, director city librarian, explained vaccine requirements. Vaccine record keeping methods for volunteers has not yet been decided upon by the city, but it is expected to be after all city employee mandates are approved. Misty said that signs at the libraries will be changed on December 1 to say that masks are recommended instead of masks are required.
Misty explained the matching funds process and provided an explanatory handout. Basically, matching funds donations are matched 100 percent by the city. The location that the donation was meant for then receives the original amount plus fifty percent of the match. The other fifty percent is pooled and divided among locations based on median income and service population of the location.
Misty noted that we are the only system in the country to have this match. She also explained that the matching funds are not meant to replace city funding to libraries, so the funds should be used each year as much as possible.
Financials: Don Rudesill was not present. The financial report shows that October bookstore sales were $1,904.72, Amazon sales were $573.93, and book cart sales were $115.06. We received a donation of $500.00 during the month. Our main expenses were for Amazon supplies of $142.96 and an expense for a children’s program of $140.12. Our total in all accounts is $149,788.91.
Membership: No report. Nancy Carol Carter was not present.
Website: Al Hoefer said that we now have a PayPal account and just got the bank information for it. Nancy will start testing it after the holiday with membership renewals and new members.
In order for people to use it, they have to know about it. Al will put it on our website, but he needs a forms program that costs $200.00. We approved the expense.
Al gave an overview of our website which is based on Word Press using a handout. We need to all look at our site and decide where to put “Donate” on it.
After a brief discussion of social media, Steve agreed to ask a staff member to work on putting us on Instagram.
Corporate Meeting: Anne Box reported on the Corporate meeting. One of the items was an explanation of why we are required to track volunteer hours. The city uses the information for tax purposes, grants and city discussions.
Another item was information on organizations that will accept discarded books. Don Rudesill was not at the meeting, and Susan Chenven pointed out that Don takes our donated books to other branches, so his input into this would be needed before we decide to use any outside organizations.
Fundraising ideas were also discussed at Corporate. One branch raffled a quilt to raise money. We had a brief discussion on ways to advertise the bookstore.
Fundraising/Book sales: Michele Pieters said that the shelving for the storeroom is now in South Bay and needs to be transported when Don is available.
Sue Eubanks has made signs to post for November closing days.
Michele said that “adopt a section” is working well. The store is orderly and clean.
The guidelines for materials to post on Amazon are finished.
Holly Murten reported that a “Cool Collectibles” program was already approved. The program will be about book collecting. Holly would like to make it a series.
Jean Stein said that children’s programs are set. The next programs to be set up will be for adults.
Sue Eubanks has donated Microsoft 365 for the computer in the bookstore.
Librarian’s report: Steve reported that some of the matching funds money was spent on leased books. The total matching funds balance for the branch is $52,105.14. The materials fund has $21,974.53, the equipment and supplies fund has $20,877.94 and the performers/contracts fund has $9,252.67. The trust fund balance is $10,466.93. A donation of $16,800 was made to the Foundation for our branch.
Steve would like to have monthly concerts at the branch and asked the Friends to sponsor them. We approved funding Dave Bramley as well as Hullabaloo, which is a children’s program. Both performers are approved by the city. The fee for Dave Bramley is $150.00 per hour, Hullabaloo is $300.00 for 30 minutes.
Steve also asked for money for a December children’s event to make gingerbread houses. We approved the expense which should be about $220.00.
Steve reported that we will have a new assistant level 3 full time. His name is Mario and he is transferring from University Heights. We will be losing two half time employees and another to promotion.
President’s report: We had a discussion of the holiday party which will be December 4th from 10 A.M. to 12 P.M.
The next meeting will be on December 18th. There will not be a January meeting. The February meeting will be the 26th and the March meeting also on the 26th.
Roundtable: None.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 noon.
Attendance:
Steve Wheeler, Anne Box, Michele Pieters, Elaine Kalin, Mary Rose Mueller, Al Hoefer, Jean Stein, Sue Eubanks, Holly Murten, Susan Chenven, Misty Jones, and Pat Littell