Minutes of the Friends of Mission Hills/Hillcrest Knox Library
October 22, 2022
The meeting was held in conference rooms at the Mission Hills/Hillcrest Harley and Bessie Knox Library. The meeting was called to order at 10 A.M. by Pat Littell in the absence of Anne Box, President. An attendance list is at the end of the minutes.
Minutes: The minutes of the September 24th were approved as submitted.
Financials: Don Rudesill was not in attendance. A partial financial report covering October 1st through the 20th was provided. Income from the bookstore was $812.00, Square credit card sales were $385.82, Amazon sales were $259.18, Abe Book sales were $86.50 and book cart and donations were $63.46. Income to date was $1606.96.
Expenses totaled $13,167.97 including Abe fees, Amazon supplies, postage, programs, and $13,000.00 to matching funds for books and equipment. In answer to a question, Steve Wheeler said that matching funds are requested as needed, not at a particular time of year.
Librarian’s report: Steve said that expenses included four new door alarms, a package of 3D printer elements, a story time rug, and performers. Total expenses were $6,462.91. Upcoming expenses include $3,223.00 for anti-graffiti window film replacement. Carpet cleaning is scheduled for today in both the library and the bookstore.
The current balances in the various matching funds are: negative $2,828.36 in Materials, $4694.69 in Equipment and Supplies, $476.71in Performers/Contracts and $10,466.93 in the unmatched Trust Fund. The negative balance in Materials is due to an annual order of leased books. These figures do not include the $13,000 sent to Matching Funds by the Friends.
Steve said that the comedy event was successful and will be repeated on Saturday, November 19th and Saturday, December 17th. Today is an Oasis event, Aging in Place. Other events include Richard Lederer on Saturday, November 19th, Bernard Schlink on Monday, October 24th. This event includes a book signing of his new book “Olga”. Registration is required in advance. There will be Make a Mask and pumpkin carving and Dia de los Muertos events for children. Flyers for all events are posted at the branch and will be on the website.
Bookstore: Jean Stein said that we are fine with volunteers. She has some possible volunteers as well. We decided that if someone fills out a Volunteer Form, it should go into the red binder in the bookstore for Jean to collect. There is a section in the binder for this.
Susan Chenvin said that she and Holly Murten agree that new Amazon volunteers need to work in the bookstore first to learn more about what sells well, how we price, and other procedures. Pat Littell agreed to train new volunteers if they are available on Monday afternoon.
Susan and Holly said that some shelves need to be rearranged. Some areas need more space, others have too much. We agreed to switch locations of Auto/Biographies to the space now used by Religion/Philosophy for one change. In a related issue, Holly said we have many old, but not particularly valuable, books. We agreed to shelve them below Classics and call them “Ye Old Books.” These books will be priced at $5.00 each. This will cause the Fiction section to be smaller, and since it is usually not full, there should not be a problem.
We discussed adding a dot, in a color we do not normally use, to books that would normally be pulled if a section is sparse. This would keep the books on the shelf until the area is full, at which time the old stock could be pulled.
There have been some complaints about the computer in the bookstore when it is being used for Amazon searches. Holly wants to monitor the situation before we start moving computers around or buying a new computer. The problem may be with Amazon, the wi-fi or the computer itself.
Holly has found that some books have wildly different prices depending whether they are listed on Amazon or Abe Books. As an example, she presented a copy of a book that is listed at $1700.00 on Amazon and $90.00 on Abe Books. We also have sets of books that we need to price and sell. Holly wants to consult with Eric Hanson, a rare book dealer, on these issues. There may be a fee for his service, which we agreed to.
Membership: No report. Chuck Leib was not in attendance.
Corporate Friends: No report. Anne Box was not in attendance.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 A.M. The next meeting will be on Saturday, November 19th at 10:00 A.M.
Attendance: Steve Wheeler, Jean Stein, Holly Murten, Nancy Carol Carter, Susan Chenven, and Pat Littell .