Friends of the Mission Hills/Hillcrest Knox Library
May 20, 2023
The meeting was held in conference rooms at the Mission Hills/Hillcrest Harley and Bessie Knox Library. The meeting was called to order at 10:01 A.M. by Anne Box, President. An attendance list is at the end of the minutes.
Minutes: The minutes of the April 22, 2023, meeting were approved as submitted.
Financials: Don Rudesill was not in attendance. Anne distributed copies of the April 1-30 financial report. Bookstore cash sales were $1,239.36. Square credit card sales were $744.07. Amazon sales were $585.09 and Abe sales were $56.24. Book cart sales and donations were $41.00. Total bookstore sales were $2,665.76.
We also had three memberships for a total of $74.18 and interest income of $106.99.
Expenses for the month included $460.17 for programs, and $42.99 for postage and Abe fees. Total expenses were $546.13.
Our total in all accounts is $167,569.95.
Librarian’s report: Steve Wheeler reported that the poetry event last month went well. Today’s Spreckels program has been postponed due to illness of the presenter. Today’s program, Camera Traps, will be at 11:00 A.M. Future programs include:
May 21, Monday at 6:30 P.M. Songs from Shady Grove, concert.
May 30, Tuesday at noon, Sounds of Summer, concert series.
June 5, Monday at 6:30 P.M. Air Plant Seascapes. Register on-line or with staff.
June 28, Wednesday from 12:30 to 1:30 P.M. Healthy Aging.
The Summer Reading Program for all ages begins June 1 and continues through August 31. Sign up on-line or on paper. Adults read for 10 hours, children read 10 books. There will be prizes and a raffle. There will also be a program for children every Friday at 10 A.M. with the theme of Find Your Voice.
Steve provided Special Fund Balances. The Materials Fund has $7874.37, Equipment and Supplies has $8,270.99, Performers and Contracts has $4,894.21 and the unmatched Trust Fund has $10,466.93.
Steve said that expenses included the usual for programs and supplies. He requested $300.00 for supplies to personalize tee shirts for Father’s Day. We approved the request.
Anne explained that we should provide matching funds before June 30 to help meet the annual match by the city. We approved $16,000 for leased books and $3,000 for children’s materials.
Activities: Additional advertising for the reading program will be in the “Presidio Sentinel” and the “Uptown News.” Elaine Kalin has written an article for both publications and has arranged for advertisements for three months. Let Elaine know if you have subjects for articles for the additional two months. We approved the total cost of $1500.00 for three months of articles and advertising in both publications.
The luncheon for Friends bookstore and branch volunteers will be June 10 at noon in the community meeting room. Elaine estimates that the total cost will be $600.00, which we approved. This includes food, utensils, beverages and table covers. Jean Stein said that all volunteers have replied to the invitation.
Bookstore: Jean said that all shifts are covered. We will soon be able to stay open later on Wednesdays to match the other days. Volunteers have been doing an excellent job of arranging substitutes for any absences or vacations.
Pat Littell said to contact her for any bookstore needs and she will try to take care of whatever needs attention.
Amazon and Abe Books: Holly Murten said that online sales are down a bit. We have sold 31 books on Abe after one year of use and have 144 posted. We have 689 posted on Amazon. Our total inventory is 833 items. We have five-star ratings on both sites.
Website: Al Hoefer said that a family membership came through our website. Because the site accepts credit cards for payment, the total we received was $19.18 of $20.00. He also reported that it is time for annual payments for our domain name and for our privacy package. Anne will approve the payments.
Our website received eight memberships for $380.00 and two donations totaling $125.00 in the past year.
Membership: Chuck Leib reported that we had three new members this month. Chuck said he is a member of a membership group and noticed that the Ocean Beach Friends have a high number of members considering the size of the branch. When Chuck inquired, he learned that the chairperson sends a holiday card at the end of the year with a membership renewal enclosed. He will do this for our members in the future. If anyone has cards to donate, contact Chuck.
Corporate Friends: Anne asked about our loan to the Central Library Store which was made to help the store open. The response was that repayment may not happen or will be in the distant future.
Ann McDonald and a group toured our old branch. They do not have an update on what will be done with the site.
The Libraries and Parks for All petition drive was rejected in February, 2023, after a sample of the signers. The new president of Corporate wants branches to donate $100.00 to help pay for a lawsuit challenging the rejection. Anne will try to get more information before we decide whether to donate.
The Friends of San Diego Public Library annual meeting will be June 10 at 9:30 A.M. We have nominated Jean Stein, Al Hoefer, Sue Eubanks and Don Rudesill for recognition this year.
Our June meeting will be held on Saturday, June 24 and the July meeting will be on July 15. Both will be at 10:00 A.M.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:07 A.M.
Attendance: Steve Wheeler, Anne Box, Al Hoefer, Sue Eubanks, Kim McDaniel, Mary Rose Mueller, Elaine Kalin, Holly Murten, Chuck Leib, Ruth Turoff, Jean Stein and Pat Littell