Friends of the Mission Hills/Hillcrest Library
January 13, 2024
The meeting was held in conference rooms at the Mission Hills/Hillcrest/Harley and Bessie Knox Library. The meeting was called to order at 10:02 A.M. by Anne Box, President. An attendance list is at the end of the minutes.
Minutes: The minutes of the November 18, 2023, meeting were approved with one addition. There was no meeting in December 2023.
Financial: Anne Box presented the minutes for Don Rudesill who was not in attendance. During the month of November, bookstore cash sales were $1083.11, Square credit card sales were $615.448, Amazon sales were $756.20, Abe sales were $82.19. Book cart sales and donations were $50.00. Interest income from all accounts was $444.90.
December bookstore cash sales were $1020.02, Square credit card sales were $1,013.33, Amazon sales were $589.32, Abe sales were $135.39. The Square sales include a membership paid by credit card of $300.00. Book cart and sales and donations were $36.00. Interest income from all accounts was $461.28.
After expenses, which were mainly for Amazon supplies and for advertising, our balance in all accounts at the end of December was $162,516.54.
Anne said that we have enough cash in our accounts at USBank to buy another CD. Anne will advise Don that we agreed on moving $10,000.00 to a CD.
Holly Murten asked about using some of our funds to pay the fees for attending the ALA Convention which will be held here from June 28 through July 1. Steve Wheeler said that the library will send any staff for one day. Holly agreed to organize paying for Friends volunteers who would like to attend and any additional staff days if needed.
Holly and Sue Eubanks agreed to work on a proposed Friends budget for 2024. We have not done this before, so it will require a priority list from Steve, which he agreed to provide.
Librarian’s report: Steve presented upcoming programs. They include:
How to Decrease Your Risk of Stroke and Live a Healthier Life on Saturday, January 20 at 2:30 P.M. This is an Oasis program.
Greatest Hits of Singer-Songwriters, a concert by Doug Baupre, Saturday, January 27 at 2:30 P.M. This is an Oasis program.
The Power of Plant-Based Nutrition, Saturday, February 3 and 2”30 P.M. This is an Oasis program.
Cupcake Wars! Saturday, February 10 at 3:30 P.M. This is a children’s cupcake decorating competition. Register at the branch with a staff member or scan the QR code on the posted flyer to register. This is for ages 4-17. Each participant will walk away with a prize. There will be two grand prizes as well.
Lion Dance, Friday, February 9 at 1 P.M. Details to come.
Steve provided fund balances. The Contracts/Performers fund has $725.00, Equipment and Supplies $735.63, Materials $18,817.70, Pool distribution $5,959.37. The unmatched Library Trust Fund has $10,466.93. Steve asked for $2,000.00 for performers and $500.00 for equipment. We approved the requests. In answer to a question, Steve said the amount for performers should last about four months.
Expenses for the November and December period were for performers and supplies.
Steve also said that the branch has a new half-time staff member, Gerry Nunez. The branch is now fully staffed.
Bookstore: Anne said that Jean Stein has a new volunteer. Also, the volunteer agreement still has not been approved by Corporate Friends.
Sue said that we will keep holiday items in the staff room of the library, but we will have a box in the bookstore back room to put items in as they arrive.
Holly and Susan Chenven said that they are going through the books that are posted on Abe. We began posting on Abe in April of 2022, so things that have not sold will be removed if they have been online for a long time and will be offered for sale in the bookstore.
Holly said that our feedback om Amazon is 100 percent positive with great feedback. Our thanks to Holly and all of those who post and ship.
Susan said that she has found hardback books on the shelves that should have been posted on Amazon. Volunteers who pull books should check one more time before discarding books. Look for autographed copies and first editions.
Advertising: Elaine Kalin said that she has given both local papers our advertising schedule. The “Presidio Sentinel” is raising the advertising prices, so we approved a smaller one-eighth page color ad at $135.00 for future advertisements. Ads will run every quarter in both papers.
Elaine also said that the holiday treats for the branch staff cost $434.56, below our approval of $500.00.
Website: Al Hoefer reviewed website expenses for the years 2019 through 2023. Our expenses for 2023 were $546.00. Most of the expenses are for annual fees. Memberships through the website for 2023 were $490.00.
Membership: Chuck Leib said that annual renewals have started. He asked if we had the ability to send email to the membership to keep members informed of our activities. We agreed to add the members to the library list.
Roundtable: Steve gave an update of the old branch location. It will be used as an additional library shop, with an opening date late in 2024 at the earliest.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:25 A.M.
Attendance: Steve Wheeler, Anne Box, Sue Eubanks, Al Hoefer, Nancy Carol Carter, Marilyn Harkins, Kim McDaniel, Holly Murten, Kathy Harvey and Pat Littell
The next meeting will be held Saturday, February 24th at 10:00 A.M.