Thursday, October 24, 2019

Friends of the Grace Balloch Memorial Library
Meeting Minutes
October 16, 2019


The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by President Brian Gebhart.

ATTENDEES
Rick Boyd, Ben Cerwinske, Lennis Larson, Hailey Foglio, Chris Avison, Gary Johnson, Wanda Johnson, Brian Gebhart, and Amber Wilde

1. AGENDA
The motion to accept the distributed agenda was carried unanimously.

2. 2018 MINUTES
The motion to accept the previous minutes written and submitted by Chris Avison, as presented, was carried unanimously.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT
The motion to accept the treasurer’s report by Sharon E. Hoggatt was carried unanimously.

4. LIBRARY DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Presented by Library Director, Amber Wilde.

State of the Library
  • The circulation figures are as follows:
2017 120,000 in-library transactions 16,000 e-book transactions
2018 117,000 “ 24,000 “
2019 is moving at a similar level, with e-book activity increasing
6,500 people attended programs in 2018, 5,500 of whom were children.
  • The library received a state award for their summer programs, congratulations!
  • The new Friends of the Library logo has been introduced.
  • Drop-In Tech was introduced for people to get answers to technical questions related to cell phones, email, etc.
  • Craft classes were held for children, with art classes for adults.
  • The history room was reorganized.
  • Eric obtained state certification this year, as did Stephanie and Shayna last year.
  • The Trivia project is going well, into its second year. Many thanks to Tom for running it.
  • The state library convention was held in Spearfish this year, hosted by the Grace Balloch Library.
  • The library participated in the Big Read project early in the year, in conjunction with the Opera House and the University. This included several events including book discussions at the library, a play at the Opera House written by the University Proff, and a “horse” drawn truck in the art gallery and Light Parade made by the University welding class. All in all a good community effort.
  • Story Time with Santa was considered a success, with Friends funding books as givaways.
  • The Reach program was considered a success, with the Friends providing readers to first graders with a book for each child. Many thank-you “cards” were received from the recipients.
  • The summer reading program was another success, with materials and prizes provided by the Friends.
  • A book delivery service has been implemented by the library. The Friends may be asked to assist if it gets too busy for the library.

2020 projects and programs
The Big Read was such a success that it will likely be repeated in 2021 if the appropriate grants can be obtained by the Opera House.

5. OTHER REPORTS
Quarterly Book Sales
The book sales are held quarterly, with a permanent book sale wall in the library and generated $5,718 last year. This effort will continue.

Endowment Status
As noted in the Treasurer's report, there was a $50,000 donation to the fund by descendants of Grace Balloch. The balance of the endowment is therefore around $130,000. Per the by-laws, the interest may now be used to fund library projects as agreed by the Friends, and the capital will be saved until a suitable major project is identified.

Reach Program
About 200 new books were presented to all first-grade students at West Elementary School. Friends enjoyed reading to the kids as always and the kids liked getting the books. The funds are available to continue this program for years to come, and it is much appreciated. Many letters of appreciation were received and passed around at the meeting. Thanks to Helen Auer for organizing this program.

6. OLD BUSINESS
  • The Teen Friends project is continuing. Each month they have an event for teens. The notification goes out via the school librarian. Participation is a challenge.
  • The Library Traveling Trivia program is doing well, see item 4.
  • The Friends digital media pages are functional but not very attractive. Current pages will continue to be used until a suitable volunteer can be found to update them. The current pages are:
Facebook Friends of Grace Balloch Memorial Library
  • The Coffee and Conversations monthly meetings were initially well attended but that dropped off as the summer progressed. Some new members and ideas were generated plus it provides a more frequent get together for Friends. A rescheduled calendar was therefore recommended; the Saturday prior to each book sale.

7. NEW BUSINESS
Book sale work day
The library basement needs reorganizing and tidying up. On Thursday 24th October we will meet from 9-11am to assist the library to do this prior to the next booksale on the 7th - 11th November. Anyone is welcome to attend, just check in at the front desk to sign a waiver.
On-line book sales
On-line book sales have been a discussion point, especially at the coffee mornings. The meeting consensus was that this would be a full time volunteer task to load and manage all the used books. Randi is logging the “special” books which may be processed on-line depending on the outcome of her review.

8. ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Slate of officers for consideration:
President – Brian Gebhart
Vice President – Hailey Foglio
Secretary – Chris Avison
Treasurer – Sharon Hoggatt
The motion to elect the above officers was carried unanimously.

Note: Prior VPs William Aycock and David Nickel were not present.

Election of Endowment Committee member Helen Auer was appointed to a 3-year term on the endowment committee in her absence!

9. BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR
  • Amber requested funds for a new table to replace a damaged one. The meeting agreed.
  • The meeting agreed to continue with the Festival of Trees.
  • It was suggested that the Friends look at participating as a non-profit in the Amazon “SMILE” program where a % of Amazon orders can be directed to charities.
  • Amber mentioned “Little Libraries” at laundromats, where people and their kids can read while they wait. The concensus was that this is worth looking into.
  • Rick Boyd mentioned placing books in hotels for visitors. Subsequent discussion concluded that managing this would be time consuming, but placing flyers or bookmarks in hotel lobbies advertising the Friend's wall of used books at the library may be possible.


ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn the meeting was carried unanimously.

Minutes respectfully submitted by

Chris Avison
Secretary

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Thanks to everyone who braved the elements and participated in the Friends' coffee hour on Saturday 26th January. It was nice to see some new faces and hear some new ideas.

BOOK SALE! The Friends will be holding a book sale on Thursday 7th Feb thru Sunday 10th Feb 2019. It's a good time to pick up some summer reading at $5 per bag.

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

SPEARFISH - The Friends of the Grace Balloch Memorial Library in Spearfish will be holding a used booksale at the library on Thursday November 29th thru Sunday December 2nd, during normal Library hours. Come and browse, Christmas is coming soon. Sales will be by the bagful. Proceeds go toward supporting the library.

Friday, September 28, 2018

The Friends of the Library annual meeting will be at 5:30 pm on October 17th at the library.

Friends of Library Meeting Agenda
October 17, 2018

Call meeting to order
Additions or corrections to Agenda
Approval of minutes for October 26, 2017 meeting
Treasurer’s report
Old Business:
  • State of the Library Report 
  • Endowment Fund Report 
  • Committees 
  • Friends Logo Update 
  • Facebook Update
New Business:
  • Discussion & Approval of New Projects for 2019 
  • Election of Officers for 2019 
  • Election of Endowment Committee Members 
  • Business from the Floor
Adjournment

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Well, the Summer book sale on 8-12 August went well. We generated $465 to assist the library with their cultural and youth activities. The Friends helped the library staff set out the books beforehand and put them away afterwards, the regular staff collected the money at the normal checkout counter. Thanks to all concerned, including those that purchased books, tapes and CDs. As happened after the last book sale, boxes of unsold books (50 this time) were recycled through “Better World Books”, an online for-profit bookseller of used and new books, where they will hopefully go to new readers. Unfortunately they don't take cassettes, videotapes or music CDs so these will eventually go to the landfill if no recycling method can be found.

Friday, June 22, 2018

 2018 July 17th  90's Night Trivia & Costume Contest @6:00 at the
Spearfish Creek Wine Bar (hosted by the Friends of the Library)