NEWTON FREE LIBRARY Board of Library Trustees June 13, 2012 ...

NEWTON FREE LIBRARY
Board of Library Trustees
June 13, 2012
Present: Barbara Lietzke, Chair; Audrey Cooper, Dana Hanson, Jeff Herrmann
Phil McNulty, Director; Ryan Hanson, Assistant Director; Ellen Eckenrode, Development Office
Manager
Observers: Nancy Grissom, Ellen Meyers
Not Present: Rob Klivans
Location: Trustees Room, Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton MA
Documents: Agenda for June 13 th 2012
Trustees Meeting Minutes for May 16 th 2012
Trustees Meeting Minutes for May 29 th 2012
Finance Report for May 2012
J.P. Morgan Account Statement May 2012
Library Director Issues Priority Report
Newton Free Library Fiction Holdings Activity Analysis
Spring Fling 2012 Financial Report Highlights
The meeting was called to order at 8:37 AM.
Welcome For the New Director. Barbara welcomed Phil and wished him luck as the Library new Director.
Minutes. The minutes of the May 16 th and May 29 th meetings were approved with a 4-0-1 vote.
Finance Report. Jeff delivered the finance report. He discussed various expenditures in respect to what should
be expected at this point in the fiscal year, finding everything in line. He also discussed ongoing work in
developing a formal investment policy for the Trustees and hopes to have a draft for the July meeting. Phil gave
the Trustees an overview of the municipal budget and where it stands towards the end of the physical year.
Trustees Account Signatories. The Trustees voted 4-0-1 to add Barbara and Phil as signatories to their Village
Bank, Cambridge Savings Bank and Sovereign Bank accounts.
Jill Graboski – Preschool Room. Jill Graboski, the Supervisor of the Children’s department, arrived at the
meeting. She thanked the Trustees for their support in renovating the preschool room – it looks wonderful and
couldn’t have been done without their help. She invited the Trustees down to see it. Also discussed was the
Children’s Department outreach program for the school system and the Library card policy for very young
children.
Development Report. Ellen Eckenrode delivered the Development Report. Contributions were up for April,
but flat for May with the exception of a $40k gift from the Friends. Ellen then detailed conclusions and
observations about Spring Fling, especially where ideas for cutting costs for next year were concerned.
Discussion of future fundraising and publicity events ensued. Ideas included the annual barbecue and its relative
intimate focus, larger more open events held on Library grounds to promote the Library (and, this year, to
welcome Phil), author-driven events and unique events such as Library Mini Golf. Also discussed was the value
of each type of event as a fundraiser versus a public relations effort. The Trustees agreed to continue discussing
the possibilities until a suitable September event is agreed upon.
Director’s Update. Phil delivered the Director’s Update. He reported in his first week and his meeting and
getting to know people. He then handed out an Issues Prioritization Report and took the Trustees through his
observations of which issues need work in what order. The group exchanged information and opinions on many
of the issues. Phil also passed out a report on the activity of the Library’s fiction collection and discussed

weeding and managing the collection. He also touched on approaches to collection development and item
display to meet demand, e-books and other electronic resources, the rollout of IT upgrades, the Library’s HVAC
system and the contracting of an interior designer to help in upcoming updates to the Library’s carpeting,
painting and space usage.
Friends Report. Nancy delivered the Friends Report. The June Booksale brought in $6,333.50. The Friends
Annual Meeting is in Druker Auditorium tonight - next year’s officers will be introduced. The Trustees
congratulated Nancy for the Friends’ fantastic Book & Author Luncheon.
Other Business.
Trustees Development Database. Ryan will look into options for replacing the Trustees’ Filemaker database
with web-based development service and present them at next month’s meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:16 AM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Ryan Hanson, Assistant Director