March 1, 2021
Covid-19 Pandemic Meeting
Virtual, via Zoom
4 pm
(as submitted)
Members present: Lee Hallberg, Anne Benson, Tulli Kerstetter, Laurie Webster, Amy Welden, Koko Smith, Ilga Vise, Silvia Fleitz, Joan Brindamour, Lisa Taylor
1. Call to order 4 p.m.
2. Minutes from February meeting as emailed – Koko moved to approve and Laurie seconded. All approved.
3. Guest requests – Lisa Taylor is observing as a recent arrival to the Mancos area.
4. Proxy/e-mail votes – none
5. Correspondence – Laurie read a note from Janice Benton of the DAR Sleeping Ute Mountain Chapter thanking Friends for donation of books and other media. Laurie read her thank you into the record as follows:
“The members of Sleeping Ute Mountain Chapter MSDAR thank you so much for contributing to our drive for books, flash cards, and teaching supplies for the children of the Sleeping Ute Mountain Tribe, the Navajo Tribe, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe. We were so happy to receive the 466 books you collected for them. I’m sure they will be so grateful to have them and will make good use of the supplies. Again, thank you so much for the attention you gave these children. They will truly appreciate this gift.”
Friends also received a note from NAEIR soliciting a membership subscription to provide free merchandise to nonprofits. Lee may be interested on behalf of the library, so Laurie will forward the information to him.
6. Financial report – No change in savings from last month (see report for details). Laurie deposited a total of $1530 in donations and memberships. The only expense was reimbursement to Amy for postage ($16.50). There is currently $4222.64 in savings and $10,133.77 in checking for a total of $14, 356.41. Tulli moved to approve the financial report, and Amy seconded. All approved.
7. Library Director’s report – Lee reported orally on a quiet month at the library, still with curbside service only. When asked about when the library would again be open, Lee reported that right now, since the library board sees Covid cases declining, the Covid vaccination rollout, and most employees having had their shots, opening may occur around April 1st. Staff will make it clear to the public regarding limited access in number of people in the building at one time and for only an hour, and may instigate time slots especially for seniors (9 – noon), students (4-6), and all-comers (noon – 4 and 6-7 p.m.). It will be first-come-first-served, masks required (but cannot be enforced), and symptom (temperature) checks. The large meeting room will not be open as it is still being used by staff to sanitize books, but the small meeting room will be available for up to six people for an hour. Every other computer is accessible and sanitized. A grant through the state library has brought in10 new laptops for use in the building. Ryan has volunteered to stand at the front door and execute a running tally of who’s in and who’s out of the building. Curbside service will continue until the vaccination rollout is complete (through summer). Masks will be available at the library. Jenny is in contact with school officials for getting book carts to the kids at the schools. Next school year library staff will visit the schools.
Half Marathon: Josh and Ivy Dalley of Rocky Mountain Races have sent Lee a proposal for handling the race (under a contract); their organization will handle all the promotions and direct the race, which will be in the fall, either Sept. 18 or Oct. 16, though October looks best for high school track kids to be involved. Friends will still supply food and drinks for the runners, and library volunteers will man the aid stations. Josh is charging $2500 for being race director. Laurie felt that Friends could pay for this.
Laurie also suggested that Friends could provide match money for some grants that Lee might be getting, up to a certain amount. Lee is currently researching which grants are possible, and if he can write in a Friends’ donation, it increases the chance to acquire the grant. Some grants require a matching local grant as support. Depending on when grants are due, Lee will make formal requests to Friends. Lisa Taylor volunteered her services to write grants for the library.
8. Old business
Recap Valentine’s Day recipe giveaway/membership drive – Anne reported that the membership drive letter was posted late (Feb. 13th) due to issues with the email program. It was sent to 263 people; 66 bounced, 77 were opened (a 39% opening rate), a lot of recipes were opened, and 7 opened the PDF on memberships . Silvia suggested a bulk email reminder for renewals, as the membership letter so far has not resulted in many renewals at this point. Amy reported that there are 109 members currently.
10. New business
Membership lists – Anne and Amy need to go over the list and update it.
Getting the word out when the library starts accepting book donations – Possibly as of April 1st, the library will again accept book donations, and there already are books in the library needing sorting (a few boxes). Lee will make arrangements for Friends to begin to sort during the last week of March.
Book sorting – Joan is still willing to tackle this work but wants others to help. Miriam and Anne have expressed an interest in helping.
Books at ABC – Joan updated Friends on her book dealings with local businesses as follows: She and Peter have closed three of their business accounts with local organizations, turning the Dolores Library account over to their Friends of the Library. They will be wrapping up at the end of 2021 because they can’t get new books from libraries due to Covid, so no new stock. ABC Bakery is in the process of rearranging and reconfiguring their dining space and may not have room for the bookcases. Joan is also not sure if library donations will be sufficient to keep the ABC shelves stocked anyway. Likewise P&D. Karen and David at ABC currently wish to table any library arrangements until they know how they will reconfigure their business. If Friends want to take this on, Joan doesn’t know if she would be around to help with inventory, etc., because it is labor intensive. When asked by Tulli how much money could be raised if Friends took over, Joan replied around $2000-$3000 annually, which is about as much money as a couple book sales per year. Joan felt that the P&D venue would be the most likely to be turned over to the library because it consists of mass market books easily obtainable through library donations, though she isn’t certain whether Pete at P&D still wants books. All agreed that by the end of the year both the Brindamours and Friends should make a decision about this issue.
11. Adjourn at 4:55.
Next meeting: April 5, 2021