Haverhill Public Library
Board of Trustees
Minutes of September 17, 2020
The regular monthly meeting of the Trustees of the Haverhill Public Library was called to order at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 17, 2020 via Zoom or dial-in. In attendance were Trustees Bresnahan, Coletti, Klueber, Rurak, Sheehan, and Veasy-Sirois. Also in attendance were Director, Sarah Moser and Assistant Director, Jonathan Nichols.
Secretary’s Report
The trustees were given copies of the minutes dated August 20, 2020. After perusing the minutes, a motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes. The minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report
Business manager, Josh, presented the financial statements for August. He stated that we are even with where we were before closing in March, which is a good sign. Roof repairs were the largest expense. Library generated income is a concern and Josh suggested possibly cutting spending or doing more fundraising to make up for the shortfall. A motion was made and seconded to accept the financial statements. The statements were approved.
Director’s Report
Sarah discussed the highlights of the director’s report:
- The library will open on Saturdays beginning on August 22 and on Sundays after Columbus Day. Evening hours are delayed since there isn’t enough staff to cover.
- The roof company will be coming back to repair holes that were drilled into the Director’s office ceiling by mistake. The rest of the roof repairs went smoothly.
- Overdrive statistics have been high since it offers ebooks and audiobooks.
- For FY20, we were below previous years’ statistics on the Aris Reports butconsidering that we were closed for so long that is not a bad as thought.
Trustee Klueber asked what the plan is if there is another lockdown. Sarah replied that non-essential staff would be sent home to work and the plan from before would be replicated.
Trustee Coletti stated that she was excited about the new use of the training room. Jonathan explained that it was funded by a grant and will be used as a recording room with a camera, lighting, microphone, green screen and video editing software.
Old Business
Website Update: Jonathan gave an update on the website redesign. He stated that hopefully it will launch in two weeks. Adding the content has been time consuming.
Staff Update: There are three vacancies and Erik Bauer gave his notice.
There was a motion made to move forward on filling an archivist position with the same number of hours and rate of pay. Trustee Bresnahan was first to accept the motion, Trustee Coletti seconded it. All were in favor.
New Business
Friends Shop: The Friends volunteers have been into the library a few times getting ready for the shop to open on Saturday.
Halloween Book Festival: The festival will be virtual this year with help from HCMedia. Talks will be recorded and put on social media and the website. A donate link will also be added.
Fall Fundraiser: Jonathan will research outside companies to manage a virtual fundraiser, get quotes, and get feedback from The Boys and Girls Club and Emmaus since they used outside companies for theirs. Options include a telethon and online auction. Trustee Coletti stated that we raise less than those types of bigger organizations and asked if we have auction items. Jonathan suggested the possibility of offering experiences instead of items. Sarah mentioned that Friends groups typically do fundraising so maybe they could help. Trustee Coletti suggested writing letters to past donors to solicit donations.
There being no further business to discuss, a motion was made and seconded to adjourn. The meeting ended at 9:45 a.m.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Bresnahan