Friends of the Portsmouth Public Library, Inc.
March 11, 2023
Board Meeting
Board members present: Amanda Taft, Deborah Gallagher, Ellen Franke, Toby Pennell, Mia Taft
Call to Order: The meeting was held at the Churchland Book Nook. Amanda called the meeting to order at 11:05.
Minutes: The 10/25/22 meeting was reviewed.
Correspondence: None
Financial Report by Treasurer: Ellen reported the Operating Account has a balance of $49,966.19. The Copier Account is $9,400.53. The CD has $27,157.90.
Unfinished Business: We discussed details for the April 25 member meeting (4-6) which Deb and Ellen are organizing. The Coleman room at the Churchland Library is reserved for the meeting and there will be a taco bar (Mexican theme). There will be gift baskets to raffle with themes of “coffee, spa, movie night and gardening”. Toby will bring some laminated bookmarks for free giveaways. Mia will design the invitation. We reviewed old minutes for past member meeting attendance numbers. 10/21-18, 4/22-23 and 10/22-31 so our attendance is growing. We may try raffles or baskets every member meeting as it was well received.
New Business: Toby reviewed the plan for the “free area” of the Main Library book sales. (We had to move out of the large open basement area so the floor could be painted and were given back a smaller area to use. A group of members and volunteers helped move the shelves/books out of the area so the book sales are temporarily closed as the book aisles are full of disassembled shelving.) Rachel approved the new location of the shelves/table and will buy the paint for us to use to paint one small wall. That wall is peeling badly and will be in the new “free area” so needs to be scraped and painted. We bought luan plywood to back the shelves, per Rachel's request. The board approved the cost of $110.00 for the boards. The leftover pieces from that project will be used to make free clipboards as gifts for the members. Amanda will buy the clips and look into getting them engraved with the FOPPL logo. The board approved the expenditure and Tommy Pennell will cut the wood to size. Toby will get the number of clipboards cut to Amanda so she can manage the cost. The board approved up to $150.00 for the cost of a four drawer filing cabinet for FOPPL to use in place of several old (broken) two drawer ones previously used. Toby will purchase. Amanda suggested we try Admiral’s Landing for a free book donation site, as customers have come in mentioning they have a “library” there. Toby will pursue that option.
Library Director’s Report: None
Meeting was adjourned at 12:10.
_____________________________________Toby Pennell. Secretary
_____________________________________Amanda Taft, President