Friends of the Portsmouth Public Library, Inc.
May 19,2021
Board members present: Amanda Taft, Ellen Franke, Toby Pennell, Mia Taft.
Call to Order: The meeting was held at the Main Library at 5:00. Amanda Taft called the meeting to order at 5:10.
Minutes: The 11/10/21 minutes were reviewed. The board discussed when the minutes should be sent out to the members but no firm timeline was decided upon. It was thought that the minutes would be most important to be sent after the first book sale (when we have some real information to share, not just organizing details). They can be all sent at once.
Correspondence: No correspondence was received. Toby Pennell sent out 53 thank-you notes for membership and/or donation payments.
Financial Report by Treasurer: Ellen Franke reported the Operating account as of May 1, has a balance of $44,505.50. The Copier Account as of May 20, has a balance of $19,304.96. The CD fund as of February 25, has a $27,106.36 balance. The SL Trust Fund has a balance of $179,423.38 as of March 31.
Committee reports: We have not specifically started up committees but specific individuals are assigned jobs.
Unfinished Business: The FOPPL money boxes and electronics were retrieved from the Main Library. We discussed the need for volunteers to straighten up our bookshelves and get them organized for future sales. We also discussed that the cookbook sections were not selling well. Mia or Amanda will email volunteers to ask about straightening. Our April Membership meeting was cancelled due to pandemic restrictions but we are still planning on a mid-Oct. membership meeting with potentially a fall festival theme. Our proposed 2021 budget will be reviewed at the October meeting. No election this year since it is every 2 years. We discussed starting up the newsletter again quarterly or seasonally. It would start with a Fall newsletter and Mia Taft would take charge of that. Ellen discussed some confusion over the copier account with a change in the monthly amount and a letter on “overage use”. She tracked it down and it appeared the Churchland Library used too many color copies. She will look into this and discuss it with them if needed to avoid overage use in the future. We renewed our Ole Towne membership and the American Library Association membership. However, Ellen got a notice we still owed them but she wrote them a 3/13/21 check for the membership that was cleared on 3/24/21 so she is following up.
New Business: We are planning for our first book sale for July 3, 2021 if feasible. We plan on using at least 2 volunteers for 2 hour shifts and to be open from 10-2, Saturday only. Toby volunteered to ask libraries (Manor and Cradock) if they would put up “free book” carts we could give them discards for. Ellen will talk to Judy Walker about her continued involvement (managing volunteers) with the Book Nook at the Churchland Library. It has been organized that people can donate to FOPPL through PayPal and Amazon Smile now.
Library Director’s Report: None was presented but Amanda has been in contact with several librarians and since the libraries are still closed to the public, no report has been requested. Unofficial Portsmouth Public library opening may be June 7, 2021 but this is not certain yet.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:00. Next meeting is scheduled for June 25 at 5:00 at Churchland library.