NORMAN WILLIAMS PUBLIC LIBRARY
10 The Green
Woodstock, VT 05091
Minutes, Board of Trustees’ Meeting – November 17, 2014
PRESENT: Jack McGuire, Peggy Fraser, Chris Lloyd and Anne Marinello
Lacking a quorum, no action was taken. However, trustees present discussed the
following:
- Chris Lloyd announced that library volunteer Rebecca Boardman died. It was
agreed that the library would be made available for her memorial service at 5
p.m. Saturday, November 29. - Jack announced that the library is poised to receive a gift of a painting of
Norman Williams. The painting is currently on the north wall of the library’s
reading room and has been there for several years on temporary loan. Now
the owner would like the painting to remain at the library permanently.
There are eight Norman Williams’s. The Norman Williams in the painting is
of the grandson of the Norman Williams after whom the library is named.
The painter is George Peter Alexander Healy. Jack is pursuing the legal
aspects of arranging the gift.
Treasurer’s Report: There was no treasurer’s report.
Committee Reports: There were no committee reports.
Report of the Executive Director: The Library celebrated “Centum Triginta” – 130th
anniversary of the library opening in 1884.
To celebrate we invited the public to share cake, to play board games, to
guess book titles illustrated by cakes and issued free library cards. We hosted 200
patrons and visitors!
Noteworthy recent programs included
- Spirituality and Community, a discussion with local clergy, Nov. 6th
- Woodstock Digital Media Festival November 7th was attended by another 200
people, an event organized by David McGowan, with workshops and a
luncheon in the library mezzanine - Stories of Woodstock past, in partnership with the History Center
- Mezzanine Art Show: Anything Goes with Mary Church, Joan Oppenheimer
and Kay Wood, the reception for which was well attended
Upcoming:
All Trustees are encouraged to attend an evening with other Non Profit board members and directors on December 2nd @ 5:30 pm
Statistics:
- Reference inquiries: 260
- Public Computer Users: 360 ILL request: 62 with 71 request from other libraries and total postage of$281.44
- Volunteers logged in 224 hours
- Programs this month were attended by 639 people
- Our collection totals 53, 698
- Door Counter noted 4,235 people entering the building, however groups of people defeat the individual counter
- Wireless Woodstock users totaled 4,139 people who transferred 32.75 gigabytes of data
- Audio books were downloaded 29 times and eBooks were downloaded 45 times
- Circulation totaled 1482 for the Children and Youth Library with another 2202 loans from the general collection and the Park Passes were issued 10
times
Web: Dave Sullivan and Gary Horsman are spearheading a new library web site
Library as a venue for weddings, etc.:
- October 2015 wedding is scheduled with a craft show planned for February
- Bill Chorske donated a piano in memory and honor of his wife, Gayle
- Internet Connectivity: Dave Sullivan is working to upgrade our up and download speed to 50 Mbps, or about a six-fold improvement. While this is slower than fiber
(100 Mbps) it will allow us better performance for routine connectivity, video conferencing, distance learning and more.
Building issues:
- Dave Sullivan moved our heating and plumbing contract from New England Air to Arc for a savings of $2K annually.
- Michael Ricci is working closely with Chris Lloyd and Ann Sadowsky on our fall library fund appeal, with the noteworthy quote by Albert Einstein “The only thing
you need to know is the location of the library. No other resource is more valuable.” - Library behavior policy is being reviewed and will be submitted to the board for their consideration, legal review and subsequent approval.
- Thanks to Susan Morgan of the Yankee Bookstore for the raffle which contributed $1,085 to our coffers and was won by Woodstock Union High School Library, on a
ticket bought for them by Chris Lloyd and by Fran Flanner, a local retired teacher.
Respectively Submitted on behalf of Sarah Roberts,
Karen Gilmour