Minutes Trustees Meeting April

MINUTES
HANCOCK LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
April 25, 2012


Present: Mary Garland, Amy Markus, Laurie Bryan, Peter Ryner

The meeting was called to order at 9:00 am.
The April minutes were approved.
There was no Treasurer's report.

As a continuance of a discussion during the April meeting, the Board concluded that while the windows in the Children's library wing would eventually need to be replaced, that expense can reasonably be postponed for a few years, and it is appropriate to proceed with painting the interior frames of these windows to add color to the room, as proposed by Mary and Amy.

There was continued expression of concern regarding the Bank of America, and it was agreed that this should be discussed when the Board meets with a representative of the Trustee of Trust Funds during a yet to be scheduled annual update.

Directors' Report Amy reported that at a recent State librarian meeting the State Attorney General's office reminded those in attendance that State law requires that all libraries must use gross budgeting. While the Hancock Library in effect uses that approach in the preparation of its budget, the official Library budget shown in the official Town budget does not use a gross budget approach. It was reported that this issue has been discussed with the Board of Selectmen in the past, but the Selectmen until now have chosen to not use this technique. It was agreed that this should at some point again be discussed with the Board of Selectmen.

The library conference also emphasized the value and importance of written policies and the Board agreed that Hancock Library's policies should be reviewed, updated and perhaps expanded. Amy will take the lead on this project.

Amy stated that the reference section of the Library is no longer utilized, virtually all reference searches are done on the Internet. She feels that many of the reference materials can be eliminated and the reference section should be re-designed to accommodate more computer usage. She assured the Board that some essential reference materials will be maintained but incorporated with the general collection of books.

Contributions for the annual book sale have picked up.

Amy will be on vacation for part of May.

The Board agreed to shift the time of Board meetings to the last Wednesday of the month at 9: 00 am.

Submitted by Peter Ryner