Friends of the Alameda Free Library

Minutes of Meeting, October 17, 2005

President Molly Skeen called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm in room 360 of City Hall. Other members in attendance were Jo Winzenread, Archie Waterbury, Gertrude Woods, Peter Woods, Adair Jorgensen, Marilyn Ng, John Quick, Marc Lambert, Jane Chisaki, Richard Kolberg, and Chris Christopher.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

Copies of the minutes of the June meeting were distributed and approved with corrections: (1) Marilyn Ng was added to the list of attendees; (2) spelling of Lundstrom was corrected; (3) notation of approval of honorarium to firemen was added.

President's Announcements

President Molly Skeen reported on letters of appreciation received for support from the Friends.

Karin Lundstrom sent a letter expressing appreciation for support for the library's Teen Book Discussion Group.

Dale Lillard, Acting Director Alameda Recreation and Parks Department, sent a letter expressing his appreciating for our $500 donation to AR&P.

Linda Koistinen from Haight School sent her thanks for the $25 voucher and the opportunity to choose her books before the presale started.

Treasurer's Report

John Quick (Treasurer) presented the financial report for October 2005. A copy of the complete report is attached to these minutes. Our total net worth was reported to be $213,481.56.

Membership Report

Peter Woods (Membership Chair) reported that memberships paid through 2005 total 251. Eighty-seven are paid through 2006.

Junior Friends' Report

Marilyn Ng reported that all Jr. Friends' bank accounts had been consolidated in the checking account for a total of approximately $920. It was moved and approved that these funds be donated to the Library for reading probrams.

Book Sale

Gertrude Woods (Book Sale Co-chair) summarized the schedule for setup and preparation. She reported that 850 boxes of books will be brought from storage for the October sale. At the end of the sale on Sunday, St. Vincent de Paul will collect all remaining books.

Library Building Team Report

No new information; visit web cam: http://www.ci.alameda.ca.us/library/webcam.html

Newsletter Report

Marc Lambert requested that all material for the October newsletter be submitted by Friday, October 28. Marc reported that new member Mary Clark will be writing a column for the newsletter.

BALIS Report

Marc Lambert reported that the BALIS (Bay Area Library Information System) group is seeking a new representative from Berkeley and that Marc's term ends in June 2006, at which time a new representative from Alameda will be needed.

Library Director's Report

Jane Chisaki (Interim Director of the AFL) reported on construction progress for the new library. She summarized the plans for the Library's "Spooky Night at the Library" on October 27 and for the upcoming Teen Read Week "Get Real at the Library." Jane also mentioned that there is now a link on the Library web page to a site accepting donations for Gulf Coast library relief.

Old Business

Chris Christopher reported that the artwork for the Friends bookmark proposed at the September meeting was finished and distributed a sample. Chris also summarized the work done so far on the proposed new Friends web site and gave information about hosting and domain name services. The temporary URL for the proposed new web site will be distributed soon for comments and suggestions.

A general discussion of the Library bulletin board where Friends information is posted resulted in a suggestion that a volunteer be sought to serve as bulletin board coordinator in order to keep the information posted there more up to date.

A proposal was made and approved for the Friends to purchase the statue of "Uncle Albert" from Gert and Pete Woods. "Uncle Albert" is approximately 4 ft. tall and is carrying a large stack of books. The statue will serve as a donation and sale mascot.

New Business

There was a general discussion of the status and whereabouts of the small canvas Friends tote bags. There are a fair number of these remaining, but the consensus was that they are too small. There was general agreement that we should acquire a new, larger bag with the Friends emblem, and that this would likely sell well.

Requests for items for the October agenda

We need a volunteer to serve as secretary. Chris Christopher has been filling in, but is unable to perform this task on a long-term basis.

Notice of Coming Meetings

The next meeting will be on November 21, 2005.

Respectfully submitted,
Chris Christopher,
Acting Secretary