The Ainsworth Library Foundation Board held their quarterly meeting on August 18th. The meeting was called to order and roll call showed five members present plus the Library Director. Two members were absent. The Board welcomed new member-Traci Alberts. The minutes were read and approved. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted. The bills from the Garden Walk were approve for payment in the amount of $80.30 for table cloths, plates, cups, silverware, napkins, bottle water, and balloons.
The Gift Transaction List from May to August 2016 was presented. Memorials were received in memory of Mrs. Janice Pennington from Mrs. Eunice Wulf and in memory of Mrs. Betty Stolcpart from the Board of Education and Staff at the Ainsworth Community Schools. Donations were received from Mr. Mick Clapper, Mrs. Shirley West, and Mr. Matthew Kulek. Other revenue consisted of a refund on the tile project, funds from sale of old check-out desk and stand, coffee station sales, Art Guild Card Sales, and the donation jar. The Garden Walk raised a total of $415. The Board is very appreciative of the support given to the Library.
Election of Officers was held with the following appointments: Marsha Fuchs-President; Mark Kovar-Vice President; Wendy Allen-Treasurer; and Beverly Whitney-Secretary. It was noted that the officers will need to go to the bank and sign a signature card.
Phase Two of Library Improvements were discussed. It was noted that the four blue chairs and the 16 backs of the orange chairs will be recovered this fall. Material is currently being ordered for this project. The ADA Check-Out Desk will be installed the first part of September. The ADA Door Opener installation will be done this next week. Library staff is currently clearing out the storage room so it can be developed into our Local History Room. The walls will be repainted and new shelving will be installed later this fall to house the over-sized bound editions of the Ainsworth Star Journal newspaper. A Fall Work Day will be held in September to clean up the outside of the Library and remove unwanted trees.
Fundraising events were discussed. An update was given on the Garden Walk held on July 21st. We received lots of great comments on the six homes that were on the tour. The evening time during the week seems to work better than the Saturday morning. We raised a total of $415 for the shelving project for the Bound Star Journal Newspapers. The Book Basket Auction will be held this fall. E-mail or a letter will be sent to the people that have donated a basket in the past and let them know we will hold another one. Discussion was held on doing a special volunteer prize at the end of the auction to someone that helped with the event. They will need to be present at the time of drawing to claim the prize.
It was noted that the 2016-17 Book Discussion Group will be starting up soon. The first title is now available at the library for check-out. The Board members were informed of the Nebraska 150 Books and the Reading Challenge going on to celebrate Nebraska’s 150th birthday in 2017.
Traci Alberts explained about the bilingual language hour and the Spanish/English books purchased through a gift for the library. There is a need for Spanish to English Rosette Stone software. Gail and Traci will look into this and see if a grant would be available to help purchase.
The next meeting date was set for Nov. 10th at 7p.m. Since there was no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned.
