2002-05-28City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board:
Library Trustees
Subcommittee:
Date:
May, 28, 2002 7:40 P.M.
Place:
Beverly Public Library
Board members present:
Todd Balf, Lindsay Diehl, Neil Olson, Kevin O’Reilly, Joanne
Panunzio
Board members absent:
John Young, Helga Senko, Joanne Avallon, Edward Brindle
Others present:
Thomas Scully, Anna Langstaff
Recorder:
Anna Langstaff
Lindsay Diehl presided.
Neil Olson made the motion, seconded by Kevin O’Reilly, to accept the minutes of the regular
meeting of April 23, 2002 as read. Motion passed.
Public Presentation
None
Committee Reports
Personnel: Lindsay Diehl reminded everyone to submit their director’s evaluation to Helga Senko.
Administration: No report.
Finance: No report.
Long Range Planning: No report.
Report of the Library Director
1) Tom Scully distributed the director’s report (on file with these minutes). 2) Budget: Part of this
year’s budget has been rescinded. $34, 000 was taken out of the part-time salary budget. FY2003
budget will be presented to the City Council next week, but the finance director has not informed
Tom Scully what he is going to recommend. 3) Farms Project: Tom Scully reported that he met
with the Mayor and the finance director to discuss the Farms Library project. The finance
director will review the Farms construction budget figures. 4) Computer Additions: The library is
sponsoring an online municipal calendar. Photo images have been added to the online catalog. 5)
Summer Reading: Summer reading list is done and will be distributed to students. Young adult
and children’s librarians are doing book talks in the elementary and middle schools. 6) Meeting:
The Library and the Collections Committee of the Beverly Historical Society co-sponsored a
meeting to explore preservation of historical church records. 7) Beverly Cemetery Index: The
Library is producing an index to Beverly Cemetery lot ownership from 1626 to approximately
1900.
Communications
None
Unfinished Business
None
New Business
None
The next regular meeting of the Board will be Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 7:00 P.M. at the Main
Library.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 P.M.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
May 28, 2002
Beverly Farms Branch Library -
Bids have been opened for the Farms Library Renovation Project.
They low bid was approximately $400,000 higher than expected. We met with the Mayor, Chief of
Staff and Finance Director last Thursday to urge their approval of the project. We gave them a
complete review of the project finances. The Finance Director is supposed to review the figures and
make a recommendation to the Mayor this week. Preparations for the closing of the building are on
hold until the City commits to doing the project.
Budget
- The Mayor is scheduled to present his FY2003 budget to the City Council next Monday
night. We do not know what will be recommended for the Library yet. The Mayor has rescinded
about $36,000 from this year’s budget, almost all from the part time salary account. This should not
be a problem barring any unforseen circumstances.
Computers
- The Library is sponsoring a Municipal Calendar on line which will list all City
sponsored events. The calendar can be accessed from the Library’s web page at
or from the City web page at
We have also begun entering photo images into the catalog. To view a test image, go to the library
Hetmere
catalog at and do a keyword search on the word. Click on the
thumbnail image to see the full size.
Programs
- We have prepared our annual summer reading list and distributed it to the schools. We
are now giving end of the year book talks in the elementary and middle schools.
Miscellaneous
- The Library and the Collections Committee of the Beverly Historical Society co-
sponsored a meeting to explore the preservation of historical church records. In early Massachusetts,
churches maintained many of the vital records that are now maintained as public records. These
records are often stored in uncontrolled environments and are uncatalogued and inaccessible. Several
Beverly churches attended or expressed interest and we are forming a working group to explore
cooperative funding.
We are also producing an index to Beverly Cemetery lot ownership from 1626 to approximately
1900. When finished, this will be added to the Library’s web server and will become a major resource
for genealogists. Information on grave sites is one of the questions the library is frequently asked,
for which we have no ready resource. This index will resolve that problem.