1976-05-20 City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board: Library Trustees
Subcommittee:
Date: 05/20/1976
Place: Beverly Public Library
Board members present: Sheila M. MeGart, Lester C. Ayers, Louisa V. Conrad, John P,. Coogan,
Katherine L. Fanning, Diane M. Isenberg, Michael Larivee, and Beatrice I~. Vitale
Board members absent: Frances M. Moran
Others present:
Recorder: Mark A. Nesse
MINUTES
Beverly Public Library
Board of Trustees Regular Meeting
May 20, 1976, 7:30 P.M.
Present: Miss MeGarT, presiding; Mr. Ayers, Mrs. Conrad, Mr. Coogan, Mrs. Fanning, Mrs.
Isenberg, Mr. Larivee and Mrs. Viiale.
Minutes of the April 8, 1976, meeting were approved.
Committee Reports:
*Committee on Administration: no report.
*Committee on Finance:
After some discussion of the 25% cut in personnel costs which has been proposed by
the Finance 9 Property Committee of the Board of Aldermen, the following was
passed, 8-0.
Mayor and Board of Aldermen, City of Beverly:
The Board of Trustees of the Beverly Public Library wishes to communicate
that we have at no time suggested that the library budget be cut; the Board remains
committed to the budget which was submitted last fall. Further, the Board wants it
distinctly understood that the plan outlined would probably be instituted if the
aldermen act on the proposal to cut personnel costs by 25%.
The library has no intention of cutting services in Beverly; if cuts are instituted
- they will be the result of Aldermanic action.
For the Board of Trustees Sheila M. MeGarr, President
After studying the financial statement, it was Voted to request of the mayor a transfer within
the maintenance account of $2,500 from fuel and $1,200 from copy machine, to the following
accounts: periodicals, binding, lighting, telephone, office supplies, book preparation supplies.
Librarian's Report:
*The $500 donated by the Friends of the Library for new periodicals has been matched by
$500 from the city, and have been ordered.
*The library has received a $1,200 L.S.C.A. grant from the Bureau of Library extension to
purchase a TV Phone in order to provide services for the deaf.
*Attention was again called to the hearings being held by Beve~y's growth policy committee.
*The recently completed self-study was discussed in general terms, as was the workshop
hosted by the Beverly Public Library on conducting such a self-study. It was decided to hold
a special meeting to discuss the findings of the report.
*Further plans for summer program were discussed.
Old Business:
*It was voted to refer the matter of vacation for library employees to a special committee
which would report at the September meeting.
New Business:
*Miss McGarr read the following letter from Mrs. Conrad:
Miss Sheila M. McGarr, President
Board of Trustees of the Beverly Public Library
Dear President:
For many years it has been an honor and a privilege to serve as a Trustees of the
Library.
Now my husband is retired and we have become residents of Mt. Desert, Maine,
making it no longer possible for me to serve as a trustee.
Therefore, it is with extreme regret that I submit my resignation, effective tomorrow,
May 21, 1976.
It gives me great pleasure, that the Mayor, to whom I submitted my resignation this
afternoon, has appointed a younger member of my family as my successor: Caleb
Loring, III. This will carry on a long tradition of family participation and service in
connection with the library. I succeeded my great-aunt Miss Katherine P. Loring in
1943.
With my very best wishes to my fellow Trustees and to our very loyal staff.
Louisa Vaughan Conrad
The following was enclosed with Mrs. Conrad's letter:
"I am proud that this library is the gift
of the community, and not of any one man. I
am proud that we pay for it our selves. It is an
honor to the city that its citizens have done so;
and it is in accordance with the spirit of our
fathers, the true democracy of a people caring
for itself
Culture is of the individual; civilization
is of the community. There may be many
individuals of culture, many private libraries
and galleries in a city; but a city is not truly
civilized until it pro vides for the common
welfare from the eommon wealth of the city
all that is essential to the common good, these
things of the higher life included.
This library, rightly regarded, is the
civic centre of the city; here, more than
elsewhere, all the citizens meet and have a
common social home. This is the idea of the
library, which I wish to leave on your minds."
-GEORGE E. WOODBERRY
1913
This partially expresses my deep feeling for the Library, at any rate something for all of us to follow.
Mrs. Conrad's resignation was accepted by Miss McGarr with deep regret. Many members of the
Board of Trustees spoke of Mrs. Conrad's long years of faithful service to the library, and Mrs.
Conrad noted that she was the only Trustee to serve with four Head Librarians.
Adjournment 9:05 P.M.
Mark A. Nesse, Clerk