1981-06-19 City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board: Library Trustees
Subcommittee:
Date: 06/19/1981
Place: Beverly Public Library
Board members present: Nell B. Olson, Lester C. Ayers, Piehard L. Buekley, Mary K.
Cormors, and Nancy A. White
Board members absent: John R. Coogan, Katherine L. Fanning, Dr. Edna M. MeGlynn, and Roger
E. Morency
Others present: Catherine Von Sormenberg, League of Women Voters
Recorder: Barbara Smith
Regular Meeting
Board of Trustees - Beverly Public Library
June 18, 1981
Roll Call of Members:
Present were: Mary K. Connors, Lester Ayers, Nancy White, Richard Buckley, and Nell Olson. Also
present were: Esther Calish, Barbara Smith, Catherine van Sonnenberg from the League of Women
Voters, Donna Dayton from the Beverly Times and staff members.
The following documents were distributed: May financial report; May statistics and memo on the
budget.
Minutes of the May meeting were accepted as presented. Motion was made by Mr. Buckley and
seconded by Mr. Ayers. Motion carded.
Committee Reports - 1251h Anniversary: Mrs. Calish reported that the Friends have about $600
remaining in this special fund and questioned whether there should be a dosing event on the
anniversary of the library's opening, September 20th. The Trustees decided definitely in favor of a
1251h Anniversary finale. It was their consensus that an outdoor festival with a band concert (try for
the high school band) and an event such as an international dessert festival be sponsored jointly by
the Board and the Friends. Mr. Olson expressed the gratitude of the Board to Nancy White for all her
work on the events of this committee this year. Ms. White, in turn, recognized Mrs. Calish and the
staff for their work and cooperation.
Administration Committee: Mrs. Calish stated that after discussing the problem of the front doors
with Frank Garretson, he made inquiries on our behalf and a representative from the Society for the
Preservation of New England Antiquities will visit the library on July 14 at 9 a.m. Any trustee who
is available is invited to be present.
Personnel: A new table of organization was distributed by Mrs. Calish showing the adult services
position added at main library and the establishing of the bookmobile librarian as his own supervisor,
The changes reflect the completion of library degrees by staff members and the new hours at the
Farms Branch.
Finance: Mrs. Calish read a letter from Bill Kozak of the Beverly Kiwanis Club telling of their gift to
the library of $1000 for large prim and special needs materials for children and $250 for a
closed-captioned decoder. She gave special credit to Nancy Aberman for her work on this. The
presentation will be made in July. It was moved by Nancy White and seconded by Mary Cormors that
the Board formally acknowledge the gift. Motion carried.
It was requested that some changes be made in the format of the financial report and Mr. BuckIcy
agreed to work with Mrs. Calish on this during the summer.
Report of Librarian: This was the first month the children's circulation has not gone up 20%. The
Youth Services Librarian's report detailed the summer programs. The Bookmobile stops have been
condensed into two days and the stop at Ralph's Market eliminated. The stop at Beverly School for
the Deaf is suspended only during the summer because they are not in session.
A Rottmda was not published during May or June because of the uncertainty of the hours. One will
be published in July. Holocaust will be shown on two nights in July and the Ascent of Man series will
be shown starting in August.
During July there will be an exhibit of hand-thrown miniatures by Elizabeth Chambers. We will
participate in Homecoming. Endicott has taped tours of the three historic houses which will be shown
in the library.
Old Business: A motion was made by Mary Cormors and seconded by Nancy White to set summer
hours as follows. Motion carded. These hours extend to Labor Day.
Main Library Monday through Thursday - 9 to 9; Friday 9 to 6.
Farms Library Wednesday - 2 to 6; Thursday - 3 to 9.
It was moved by Nancy White and seconded by Mary Cormors that the following hours be accepted
for winter. Motion carded.
Main Library - Monday 9 to 9
Tuesday 12 to 9
Wednesday 9 to 6
Thursday 9 to 6
Friday 9 to 6
Saturday 9 to 5
Sunday 1 to 5
Farms Library - Wednesday 2 to 6
Thursday 3 to 9
It was the consensus of the Board that as much publicity as possible be generated about the lack of
evening hours.
It was agreed that a letter of sympathy be sent from the Board to Mrs. Fanning on the death of her
husband.
Mr. Olson stated that if state bail-out funds became available which would make a difference in our
budget, he would call a special meeting.
He adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m.
The next meeting, time and place, is to be determined.
Barbara Smith
Recorder
6/18/81
To the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees:
THE LIBRARY BUDGET 81/82
1) We cut our budget 20%, per mayors request.
2) At the eleventh hour the Mayor cut our budget an additional 5%, $20,950. These line item
deletions covered part-time aides & pages, custodial overtime, fuel, lighting, repairs, senrice contracts
for equipment, bookmobile service and garbage removal (dumpster).
3) After we clarified the consequences of these cuts, the Mayor appropriated from our state aid
$13,000 for part-time staff, $2,000 for custodial services, and $3,691 for books, rounding out the
appropriation to the mount equal to this current year's state aid. He said he would restore an
identical mount from the additional funds to be appropriated by the state. We are still receiving a cut
of $2,259.
The fuel account was cut by $2,000 leaving us less for next year than ,was spent this year. Repairs
were cut by $1,000. This is an old building, with annual repairs of over three thousand dollars. We
will have no discretionary funds to cover any large emergencies. By returning our funds to us on a
line item basis, the Mayor restricts our ability to manage the property and take care of emergencies.
4) It is most important that the Mayor returns the mount equal to the state aid - $18,691, and does
not deduct $3,691 from that mount. In addition, we should request funds from the supplemental
State budget to cover repairs, bookmobile, etc. We should be sure that we receive the total $18,691
in December for which we are eligible, and we should request an additional $25,000 immediately for
the book budget. We have accepted that there must be a cut in h'brary hours, but an acceptable book
budget must be maintained. We made it clear in our cover letter, that the 20% cut was not acceptable,
and that we expected restoration of funds when the city received additional funds and property was
revalued.
We must be sure that we are treated with fairness; that the librar3?s importance to education must be
acknowledged and the library receives its fair share of supplemental funding.