1990-07-05 City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board: Library Trustees
Subcommittee:
Date: 07/05/1990
Place: Beverly Public Library
Board members present: Nancy A. Bender, Diane J. Costa, Katherine L. Fanning, Margaret C.
Goodwin, and Helga Senko
Board members absent: Edward E. Brindle, Margaret L. DeSantis, Neil B. Olson, and Nathan T.
Shindler
Others present:
Recorder: Sheila Glowacki
Trustees Meeting
July 5, 1990
Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 7:55 p.m. by Chairman Nancy Bender.
Present: Nancy Bender, Kay Fanning Margaret Goodwin, Helga Senko, Diane Costa.
Absent: Edward Brindle, Margaret DeSantis, Neil Olson, Toby Shindiet.
Motion by Diane Costa, second by Kay Fanning to approved the minutes of the previous meeting.
Voted Unanimously.
Communications: Letter of resignation was received from Jennifer Lukas, Children's Librarian to
be effective in September 1990.
Nancy Bender reported on a meeting held with Caleb Loring to discuss the feasibility of conducting
a fund raising campaign to help with the cost of the new library building. Mr. Loring had been
scheduled to attend the Trustees meeting tonight, but because of a schedule conflict he met informally
with Nancy Bender, Diane Costa, Margaret Goodwin and Library Director Thomas Scully on July
3. Mr. Loring's assessment was that raising $125,000 to $130,000 at this time would be extremely
difficult because of the general state of the economy and the fact that many other non-profit agencies
in Beverly were conducting fund raising campaigns and some were in danger of not meeting their
goal. It was decided to proceed to make initial contact with potential donors, because this might be
useful in the future. It was also decided, on Margaret Goodwin's suggestion, to explore foundation
grants for the library project.
Committee reports:
Finance Committee: No meeting. Tom Scully reported that Board of Aldermen had approved the
Mayor's budget request with a further $10,000 reduction in the Library Salary Budget rather than the
$20,000 proposed by the Committee on Finance and Property, thus avoiding drastic cuts in hours of
service.
Administration: No meeting.
Personrid: No meeting.
Long Rang Planning: No meeting.
Building Commission: No meeting. Tom Scully reported that the Board of Aldermen had passed
an order requiring that a majority of the Board of Aldermen must approve the final building plan
before any bond issue may be sold. The Mayor subsequently vetoed this order, but his veto was
overridden at the July 2nd meeting.
Library Director's Report:
Tom Scully reported that he had received an estimate from KeHeher Fuel to replace the three oil tanks
at the Main Library for $2,500. Anthony Tappe, the library's architect, reported that the cost of
converting to gas heat would be in the vicinity ors 15,000 to $20,000 and that his heating consultant's
advice was to replace the oil tanks even though the heating system will be converted to gas when the
building project goes forward. Two of the tanks are leaking and must be replaced before the heating
season. It was decided to proceed to replace the tanks.
The Library has again run out of shelving space for books. Tom Scully advised the Board that it will
be necessary to install stacks in the Will Barnet Room before the fiscal year is out. Either books or
magazines could be stored in the Barnet Room, however, using the Barnet Room for magazines
would mean making the fih floor of the stacks open to the public. For safety reasons, it was decided
this would not be acceptable. It was the consensus of the Board that it was regrettable to loose tile
meeting space, but that the Library Director should proceed to install stacks when necessary and use
them for book storage.
Nancy Bonne, Assistant Children's Librarian has been appointed to the position of Acting Children's
Librarian to be effective upon the resignation of Jennifer Lukas.
Tom Scully reported that he is preparing a printed hand-out to be available for patrons explaining
service cuts that will be necessitated by the reduced Fiscal 1991 budget.
The Library is installing it's automated catalog terminals this week and aRer training and orientation
forthe staff, the terminals will be operational at the beginning of August. The old card catalogs at the
Farms Branch and Main Library will be retained for staff access only until the new automated catalog
has been thoroughly tested.
Old Business: None
New Business:
Motion by Kay Fanning seconded by Diane Costa to accept the resignation of Children's Librarian
Jennifer Lukas with regret. Voted Unanimously.
Motion to adjourn by Diane Costa, seconded by Kay Fanning. Voted Unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas F. Scully,
Library Director