HomeMy WebLinkAbout061592Joint Meeting between Board of Trustees and Friends of PT Library
Board, June 15, 1992
. Attending: Cheryl Silverblatt, Gwen Howard, Lars Watson, Sue
Sidle, Anne S&!er, Donn Ring, resa Gibson, Dahti Blanchard,
Valerie Parker. Chaired by Gwen Howard.
Gwen reviewed the mission statement adopted by the Board of
Trustees in January, 1992. She and other members pointed out that
it was carefully worded and chosen from many available options.
She stressed the importance of us all being familiar with it, 80
we can present it favorably to members of the community.
In further discussion on ways to promote the mission statement,
the following goals were produced:
1. Develop a strategy for assessing needs /wishes of the community
re collections and services of the library.
(Newspaper ads, handouts in library, one on one questionnaires)
2. Organize a public relations campaign, e.g. speaking before
civic organizations and handing out a brief survey to be com-
pleted by the end of the meeting.
3. Develop a plan for getting our message to the city government,
e.g. form a delegation to lobby council and mayor one on one to
improve support of the library.
(bur library presents its case for funds to the city and has to
lobby for whatever it gets. Vs. county library which determines
its needs and assesses the tax. Point this out to people who
wonder why the county library has more in collections, more
staff, better service, etc. If dollars are short here, the only
place to cut is collections and equipment; staff is already at a
minimum, about 65 -- 70% of total budget.)
4. Develop ways to create an "emotional ownership" in the library
so that people want to support it.
(a) Friends could develop a Newcomers Club or Welcome Group -
twice a year bring newcomers to the library to meet other new-
comers and learn about city services and organizations.
(b) Continue creative programming by both staff and Friends,
to encourage people to come to the library, e.g. the very suc-
cessful Coffeehouse concerts.
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5. Focus on the importance of educating the public about the good
works of the library and the financing difficulties.
(Political aspect - use influential Friends on mailing list to
lobby council ?)
6. Inform volunteers that they are automatically Friends of the
Library, add names to mailing list, etc.
Other ideas: Send flyers /invitations to Friends when library is
having special event, rather than having them read about it in
the paper; set up obvious Friends information board on circula-
tion desk; publish newsletter deadlines so library director and
trustees can plan ahead of time to contribute items. .
The remainder of the meeting was spent reviewing the roles of
Board of Trustees, Director and Friends of the Library, as
defined in the Public Libaries Trustee Handbook. A list of Plan-
ning Priorities developed at the January 1992 retreat was handed
out.