GFL Trustees Meeting Minutes 2.24.25
Guilford Free Library Trustees In-Person and On-Line Meeting
Guilford, Vermont Monday, February 24th, 2025 – 6:30 pm
Trustees Present: Josh Nelson, John Shaw, Nika Fotopulos, Sandra Cortes, Laura Lawson Tucker, Judith Serkin.
Trustees Absent: Jeannette Tokarz.
Others present: Amber Hunt (Librarian), Davida Bagatella, Deb Albright, and Linda Hay (Friends).
Meeting began at 6:33pm
Accepted minutes from the January meeting.
Librarian’s Report – Amber
(notes by John shaw for this report)
– Vermont Library Association is holding its annual library conference on May 19th in Montpelier. Amber is planning to attend and invites any Trustees or Friends who would like to join her to let her know. May 19th is the same day as the monthly Trustee meeting, so we may want to reschedule or Amber may miss that meeting after a long day of travel and conference.
– Amber sent out a sign up form for shifts at the library’s table at Town Meeting. Everyone should think about signing up for a slot!
– Amber made some website edits to make sure it shows up better in internet search results. She also added an “accessibility widget” to the library website which allows users to customize the site to fit their accessibility needs (for example, dyslexia-friendly formatting, text size, image and animation controls, cursor size, etc.). Everyone is encouraged to try it out and give Amber any feedback they have. The widget button is found in the upper right corner of the webpage. She is also working to change the library page on the town website to be up to date and more of a tie-in to the library website.
– Summer camp dates are finalized and will be announced in the upcoming March newsletter. There will also be an after-school program offered in March.
Treasurer’s Report – John
Our budget is on track, we are entering the second half of our fiscal year and we are doing very well on our fundraising goal.
Amber has been using the John Henry Eldred JR Foundation grant money to purchase new furniture for the children’s section of the Library. A second courier stop in the week is being considered.
Report on MOU between Trustees and Friends – John, Nika, Josh and Amber
The trustee sub-committee has been meeting with Friends. A draft MOU has been worked on that both committees feel in agreement about. The trustees give support for John to reach out to Erika to request that the Town lawyer look over the wording and legal details of this draft MOU document.
New Business
- We discussed the Library’s highlights for the upcoming Town meeting. Laura will be the one to give the presentation.
- Supervisory union camps have been cancelled for this summer, so our camps may be more in demand.
- Amber will have copies of our Library survey at Town Meeting, as well as boxes/baskets to receive completed surveys.
- Trustees will tentatively be trained on April 21st by Davida Bagatella during our monthly meeting on how to plan and execute a fundraising campaign for the Library. Waiting to hear back on personal schedules, before finalizing the date.
- Possibly Saturday May 10th spring cleaning day, Amber will send out a final date/time and a list of to dos.
Meeting adjourned 7:42pm
***Next Monthly Trustees Meeting: Monday March 17, 2025 at 6:30 pm – In person at the Library OR ONLINE.
Minutes by secretary,
Nika Fotopulos, with the help of John Shaw
Meeting Recording: