MINUTES

Friends of the Bee Cave Public Library

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Introductions

Kathy Albert called the meeting to order at 1:30. Introduction of attendees: Kathy Albert, Francis Landreaux, Debbie Opdahl, Angela Palmer, Elena Reid, and Barbara Hathaway

Kathy will serve as President of the Friends of Bee Cave Public Library. Francis volunteered to serve as Treasurer. Debbie volunteered to serve as Secretary and Grant Writer until an additional Grant Writer volunteer is designated.

Old Business

The Barnes and Nobles Book Fair only raised $40 for the Bee Cave Library. Timing was probably an issue. Next year, the book sale will be connected to the Bee Cave City Holiday Open House. The other holiday project, collecting children books for Green Santa, also suffered from timing problems. Next year, this project will be started in early November.

Kathy handed out a document entitled, Sample Memorandum of Understanding Between Friends and Libraries from the Friends of Libraries USA website. Barbara reported that the City legal department is drafting an agreement similar to this document. Kathy suggested www.FOLUSA.com as a resource for attendees to visit. This sight can be accessed using the library login: Robert Frost.

Kathy handed out several additional documents, including:

· Model Friends’ Cooperative Network which breaks down responsibilities for the Library Director, Trustees, and Friends,

· Strategic Planning for Friends,

· Friends of Bee Cave Public Library Membership Application, and

· Barbara’s Director Report for November, 2006 for the Bee Cave Public Library.

New Business

Nine officer positions/chairs have been suggested for the Friends of the Bee Cave Library: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Book Sales, Historian/Reporter, Grant writing, Publicity, and Membership. Kathy handed out documents detailing responsibilities for each suggested officer. The attendees expanded on the officer responsibilities and gave their feedback to Kathy.

The group discussed how to boost membership for the Friends of the Library, with a goal of 12 active members. Kathy explained that for the first year, membership dues are being waived in order to build membership. Each attendee was encouraged to distribute the Friends of Bee Cave Public Library membership application. Locations for distribution were brainstormed - PTA, churches, schools, and bulletin boards (Starbucks, HEB, Randall’s).

Kathy is coordinating with the Lake Travis View to print an article about the Bee Cave Friends of the Library group.

Francis suggested we articulate the benefits to be gained for becoming a Friend of the Bee Cave Library, such as having an opportunity to build a sense of community. This led to a discussion on how to make the library an integral, vital part of the Bee Cave and Lake Travis communities and how to boost library membership. The group discussed marketing of existing programs like the Summer Reading Program and weekly Story Hour, and marketing and implementation of new programs the Bee Cave Library is planning such as, “One Book, One Community” where everyone in the community reads a specific book (similar to existing programs in Austin, Georgetown, and other communities), Sleepytime Storytime, “Raise a Reader” (an ALA affiliated program on how to encourage a love of reading for children 0 to 5 years of age), an Easter Parade, and Therapy Dogs to assist children in reading.

A suggestion was made to target specific groups for community library involvement, such as Girl Scouts, teenagers, churches, parents, young mothers, and other groups.

Report on Library

The new library is 4200 square feet on the ground floor of the new City Hall. There is an additional 4200 square feet on the second floor for public meetings, seminars, exhibits, and special community programs.

Barbara discussed the challenge of finding an evening to schedule library special events. Tuesday evenings are unavailable because of existing City and community meetings, Wednesday evenings are unavailable because of Church events. The Bee Cave Library has historically held events on Thursday night, but start scheduling events on Monday evenings, as well.

Two new events are Seuss on the Loose (scheduled for March 1, 2007), and an adult book club (scheduled to begin February 26, 2007). One other upcoming event is a coordinated effort between the library and the Bee Cave Police Department to work with young people to make valentines for the residents of Grace House .

Confirmation on meeting times and dates

Meetings of the Friends of the Bee Cave Public Library will continue to be held the 3rd Thursday of each month at 1:30. The next meeting is scheduled for February 15.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3 p.m.