January 24, 2012 FoML Executive Board Meeting Minutes (Conference Call)

Present: Laurel Parker, Paulette Oboyski, Nancy McGinnis, Kara Kugelmeyer, Rusty Brace, Valerie Osborne and
Gale Briggs
Excused: John Clark

Laurel opened the meeting welcoming us to the 20th year of FoML. The September 22, 2011 Annual Meeting minutes were accepted as presented. The Treasurer’s Report with a correction of the October 17, 2012 lines to October 17, 2011 was also accepted.

Unfinished Business
Paulette reported the October 17, 2011 gathering at the Gibbs Library was well attended. John, Laurel and Paulette represented FoML. Waldo, Liberty and Gibbs Libraries received information for both fundraising selling books on EBay and on Cornerstones of Science. Great food was served.
In addition to this meeting, John traveled to Waldoboro to share information on selling books on EBay.
Gale provided the mail voting results. Discussion about voting procedure for the future included more organization and advance notice of upcoming voting. Voting should occur at the Annual Meeting.
Nancy reported on the Bank of Maine Luminary Leadership Award and Recognition event. She discovered and applied for this opportunity very last minute. We were among over 80 entries for non-profits with boards. We were not selected, but are eligible to apply this year. A luncheon at the Harraseeket Inn awarding the recipients was attended by Laurel and Nancy at the bank’s expense. With different aspects of non-profits attending, there was an opportunity to network and make connections that were rewarding. Rusty requested a copy of the application.
Paulette has agreed to work on the E-Newsletter with help from others. Kara has agreed to be a resource. Paulette requested an e-mail address of all FoML members. E-Mail permission from recipients is needed. Facebook was cited as a good social media tool for communicating and friending other non-profits. It could be set up with multi-people to administer it. A web seminar could be set up for helping to get this up and running. Most of the group has a Facebook account. Nancy and Kara agreed to develop a Facebook presence.

New Business
Mae Corrion has resigned, but continues as a supporter.
We need two people to fill the board.
Laurel provided current organizational and individual numbers. John will post on our site. Nancy suggested we need to work on increasing membership. We have challenges to overcome, but we must be careful not to promise more than we can keep up with. Information on how friends keep their groups alive, best practices, resources and links to websites are all ways to help friends’ groups. Valerie shared that e-mail addresses for public libraries can make contacting them difficult. They are not always professional, such as grandma@...., which does not define it as a library with a professional.
The Fall Tri-District Conference will be held September 27, 2012 at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta. There will be no Spring Council meeting.
FoML’s 20th Annual Meeting will be held October1, 2012 at the Senator Inn in Augusta. Word will go out at the Fall Tri-District Conference as well as ME-LIBS and on the Maine State Calendar. Valerie needs the time and theme of the meeting for the calendar. We haven’t held an annual meeting conference in a few years and it is imperative we work as a team on this event. It is expected all board members attend and take part.
Exposure of FoML’s Annual Meeting information at the May Reunion Conference in Orono May 20 and 21, 2012 is critical. Laurel has displays that could be set out if someone on the board or a willing Reunion participant would agree to do this. Paulette may attend and could possibly do this.
The website will be looked at for updating. It is felt that there is not enough links to sites that would be helpful and great resources. There is far too much text and is visually not appealing. Kara offered to do a draft for a new page by the end of February. It will have proposed changes and suggestions.
Laurel will send out choices for April and July Meetings. Scheduling Wizard may be used. If the meetings are set, we will have longer lead times
No new business.

Respectfully submitted,
Gale Briggs (Secretary)