The meeting was conducted via GoToMeeting and was called to order at 4:35pm.

Participating were Joyce Marcel, Connie Kimball, Betsy Wagenknecht, John Komar, Sue Dyer, Kate Wylie, Cindy Hutcheson, Karen Duggan, Starr LaTronica and Courtney Carey for the library, and visitor Bob Oeser.

The secretary’s report was approved.

The treasury balance as of July 31, 2020 was $44,323.94. The report was accepted and will be filed for audit. Connie presented the YTD comparison budget as well.

Karen is taking a year’s leave, so we will need a recording secretary. Please let Joyce know if you are interested.

The Friends will be the official sponsor of the First Wednesdays program this year. Joyce made the decision without board approval due to time constraints, but no one objected to this.

The Finance Committee suggested we consider participating in “Giving Tuesday” on Amazon.com. Starr will check into this and work with Bob Oeser to set it up if it is a possibility.

We agreed to continue to fund and use the Friends’ website. We also agreed that we need to keep the website up to date by posting timely news and information. Joyce will check on the website usage metrics with Barb Ackerman.

We voted to support the Vermont Humanities Council First Wednesdays program with a donation of $2500. Starr shared that the first programs will be virtual, with the hope of going live as soon as feasible.

It is noted that as part of our budget, our fundraising is now in two branches: corporate (such as sponsorships) and individual.

As we are not actively fundraising, and do not know if we can have a winter book sale, we agreed to try a brown bag book sale fundraiser. Betsy and Cindy will work on the details for using the books we already have donated and will ask for help as needed.

Everyone agreed that Joyce, with input from Starr, wrote an amazing Annual Appeal letter. Joyce will present it to the trustees in September. They will get it printed and mailed out.

Betsy will work on a newsletter for September and will work with Courtney to design it via Constant Contact. It will still be printed and mailed. We brainstormed topics to be included.

Starr reported that the library will be used for the representative Town Meeting, to be held on September 12. The library will offer space, connectivity, and technical support from their staff to representatives who may need help to participate.

We voted to contribute more funding to Kanopy ($3500) and to RB Digital ($850). Starr noted that additional funding for these online services is coming from the library budget.

Starr suggested, and we agreed, that we add a reading-themed bookmark to the Annual Appeal letter. Joyce will work on those details with Howard Printing, and Courtney will do the design. Though there is not time for this mailing, a bookmark design contest (for both children and adults) was suggested; we very much liked the idea and will consider it at another time.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:50pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Karen Duggan