FRIENDS OF SANDOWN LIBRARY

FRIENDS OF SANDOWN LIBRARY

MINUTES OF MEETING

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2^ND 2012

Present : Heather, Ian, Jenny, Susan, Wendy

Apologies : Everyone else

As Ian was the only committee member present no decisions could be made and therefore we just had a general discussion about recent events and the current use of the library.

Jenny :

Jenny wished to thank Donna and Deborah for their invaluable organisation and help in the Horrible Science children’s event. It was a great success.

Also, thanks to Conrad and Donna for providing scones and biscuits for the very successful author visit.

Since the last meeting another £90 has been raised from donated book sales, Wendy’s plants and Janet’s dog (the correct name has still not been guessed!)

The library has used some of the money raised to purchase the complete set of Richard & Judy Summer Reads books. This collection has its own display in the library, and has been made non-reservable and part of a collection; therefore it cannot be removed from Sandown Library stock. Jenny & Louise are both very pleased to be able to use funds raised by FOSL to purchase books they would not otherwise get, and this has shown the success of the Friends Group so far.

The upstairs room that we would like to make use of has been half cleared, and the job will be completed in the next two weeks. The next stage is getting Mansells in to remove old pipes etc, and then decorating. Carpet cannot be fitted until the hole in the roof is fixed.

Heather :

Asked about the current state of the library with regard to stock, usage etc. Jenny showed the group records of issue figures (the number of books taken out) from the first eight months since the re-organisation. These show that out of the four libraries that have had hours reduced (SA, VE, FW & CO), Sandown has the most issue figures, more than double Cowes figures. All these branches have the same opening hours and staff hours.

New books are arriving weekly, but fiction books no longer remain at one branch. If they are returned to another council run library, they stay there. If they are returned to a community library they get returned to us. This system has replaced the old book rotation system. Non-fiction is still exchanged by branches e-mailing each other.

The community room is very well used, as is the library itself on days when it is closed to the public, for instance on Mondays three separate groups from IOW College will be using the library facilities both upstairs and the computers downstairs.

Donations :

We need more good quality books. The ones we don’t add to stock will be sold for FOSL.

Val Lee is selling hand-made cards on the counter, proceeds go to FOSL.

General Discussion:

The group suggested FOSL meetings could be reduced to quarterly, as if any member wishes to organise a fund-raising event they can talk to Jenny or Louise directly.

Heather suggested that at the annual meeting we could decide dates for the meetings of the next year in advance. Those present thought this was a good idea.

The next meeting will be Thursday, September 27^th at 6.00pm.