Arts Dundas Weekend 2009

Librarian Dawna Wark has requested support for a library event during November's Arts Dundas Weekend 2009. This a an event celebrating the arts in Dundas.

The Friends will provide funding ($125) to sponsor "Arts Dundas - Pearls of Fire," at the Dundas Library branch, on Saturday, November 7, 2009. The programme covers popular music across the centuries.

Report in the Dundas Star News

Friends of Dundas Library determining its final chapter

Group considering its future

By Craig Campbell, News Staff

News

Oct 23, 2009

The annual Cactus Festival book-sale fundraiser has been cancelled as the Friends of the Dundas Library determine whether there’s any reason to continue operating.

After 10 years and raising nearly $28,000 for the Dundas Library branch, the group passed a motion to discontinue the event at its annual general meeting last weekend. A health and safety inspection determined storing donated books for the popular book sale was no longer possible.

Book sale convener Donna Wignall told Sunday afternoon’s meeting of the FODL several alternative storage possibilities were explored, but problems with moving and managing donated books could not be overcome.

“After considerable deliberation, I conclude that it is not feasible to collect and transport items away from the library or to conduct the sale in a different location,” Ms. Wignall stated in her report. “Therefore, the Friends of Dundas Library thank the many people who supported us with donations, work hours, and purchases in the past 10 years. We conclude that this popular, successful, annual event must be discontinued.”

After the meeting, Ms. Wignall told the Dundas Star News finding a storage location wasn’t a problem –as Councillor Russ Powers suggested Dundas Town Hall or Grafton Square.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t have storage space. It was getting books to the storage space,” Ms. Wignall said.

She said the Friends of the Dundas Library performed a variety of roles in addition to the annual book sale when it first started, ten years ago. But those roles have all been negated by new Hamilton Public Library policies that don’t allow volunteers to run certain programs.

“There’s no point being an association if you don’t have a purpose,” Ms. Wignall said. “We need to do some soul searching.”

The group plans to take some time and meet again in January to decide if they will continue in any form. If not, the group will have to look into dissolving its charitable status, and figure our how to disperse funds remaining in its bank account.

“They will be spent on the Dundas Library,” Ms. Wignall said.

According to financial returns filed with Canada’s Charities Directorate, the Friends have brought in average annual revenue of approximately $3,138 over the past eight years –the vast majority of which came from the annual August book sale held during Cactus Festival at the Dundas branch. The group registered as a charity with the Canada Revenue Agency in 2000.

Money raised by the FODL each year went back into the library purchasing furniture, outdoor planters, shelving, books and other accessories the local branch needed.

Dundas Library Friends AGM Minutes

Herewith the minutes of the AGM:

Friends of the Hamilton Public Library - Dundas Branch

AGM Meeting Minutes

Date: October 18, 2009

Tenth Annual General Meeting held at the Dundas Branch Public Library

Present: Roland Weiler (Chair), Dianne Vickers (Treasurer), Dawna Wark (Librarian), Donna Wignall (Book Sale Convenor), John Maxted (Membership), Jim Nicol (Secretary), Jim Yates and Chris Maxted

Agenda approved as circulated.

Minutes of the AGM meeting held Oct. 9, 2008, accepted as presented. Motion to accept: D. Wignall. Seconded: D. Vickers.

Business Arising from the Minutes: None

New business: This to be incorporated in the Agenda, item 7.

President’s Report: Roland Weiler presented his report verbally. The following is Roland's report for the record:

This report is complementary to the reports by the Treasurer and the Book Sale Convenor and consequently will be very brief.

The speaker’s series has only one entry this year - March 29, 2009, when Rudy Fecteau

spoke on Plants and Archaeology . The talk was well attended and received. However, the lack of other speakers places the future of this aspect of the activities of the Friends in some doubt.

As the Treasurer and Book Sale Convenor will tell you, our book sale was again successful, netting some $3600. However, the success is overshadowed by the fact that, in the future, it will not be possible to store books donated for the sale in the Library. The fate of the book sale during the Cactus Festival will therefore depend on finding a solution to the storage problem, as without it the raising of funds that have so greatly benefited the Library is in doubt. However, we should remain optimistic that a solution can be found before the date of next year’s sale.

Should the Friends decide to disband, the funds collected to date will have to be disbursed and the appropriate steps to wind up the association will have to be taken.

Treasurer’s Report: Dianne Vickers presented a financial statement covering operations for the last 12 months. The financial statement has been reviewed by Marguerite Babcock and declared to be a true account of income and expenses incurred. Dianne's financial report follows for the record:

Friends of the Dundas Library

Financial Report 2008-2009

Balance forwarded Sept.30, 2008 6853.64

Income

Interest 2.35

Book Sale 3629.35

Donations 39.12

Total 3870.82

Expenses

Library Equipment 1189.71

Library Programs 299.11

Book Sale 155.78

Telling Tales 100.00

Office Supplies 23.73

Speaker Gift 35.00

Total 1803.00

Balance Remaining Oct.18, 2009 8931.13

Respectfully submitted Oct. 18, 2009

Dianne pointed out the over $27,000 had been raised for the library in the ten years the Friends had operated.

Motion to accept the Treasurer's report carried.

Book Sale Convenor’s Report: Donna Wignall presented a report examining the feasibility of continuing a book sale at the Cactus Festival weekend now that book storage in the Dundas Branch Library is not permitted. Alternative locations for the book sale were described to the Board members. With much discussion by those present, all options to continue the book sale were not considered viable. The Convenor’s recommendation is to discontinue the event.

A motion to accept the report and its recommendation was made by Jim Nicol. Seconded by John Maxted. Motion accepted. An edited version of the Donna's report will be sent to the Dundas Star News to advise correspondent Craig Campbell of decisions taken. An e-version of the report will be added to these minutes later.

Membership Convenor: John Maxted presented a listing of active Friends in the 2008/2009 year. This listing will be useful for the library staff to contact volunteers for future activities e.g. library count week.

Election of New Executive: In light of the decision to close the Book Sale, the continuation of the Friends of the Dundas Library as a functioning body is now in question. It was agreed by all members that a decision to terminate the Friends should be taken at another meeting - the date to be determined by the president. Consequently, the old executive slate agreed to stand for the coming year to see out the organization’s dissolution and manage the dispensing of funds held.

Report from the Hamilton Public Library - Dundas Branch Manager: Dawna Wark presented a written report. The following is Dawna's report for the record:

Dundas Friends AGM Sunday October 18, 2009

Manager Summary

Borrowing

So far, 2009 has turned out to be a very busy year at the Dundas Branch. We have already surpassed the total circulation reached during the 2008 year at this point in 2009. I would not be surprised if more than 300,000 items circulated before the year’s end from the branch. The summer month of July 2009 stands out as being particularly busy with over 40,000 items circulated from this branch alone during the 23 days we were open.

Programming

Youth services continues to be strong at the branch with the public showing continued support of the traditional and popular storytime offerings of Babytime, Toddlertime and Family Storytime. Summer reading programs too were well attended during the past July and August. Adult programming continues with film series, the John Harkin lead discussion series, and an increased number of computer workshops. The teens continue to have the youth advisory group (YAG) meetings.

Changes at Dundas

In April of this past year the manager, Karen Peter, left to oversee the Flamborough Cluster. Dawna Wark has been the manager at Dundas since this time.

As a result of a Health and Safety visit to the branch and its summary report, the floor to ceiling storage of used books intended for the annual Cactus Festival was deemed unsafe. Insufficient storage elsewhere in the branch has meant other alternatives for storage will need to be sought by the Friends Group.

This past summer saw some changes at the circulation desk of equipment related to RFID technology that resulted in work surfaces that were highly sensitive in picking up material identification tags. The public was very patient as Electronic Services and the Dundas Branch staff worked to successfully minimize the sensitivity of these work surfaces.

I would like to thank the Friends Group for their fundraising efforts on behalf of the Dundas Branch and for their continued support of various library programming throughout the past year. I look forward to their continued support in the years to come.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawna Wark, Manager

Hamilton Public Library -- Dundas Branch

Any Other Business: None

Meeting adjourned at 3.15 pm.

Dundas Library Friends AGM

Herewith the agenda for the Dundas Library Friends AGM:

Friends of the Hamilton Public Library - Dundas Branch

Tenth Annual General Meeting, October 18, 2009

Dundas Branch Public Library at 1400 hours

Agenda

Approval of agenda

Approval of minutes of the 2008 Annual General Meeting, dated Oct. 9, 2008

Business arising from the minutes

New business

President’s report

Treasurer’s report

Book Sale Convenor’s Report

Election of New Executive

President

Vice President

Secretary

Treasurer

Membership Convenor

Book Sale Convenor

Report from the Hamilton Public Library - Dundas Branch Manager/Librarian

Any Other Business

Date of next meeting

Adjournment

Meeting Minutes Sept. 9 2009

Herewith the minutes of the Dundas Library Friends meeting held Sept.9, 2009.

Friends of the Hamilton Public Library - Dundas Branch

Date: Sept. 9, 2009

Minutes of Meeting, held at the Dundas Public Library

The agenda as presented was approved

The minutes of the Meeting held June 24, 2009, accepted as presented and approved. Moved Donna Wignall. Seconded John Maxted

Reports:

Donna Wignall (Book Sale Convenor) submitted a written report of the August 15/16 Cactus Festival Book Sale. The report to note that books (four cartons) were collected for use at the “Telling Tales” family festival of stories.

Dianne Vickers (Treasurer) presented the treasurer’s report. Tbe Cactus Festival Book Sale raised $3,829.35. The current account balance is $8,921.00.

John Maxted (Membership) gave a verbal report on the volunteers helping at the Book Sale. approximately 25 volunteers worked on the sale over the three days - in addition to the excellent work of the library pages. A mark of appreciation for Alan Wilson’s work during the book sale was recognized. It was agreed to make Alan a suitable gift of $25-$30 value (Dianne Vickers to handle).

Future Activities of the Friends of the Dundas Library

As noted in the meeting of June 24, 2009 storage of donated books is not possible. Other alternative solutions of accommodating donated books were discussed. Donna Wignall is to research the feasibility of a temporary storage pod and report accordingly.

Cactus Festival Book Sale

Kathyrn and Matthew Ferries with their mother visited the Dundas Library book sale. Could they be looking for books on cats?

Looking for Book Storage Alternatives

Donna Wignall and Jim with Russ Powers looked at two possible book storage solutions on Sept. 30th. Both options present difficulties that may be too much to overcome. But you have to hand it to Russ - he is trying to help us.

Annual General Meeting

The tenth Annual General Meeting of the Friends of the Hamilton Public Library - Dundas Branch will take place on October 18, 2009, at the Dundas Public library. Time 2.00 pm.

In the agenda, one item of importance for discussion will be the future of the Cactus Festival Book Sale.

Everyone is welcome. Refreshments on hand.