New board member, progress on the catalog, and plans for the summer

We have several events coming up in February through May (more on that soon), and we now have one alternate board member, Jasmine Stokes, to help when the regular board members are out of town or unable to make it. She is working with Varpu Lotvonen on organizing our collections. Jasmine has long been associated with Angry Young & Poor and various theatre efforts in town, and has strong organizational skills (she's also an excellent costumer!). She attended her first meeting in January, but assisted the library with the LiBerry Music Festival as stage manager.

The JTEL catalog is now up to 3,479 titles in our collections, and more being added rapidly. The advantage of LibraryThing, although it doesn't do much that a full-scale library might need, is that it is very very simple, and adequate for our current needs. Board member Phil Rulon is looking into open-source software that might serve as full-function library software, such as Evergreen ILS. However, this software, and any such full-service open-source software, may be beyond us at for several years, as described in this article in Library Journal.

Our upcoming construction plans include 1) making the interior of the Clausen Cabin useable; 2) adding a ramp and arctic entries; and 3) fixing the front railing of the cabin.

We also will be doing sitework on the library site; if we get sufficient funds from the legislature and other sources, we can tackle the foundation and shell as well as the construction survey and groundwork—but we need your help. How? Simple! write to your legislator in support of the JTEL's capital request to construct a passive house community library and cc us a copy of your letter. More information is available here.

Annual Membership Meeting October 19

It's that time of year again!

Your Board of Directors invites you to come to the annual membership meeting for some excellent food, fun door prizes, and for the business of the library. It's your library, so please join us—we promise it'll be short.

Location: Hartung Hall, Main Street & Ester Loop & Wellhouse Road, in Ester
Time: 5 pm
Day: Sunday, October 19

There's parking at the library (3629 Main Street) a block away, or, if you are inclined to beverages, at the Golden Eagle.

The board has no votes to bring to the membership, other than elections, but we do seek your feedback on the Friends of the Ester Library, and, of course, this is the ideal time for any member to bring forward any issue or idea.

We have a nine-member board, three of whom are continuing onward, two who are retiring with this election, leaving four members running for six spaces. We will need two library members to fill those remaining two board spaces.

Hope to see you there!

Election results and Jamie Smith lecture tonight!

Jamie Smith, cartoonist, will be speaking on his adventures with pencil and camera as a park ranger in Maine over the last year.  7 pm tonight, October 24th, at Hartung Hall in downtown Ester! Don't miss it—Jamie's always a great speaker and his talks and illustrations are worth coming to see. This will be the second time Jamie has given a talk for the John Trigg Ester Library; we're delighted to have him back.

The Ester Library Lecture Series is free and open to the public, but donations are always welcome—and greatly appreciated. Lectures are generally held on the third Wednesday of the month at 7 pm. For more information, please contact Trey Simmons, series coordinator.

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The election results and terms of the board at the annual membership meeting are as follows. New members are highlighted with an asterisk, board members re-elected with a double asterisk.

Monique Musick, 2011-2013 (president)
Deirdre Helfferich, 2012-2014 (vice president)**
Nancy Burnham, 2011-2013 (treasurer)
Jan Ohmstede, 2011-2013 (secretary)
Rena Flint, 2012-2014*
Molly Rettig, 2011-2013
Kayt Sunwood, 2012-2014*
Carla Helfferich, 2012-2014 (alternate)*
Trey Simmons, 2012-2014 (alternate)**

Annual membership meeting this weekend!

This weekend is the 2012 John Trigg Ester Library membership meeting, the 4th annual library membership meeting since the library incorporated. The meeting should be brief (less than an hour), but it is vital that the members turn out: your presence is needed. (Besides, there's going to be some good appetizers to snack on as the meeting starts.)

Here's the invitation from the board president:

Good afternoon,

I invite you to the John Trigg Ester Library annual meeting this Sunday afternoon October 21. Come join the board of directors and fellow library members at the Hartung Hall in beautiful downtown Ester. We will begin with refreshments at 4:00 and the opportunity to renew your membership, review and discuss the library designs, chat with friends and review the annual report. The meeting will begin at 5:00 and is expected to take less than an hour. (All memberships run from annual meeting to annual meeting, so everyone needs to renew this October for the 2012-2013 year.)

The main business of the day is the election of new board members. Myself, Nancy Burnham, Molly Rettig and Jan Olhmsted will be continuing our terms on the board for another year, but we will be electing three (3) new board members and two (2) alternates. (Board member positions are for 2-years, alternates for 1-year.) We are looking for interested volunteers with a variety of skills. Experience in business, project management, membership management, collections development, fundraising, grant writing, communications, graphic design and willingness to volunteer are just some of the skills we are looking for in the new board. Everyone has a talent to share! If you have any questions about serving on the board please contact me.

I will be sharing updates on our progress this Sunday. I hope to see you there!

Cheers,
Monique Musick
JTEL President

Latest developments at the Ester library

Many exciting new developments have occurred in the last few weeks. These include:

• Sending the 501(c)(3) application to the IRS. It's quite likely that we will receive our federal charitable nonprofit status sometime this summer (the application was sent March 1); this means that donations to the library will be tax-deductible for the 2011 calendar year. The board of directors has been working toward this for over a year and a half, developing the appropriate policies, bylaws, and other organizational documents needed for a charitable organization. We will provide donors with a receipt and our identification number when we receive it. And our sincere thanks!
• The (almost) final architectural plans have been received from USKH. Other pieces, including the civil engineering and site plan, the structural plans, and the detailed architectural plans, have been contracted for and are expected by May 11, 2011. Electrical engineering, the computing and internet technology plan, and our various permits are also progressing. To view the current floor and site plans, please check out the design and construction planning pages on our website.
• Launching our community survey. This important survey will help the board plan future programs and better manage the library; the suggestions and comments we've already received in this first two weeks have given us some great insights that will help us with construction, operations, and budgeting. The board is seeking critiques, comments, kudos, and suggestions; we are hoping to see how the community views the role of a library; the importance and meaning of libraries and community spaces to the local population; the best hours and desired programs or services for the community; how important internet access, computers, and e-books at the library are to people; reading and materials preferences; and more. Board members and other volunteers will be at the Ester Post Office every Saturday through the month of April from 10 am to 1:30 pm to discuss the library's future with you. Please come and talk with us and tell us what you think!
• Setting up an endowment. While we have a capital campaign to raise funds for our building construction, we also need to plan for our long-term fiscal health. Operating the library in perpetuity requires a stable source of funding, and an endowment can help supply this stability. The board voted at its March 13 meeting to establish an endowment with the Alaska Community Foundation, beginning with a $2,000 allocation from our savings; we will need to increase this to $5,000 within a year in order to secure it. As soon as it is set up (which should be no later than the end of April, and perhaps sooner), supporters of the library will be able to donate to the fund in a variety of ways, including payroll deduction, the PickClickGive program, bequests, and other possibilities.
• Scheduling a grantwriting workshop. A significant part of our capital campaign includes applying for construction grants. We are offering a grantwriting workshop/work session to the public on the first two weekends in April, where attendees will gain experience in the grant application process by working on actual grants for the construction of the library. We expect a group of people of mixed experience; students will be both teaching and learning from each other and the instructors. (For more information, please contact us at library@esterrepublic.com or call 451-0636.) If you are on Facebook, you can sign up as an attendee there, too.
• Our second library lecture series season has begun! Upcoming lectures will include Thorsten Chlupp on April 20, discussing the type of design we plan to use in the new building, Passivehaus design for low or near-zero net energy usage; Jennifer Jolis on the fate of the people of Attu Island during World War II (May 18); Neil Davis; Sandy Jamieson; and others. This season's lectures are at Hartung Hall on the third Wednesday of the month, 7 pm.

These are the major highlights of the library's current activities, but there is more. If you are interested in becoming more actively involved with the John Trigg Ester Library or would like more information, please contact any member of the board.

February meetings

Two meetings have been scheduled for February so far:

JTEL Board Meeting
February 10, Thursday, 6 pm
JTEL office, studio #8 the Annex
2922 Parks Highway
please see the agenda

Capital Campaign Committee Meeting
February 17, Thursday, 6 pm
JTEL office
agenda (coming soon)

Upcoming library meetings

The Fundraising & Capital Campaign Committee meets this Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 6 pm at the JTEL office. On the agenda are library logos, a community survey, Librarypalooza planning, and the marketing plan. The Capital Campaign Committee's meetings are open to any library members who wish to help with fundraising.

The Construction Committee is tentatively meeting on Sunday, January 9, 4 pm at the Golden Eagle.

The JTEL board meeting is the week after, on Thursday, Jan. 13, at 7 pm at the JTEL office. Board meetings are open to any library member. The final review of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit application will be held at this meeting. For more information, please see the agenda.

Board meeting date changed, office decorating

The JTEL board meeting has been changed to Thursday, December 9. The location and time are the same: Studio #8, the Annex (the JTEL business office), 7 pm. This is right after the DOT's meeting downstairs at the Annex on the proposed Gold Hill Road bike path (which is from 4 to 7 pm).

The board will be having a decorating party soon for the library office, and we still need a few items: a throw rug or two, a bookcase, a floor lamp, a desk lamp, a multifunction printer/scanner/copier, an extension cord, a power strip or two, and perhaps a desk. Please call Nancy Burnham at 457-6668 if you have one of these items or would like to help out at the office decorating party.

Upcoming library meetings

Both the Construction Committee and the Capital Campaign Committee are meeting this week.

Capital Campaign: Wednesday, December 1, 6 pm at the JTEL business office (agenda)
Construction: Sunday, December 5, 4 pm at the Golden Eagle Saloon (agenda)

And the library board is meeting next week:

Board of Directors: Friday, December 10, 7 pm at the JTEL business office (agenda)

All of these are open meetings; if you are interested in helping with the fundraising, please come to the Capital Campaign Committee meeting.