[Flyingbrickvolunteers] general meeting notes, 6/21

[claire schoen]

hi everyone-  here are notes from the meeting yesterday...

TFBL general meeting 6/21

Al, Nathan, Christie, Jasper, Claire, Matt

Agenda
-post-its/ check out slips
-radical erotica night
-electronic media
-telephone outreach
-ad in the Defender
-increase open hours?
-need someone to bottom line open hours for next mo.
-proposal to open space to Jobs with Justice for their meetings
-possible talk from neighbor about guns

post-its
Suggestion: stick post-its/markers alison left in books when they're checked
out, with the due date and TFBL address and hours.
This might encourage people to bring books back on time.  Getting a FB stamp
was suggested.  People seem okay with that if it's not expensive and someone
wants to bottom line that.

Proposal:  Find cheap/free sticky notes or improvise check out slips to
place in books as they're checked out.  The proposal passed.

radical erotica night
...is this Friday.  If a few people are lined up in advance to read aloud,
more people might feel comfortable participating.  Folks should definitely
read things in advance to make sure they're appropriate.  Some stuff will be
marked and available to read if people want to participate.
It would be cool if folks bring some snacks to share.

media
it is mentioned that the electronic media (myspace/facebook, etc.) are a
little bland, and sometimes aren't updated.  This is probably due to lack of
energy/ person power to keep up with this stuff.  We're still working out
the kinks in keeping the library operating on a base level.
Folks could offer feedback/ make suggestions for the pages.
TFBL literature/pages should probably mention wi-fi access.

proposal:  keep a list of voluntary tasks around, like a "to-do" list that
people can add to/ cross items off during open hours/whenever so that little
things get done here and there.  These tasks are completely voluntary, so
people can regulate their own participation in the library's functioning.
If someone has a few minutes during open hours, for example, they could
update the events list on the myspace.  The proposal passed.

telephone outreach
Folks tried to call the open-hours volunteer list to touch base with
people.  There is concern about walking the line between too much
contact/too little.  When is calling appropriate?  Folks seems to agree that
it would be a good idea to call people about the general meetings.

Would a uniform meeting time for general meetings be a good idea?  Folks at
the meeting think this might be worth trying.  Claire and Nathan will bottom
line calling people to arrange a good date/time for the next general
meeting/ to find out how people feel about this idea.

It is mentioned that 2 weeks-ish notice seems to be effective in getting a
turn out for meetings/ events.

Ad in the Defender
Hermo sent around info about getting an ad published in the Defender for hte
Brick.  The deadline for doing that this month has passed, but it could
still be done.  Folks mention that this reaches a different demographic than
we have typically been able to reach, which would be good.  This would also
support the Defender and advertise the Brick for about 6 mo.  (the paper is
released every other month.)  There is concern about financing this... TFBL
has a little bit of money, but not much.

Proposal:  Try to raise funds at appropriate events/ collect what we can
from volunteers able to give a little, try to raise the $75 to place the
ad.  An add is normally $35, but if we buy 3, it will be $75.  The proposal
passes.

July
Jasper will bottom line open hours for July.

Increase open hours?
Folks are interested in possibly opening hte Brick on Saturdays.  Mondays
get little traffic, so it might be worth trying this for a month just to see
if Saturdays are a little more popular.
Proposal:  Create open hours on Saturdays from 12-3 for the month of July
and then re-evaluate the open hours schedule..  The proposal passed.

Community
Claire wants to get together a casual discussion on how to strengthen the
community we have/ preventing burn out (trying to build community amongst
the volunteers we have, before outreach.) Claire will put this together.

American Gun Culture Report talk
A neighbor approached Brick folks about giving a talk about guns...safety,
functioning, etc.  He has written for the American Gun Culture Report.  We
aren't sure yet what exactly he's interested in talking about, this needs to
be investigated further.  Folks feel like this is a touchy issue as far as
addressing this stuff in the Library.  There shouldn't really be a problem
discussing legal gun ownership/ gun safety/ issues, but if this is set up,
it needs to be done so with careful word choice, etc.
Concerns: There are a lot of strong feelings about htis issue, promotion of
an event might be touchy.
Thoughts:- 2 seperate events might be called for:  one about very practical
stuff: safety, for example..."what you should know"
Another event might be an open discussion about issues, without endorsing
anything.
-this conversation shouldn't be ignored/shelved just because it is
controversial- the polarization of this issue is interesting.
-these discussions are often dominated by the right, so it's important thta
they are discussed more broadly
-this should be navigated carefully, and we need more information.  Folks
originally contacted about this will look into it further.

Finally, after the meeting, we sat and talked about it for a few minutes,
and gathered people's feelings about hte effectiveness of the meeting, just
to observe/discuss the dynamics.

Thanks everyone!
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