FRIENDS OF THE DOROTHY NEAL WHITE COLLECTION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2014
MINUTES
Tiakiwai Conference Centre, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington 6:35pm, Thursday 26 June 2014
The AGM was preceded by a presentation from Dr Nicola Daly, current recipient of the Friends’ research grant. Nicola introduced herself and spoke about the early stages of her research project which looks at national identity in children’s books, focusing on New Zealand and Australia.
Before the commencement of the AGM proper, there were two apologies from committee members. Corrina apologised for a transcription error in the obituary for Betty Fleming which appeared in the printed version of the June 2014 newsletter. This has been corrected in the online version of the newsletter. In addition, Janet apologised for the inadvertent attachment of the previous year’s balance sheet to the Treausurer’s Report. Copies of the correct balance sheet were printed before the meeting started.
CHAIR: Joan McCracken MINUTES: Mary Skarott
MINUTES
Twenty-three members attended the AGM (Last year’s minutes) (2015 minutes)
Apologies: Barbara Robertson, Susan Price, Margaret Hurst, Mary Hall, Mary Attwool, Barbara Murison, David Retter, Alan Price.
Last year’s minutes Minutes of the 2013 AGM were circulated and accepted – Carrick Lewis/Barbara Mabbett.
Matters arising from previous minutes
Carrick Lewis mentioned the National Library Society’s proposal to fundraise for the refurbishment of the auditorium (which is currently unusable). However it appears that DIA is not keen for societies to be involved in fundraising and it was decided not to pursue any Friends’ involvement in this.
Lynne Jackett wanted to discuss what progress had been made in promoting the children’s collections. Mary Skarott noted that, following on from discussions last year, we now have a display cabinet in a prominent position (displays rotated every three months), tours of the basement visit the DNW collection, school tours occasionally utilise children’s material, and a Facebook album of photographs was posted in conjunction with the first display in the cabinet. In addition, there is an upcoming exhibition in the Turnbull Gallery, curated by Mary (“A Child’s War”).
How to increase membership numbers: Corrina suggested contacting children’s librarians, exposure through LIANZA. Other suggestions from the floor were to contact school teachers, the Book Council and booksellers, and to do volunteer storybook readings. Lynne noted that Hutt City Libraries & their branches make coordinated visits to town and could be encouraged to visit us here to familiarise themselves with what we have available.
President’s report
Joan McCracken circulated and spoke to the President’s Report 2013-2014. Mary Skarott delivered the research librarian’s portion of the report. The report was accepted – Joan McCracken/Lynne Jackett.
Matters arising from the President’s Report
No matters arising. Carrick Lewis thanked the committee for their hard work over the year under difficult circumstances.
Treasurer’s Financial Report
Janet Blake presented the Financial Report for 2013-2014. The Friends’ financial postion continues to be healthy and is relatively unchanged since last year.
The accounts were approved, subject to some minor corrections to be made that were noted during the meeting, and the Treasurer was thanked for her work throughout the year – Carrick Lewis/Mary Skarott
Matters arising from the Treasurer’s Report
Janet noted that we can now pay subscriptions by online banking.
Carrick suggested utilising e-mail more in the future to save on postage and copying, also perhaps sharing a PO Box with other National Library organisations (i.e. FOTL, National Library Society). This idea was well received, as the PO Box is a considerable expense. Sheila Williams will mention this to FOTL on our behalf.
It was confirmed that the membership subscription remains at $20.00.
Wellington Regional Heritage Promotion Council subscription is no longer paid, as Joan has bartered our membership fee in exchange for her secretary’s honorarium.
Election of officers
We have managed for the last year without a President, with Janet filling the role of spokesperson when necessary. It is not appropriate for the committee members who are staff members to take on the role of President. The chairing and minuting our committee meetings are rotated. We have approached a well known author regarding the position of Patron, but we have yet to hear back.
The current committee roles are:
Patron: vacant
President: vacant
Treasurer: Janet Blake
Membership secretary: Trevor Mowbray
Minutes secretary: vacant
Newsletter editor: Joan McCracken
Research Librarian, Children’s Literature: Mary Skarott
Committee: Audrey Cooper, Barbara Robertson, Corrina Gordon, Tania Connolly.
It was moved that the committee be re-elected for 2014-2015 and continue in their current roles. – Joan McCracken/Carrick Lewis
General Business
Upcoming Notes-Books-Authors: Trevor hopes to have his text completed by the end of July. Our next publication following that will be Nicola Daly’s research project.
The committee has received an offer of a talk by Jill Sheffrin, a Canadian academic specialising in historical children’s literature. We have accepted, and further arrangements will be made, including liaison with Ruth Lightbourne, FOTL etc as there is likely to be a large audience of interested people for this talk.
Carrick suggested a joint meeting with other library organisations to hear the views of local candidates on the future of libraries. The timeline for this would be rather tight with a September election. [minute taker’s note: LIANZA has written to all the political parties regarding their library policies, and answers will be posted on the LIANZA website http://www.lianza.org.nz/].
The meeting closed at 7.18 pm.
