By Pamela West-Finkle

This month’s Library Notes brings the news that two of our long-time, dedicated Board of Trustees members, Elizabeth (Buffy) Calvert and Phyllis Galowitz, have officially resigned from the board. Both are to be commended for their outstanding service to the library and to this community.

Throughout her twenty years, Buffy spent many as Board President, spearheaded and carried out library construction and renovation projects, organized many fundraisers (including the annual Garden Tour), and most recently served as Recording Secretary, as well as on the construction, budget, and fundraising committees. A thank you letter to Buffy, from the Board of Trustees and staff included the following: “It can’t be underscored enough that without your vision, leadership and strong participation this once quiet little library would not have grown to be the bright, thriving, active, well-stocked and forward-looking place that it is today. You always projected infectious enthusiasm and enjoyment. But we know that with it went hard work and an awesome burden of responsibility.”

If you have ever donated to the library, Phyllis is the one who, as Corresponding Secretary, writes the beautiful thank you notes; and if you’ve ever used the library or volunteered on a Saturday, it was Phyllis who stepped up to open for a few hours on the weekends and scheduled volunteers to cover the desk.  She works on Friday afternoons helping to process and cover books (not an easy task!) as well as volunteering her time at all of our library events and has been an absolute joy to work with. As Judy stated in her letter to Phyllis, “Your warmth and sense of humor have always enhanced the experience of working alongside you, during board meetings, on projects, and at events.”

Buffy and Phyllis, you will be greatly missed and we are so grateful for your service!  Both have promised to continue to be involved with the library and carry on their volunteer duties without the added responsibility of serving on the Board of Trustees. We are currently considering a number of prospective candidates to replace them, so if you live in the town of Andes and have a desire to serve on the library board, please contact Judy Garrison at 676-3533.

The barcode project continues to go well as Kari, Deb, and I work our way through searching for matches in the Four County Library system for 14,000+ items. It takes anywhere from 5 – 15 minutes to research each item, and one interesting thing we’ve discovered is that we have quite a lot of books that are unique to the Four County System, meaning we have the only copy of some very interesting books. Those get sent to Four County for official cataloging and they come back ready for processing.

In addition, the board approved the purchase of new audio book hard cases, so we are looking for volunteers interested in helping us transfer and package the old cardboard audio book cases into the new ones to prepare them for Inter-Library-Loan transits.  I plan to schedule a pizza party assembly line work day sometime in February or March and will send out an email to let everyone know when it will take place. If you’re interested in helping out anytime, however, please call me at 845-676-3333 or email an.ill@4cls.org and I’d be happy to show you how to package the audio books if you have a few hours to spare.

Stay warm and don’t forget to stock up on extra books and movies this month!  You never know when we’re going to get a fresh foot or two of snow!~