Library Overview and History Update John Trigg Ester Library Overview Mission Statement (as amended October 25, 2009):
The John Trigg Ester Library (JTEL) is a membership-based community library located in Ester, Alaska. It is a member of the Alaska Library Association, which is affiliated with the American Library Association. Operations and Maintenance: The library is located at 3618 Main Street on the Ester Village Square, in the lower level of Frank Therrell and Amy Williamson’s two-storey red and white rental cabin, and is open every day of the week, from 9 am to 9 pm. The Board of Directors is seeking an office space, and will notify the membership of location and hours as soon as possible. The office will host board and committee meetings, and provide work space for the board members and volunteers. Records of JTEL, Inc., will be available here for review. The JTEL is a do-it-yourself library, meaning that there is no staff and that library members are responsible for the library's upkeep, for checking out and returning books, and for maintaining its shelves. It functions on an honor system. The “librarians” are actually library members who have taken it on themselves to help organize fundraisers, maintain the library, catalog books, or who have been elected to serve on the board of directors. They are not professional librarians (although some have library experience) and are not paid by the JTEL. The library’s collection Almost the entire collection has been donated by local residents. Some books have been donated by libraries around the state or by government agencies, such as the Natural Resources Branch of the U.S. Army's Directorate of Public Works for the Alaska Garrison, which sent (unsolicited by the JTEL) ten Alaska military history titles to us this year. Some books, usually ones that will fill gaps in series already owned by the library, are purchased using an account at Gulliver's Books to which patrons may donate their used book credit. Some titles come from the book exchange shelf at the Ester Post Office. Duplicate titles, books in rough condition, or books unsuitable for the collection (such as textbooks), are donated to the post office book exchange or used for the Lallapalooza & Book Bash fundraiser or as door prizes for the annual meeting. Items in the collection include books, audiobooks (on CD or cassette), movies (on video or DVD), jigsaw puzzles, and a few board games. Approximately 5,000 items are on the JTEL’s shelves, and another 5,000 or so are in storage in various people’s homes and a cabin belonging to Jackie Stormer and Verice Doble, who have donated use of the space to the library. The library has a cooperative arrangement of interlibrary loan/shared collections with Calypso Farm & Ecology Center’s Resource Library. Cataloging is incomplete; as of this report, 1,446 items have been entered (1,183 in the JTEL, 263 in Calypso’s library). The catalog is on line only, and may be found at www.librarything.com/catalog/esterlibrarian. The Library Lecture Series: The library began its first educational program in October 2009: the JTEL Lecture Series. This series of talks features local artists, historians, writers, entrepreneurs, adventurers, musicians, craftspeople, and colorful characters who present their work and thoughts to the public. Lectures are free of charge and are held at Hartung Hall. There were six lectures scheduled last year, featuring (in order of appearance) poet Majorie Kowalski Cole, photographer Monique Musick, historian Ross Coen and poet John Haines, photographer Scott Darsney, artist Igor Pasternak, and cartoonist Jamie Smith. The first lecture had to be canceled due to illness, but Cole wrote up her talk as an essay and permitted the library to archive it on its website. Friends of the Ester Library The Friends of the Ester Library is a loose-knit group of active volunteers who participate heavily in fundraisers and other library-related events. Fundraisers and the capital campaign are publicized on the FEL website, www.esterlibrary.com. History: The JTEL was founded in 1999 as a reading room by Frank Therrell and expanded by Deirdre Helfferich. Frank has been a major sponsor of the library ever since. Peggy Dunwoodie, a bartender at the Golden Eagle Saloon, organized the library’s first and only book drive in August 1999 (there has been no shortage of book donations from that date forward). The library changed its name to honor John Trigg in 2000, after his untimely death. John was an avid storyteller and reader who started a book exchange in the Golden Eagle. Many of his books are now in the library, donated by his family. The library continued operation for several years in an informal vein, adding additional shelves as more books were donated. In 2004 the library joined the Ester Community Association, a nonprofit founded in 1941 and dedicated to enhancing the life of the community. By this time, it was clear that the library was outgrowing its quarters. At the fall ECA meeting, the membership voted to find and purchase land for a new library building, and fundraising commenced. The first annual Lallapalooza & Book Bash was held in spring 2005, followed by the LiBerry Music Festival in 2006, and the third annual fundraiser, Readers on the Run, in 2008. 2010 saw the 6th Lallapalooza, the 5th Music Festival, and the 3rd Run. Each event has gradually increased its gross earnings and number of participants over time. (See the 2010 Fundraiser Report.) Area business owners and individuals have given generously over the years. Land on Village Road was purchased in spring 2006 from Rick Winther (Malemute, Inc.), and a few months later another parcel on Village Road was leased from Larry Flodin. A series of public design meetings began that year, with members of the community working with architects and builders to come up with an affordable design suitable to the community and its anticipated needs over the next 20 years. Construction on the Ida Lane Clausen Gazebo was begun in 2007 (dedicated in 2010). In fall 2008 the JTEL and the ECA decided to separate so that the library could focus on its mission and work toward obtaining federal nonprofit charitable organization 501(c)(3) status. After separating from the community association, members of the former ECA library committee and others formed a board of directors pro tem and began working to organize the new corporation, establishing a new bank account, developing a business plan, refining the architectural plans, searching and applying for grants, applying to the state for nonprofit status, and working on the application to the IRS for federal nonprofit status. The board developed draft bylaws, which were formally amended and approved by the membership at the 2009 JTEL annual meeting. Shortly afterward, the State of Alaska recognized the JTEL as a nonprofit, and the IRS assigned an Employer Identification Number to the library. Since the 2009 annual meeting, the board has been working steadily on the federal nonprofit application. The board has established policies and procedures to guide the business of the organization and organized the records of the JTEL, including design development history, meeting minutes, fundraiser history and guidelines, construction information, and grants searches. The library has obtained a $50,000 Designated Legislative Appropriation for library design and construction, and a topographic survey was performed this spring, free of charge, by Jeff Martt and Hans Mölders (saving the library an estimated $10,000). The board decided at its June meeting to change the design of the library significantly to reduce the cost of construction and maintenance, from a two-storey to a one-storey building. A special membership meeting was held later in June to adopt certain bylaws amendments, and the gazebo was completed on August 1. (See the Vice President’s Report.) | ||||
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The Present: Currently, the board is focusing on two main, linked areas: a capital campaign and the nonprofit application. In September 2010, the board invested in grantwriting training, sending JTEL president Helfferich to a week-long intensive course by the Alaska Funding Exchange; as a result of this, five or six likely funders have been identified. The board has prepared a final draft of the federal nonprofit application, pending acceptance of the bylaws revision. The board has revised the bylaws in accordance with the guidelines provided by Nolo Press’ How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation, which will strongly improve our chances of achieving nonprofit status. Once this status is obtained, grant applications and letters of inquiry will be sent out (very few funders of capital grants consider organizations that are not 501(c)(3) nonprofits). The application requires other aspects of our organization to be in place, such as a business plan, policies, and budget. (See Proposed Bylaws and Capital Campaign Overview.) The Future: For the next two to four years, depending on funding, the library will be under construction. The board will be refining the structure of the organization and its day-to-day operations and policies, seeking capital funding and developing a long-term support plan, overseeing the construction of the building and the transfer of the collections once the building is complete, staffing the library, and developing new programs. The five-year period from 2009 to 2014 will very probably be the most intensely active in the library’s history. Community feedback and participation will be essential. (See Goals and Tasks 2010-2015: Library Construction and Operation.) Committees At the October 13, 2010 board meeting, the board elected to establish a Capital Campaign Committee and a Construction Committee to oversee the work of fundraising and library construction. Committees will include both directors and regular library members. The date of the first meeting of this committee will be set after the 2010 Annual Membership Meeting. (See also Capital Campaign Overview.) Other committees: The work of the library may require other committees or subcommittees to be formed at a future date, such as a Program Committee, Community Garden/Grounds Committee, or an Art Committee. These will likely not be needed for another one to three years, however. | |||
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