About Friends of the Library

Directors and Officers

Elizabeth (Libby) S. Carpenter: Board Position/Term: Director. Term expires June 2009.; Experience with FOL: One year on the Board. For several years I have helped stock shelves for the Book Sale.; Life/Work Experience: Former ethics professor. Served on several boards including Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, Friends of the Greene County Library, and Friends of Virginia Libraries.; Recent Reads:
P.G. Wodehouse, Sunset at Blandings
Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals
Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim

Preston Coiner: Board Position/Term: Director. Term expires June 2010.; Experience with FOL: Two years on the Board. Book Sale volunteer for many years.; Life/Work Experience: Native and life long resident of Charlottesville. Have been in metal recycling business for 48 years.; Recent Reads:
Various books on American War for Independence.

Melissa Dickens: Board Position/Term: Director. Term expires June 2009.; Experience with FOL: At least ten years volunteering with the sale. Volunteering at J-MRL for over 20 years, including nine years as a Library Board member representing Charlottesville.; Life/Work Experience: Circulation Desk Clerk, Firestone Library, Princeton University; medical secretary, Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, New York City; part-time and substitute Library Assistant, J-MRL. Housewife and mother – husband, Michael Dickens; two daughters, one of whom is Young Adult Librarian at Crozet Library.; Recent Reads:
R.A. Scott, Basilica
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night
Helen Stewart, From Berkeley to the Barnyard
Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Fran Feigert: Board Position/Term: 1st Vice President. Term expires June 2010.; Experience with FOL: Two years on the Board. Worked on pricing and boxing books for the last 3 years and also volunteers during the sale.; Life/Work Experience: Retired Librarian.; Recent Reads:
Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is illuminated
Alexandra Fuller, Don’t let’s go to the dogs tonight

Sharon Heyka: Board Position/Term: Secretary. Term expires June 2009.; Experience with FOL: Have been assisting with the sale for 18 years. Previously served as a director and also as treasurer.; Life/Work Experience: Business and Grants Manager for the Department of Neuroscience Basic Research at UVA.; Recent Reads:
Heather Pringle, The Mummy Congress

Judy Lesiak: Board Position/Term: Director. Term expires June 2010.; Experience with FOL: Pricing volunteer since 1997.; Life/Work Experience: Retired registered nurse.; Recent Reads:
Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Barbara Lesser: Board Position/Term: Director. Term expires June 2009.; Experience with FOL: I volunteer throughout the year sorting and pricing books and I also work at the book sale.; Life/Work Experience: I worked as a librarian in elementary and high school libraries and in federal government libraries (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)). I also worked at the Defense Technical Information Center for 18 years. My last position within that agency was as Director of User Services. When I moved to Charlottesville, I worked as a reference librarian at the PVCC library for 2 1/2 years.; Recent Reads:
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking

Peter McIntosh: Board Position/Term: Treasurer. Term expires 2010; Experience with FOL: Member since 1992, 1st Vice President from 1996-2000, President from 2000-2006, Treasurer since June 2006.; Life/Work Experience: U.S. Naval Supply Officer 1965-1970; Lawyer from 1973 through 2006.Avocations: gardening, home remodeling and cabinet building, crossword puzzles and napping.; Recent Reads:
John M. Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
Mary Lawson, Crow Lake
William Boyd, A Blue Afternoon

Tim Snider: Board Position/Term: Director. Term expires June 2010.; Experience with FOL: Devoted library and sale patron for many years.; Life/Work Experience: Lawyer and classical announcer at WTJU; host of Sunday Opera Matinee; avid reader.; Recent Reads:
Minette Walters, The Devil’s Feather
Rodney Bolt,The Librettist of Venice
Jean Edward Smith, FDR

Doris Vander Meulen: Board Position/Term: Membership secretary. Term expires June 2009.; Experience with FOL: Previous 2-term FOL board member. Annual volunteer during the sale. I love the “rush” I get being a checker during the first three hours of each of the sales.; Life/Work Experience: Former middle school teacher turned school librarian. I am the lower school librarian at The Covenant School in Charlottesville. Church pianist.; Recent Reads:
Being an elementary school librarian, I read many children’s books. Two that I have enjoyed recently are:
Carole Boston Weatherford, Moses, When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks : A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy

Thomas Allan Whitlock: Board Position/Term: President. Term expires June 2009.; Experience with FOL: Previously Board member 1998-2001.; Life/Work Experience: Retired, now a farmer in Louisa county. JMRL Board of Trustees, 1999-2007; Recent Reads:
Jose Saramago, Journey to Portugal

Betsy Woodard: Board Position/Term: Director. Term expires June 2010.; Experience with FOL: Member.; Life/Work Experience: Attorney in private practice; grew up in Charlottesville, worked in Paris, Madrid and New York before returning to law school at UVa., married and stayed in Charlottesville.; Recent Reads:
Hampton Sides, Blood and Thunder
Janet Frame, Towards Another Summer
Michael Pollan, Botany of Desire
Anita Amirrezvani, The Blood of Flowers

Staff

Barry G. Norris: info@jmrlfriends.org; Board Position/Term: Book Sale Director; Experience with FOL: Volunteer: Oct. 1993 - April 2001; Jan. 2005 – April 2005; May 2007 – June 2007; 2nd Vice President in Charge of Sales and Book Sale Director: May 2001 – Dec. 2003; Book Sale Manager Jan. 2004 – Dec. 2004; Life/Work Experience: Served in (British) Royal Navy 1963 – 1993, joined as enlisted man, retired as Lieutenant Commander; background in supply, secretariat, administration, computer systems analysis and design, management services practitioner. Emergency Medical Technician (Basic) with the Scottsville Volunteer Rescue Squad: June 1999 – May 2005, and from August 2007, to date.; Recent Reads:
Sam Hodge, B-Four
Michael Palmer, Command at Sea
Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small Island

Bill Davis: info@jmrlfriends.org; Board Position/Term: Book Sale Manager; Experience with FOL: On and off since 1991.; Life/Work Experience: Staff at JMRL: Bookmobile driver, Library Assistant, Courier/Outreach. Father of three. Amateur actor, playwright, and Morris dancer.; Recent Reads:
Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Lisa Dembling: info@jmrlfriends.org; Board Position/Term: Book Sale Assistant; Experience with FOL: 2-1/2 years; Life/Work Experience: Musician, Artist, Activist, Dancer.; Recent Reads:
Isabel Fonseca, Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey

Board Meetings

Meetings are at the Gordon Avenue Library at 5:30pm.

Sept 18, 2008
Jan 15, 2009
(annual meeting – volunteer reception)
Apr 15, 2009
June 18, 2009

Board Meeting Highlights

Board Meeting Summary - June 2007
The Sale Manager’s Hiring Committee proposed having 3 paid positions: Sales Manager, Sales Director and Sales Assistant. The idea was enthusiastically endorsed, both by the Board and the Friends attending the meeting. This proposal will add approximately $18,200 to expenses which will come out of the present $75,548 cash on hand. Barry Norris was hired as Sales Director and Bill Davis as Sales Manager.

The new FOL Board was elected.Nominations from the floor were:
- Sharon Heyka for Secretary; Thomas Whitlock as a Director; and Barbara Lesser as a Director. This slate was unanimously accepted.
- Several Current Officers and Directors were unanimously renewed:
- Peter McIntosh (Treasurer), Doris Vander Meulen (Membership Chair) and Libby Carpenter (Director).
- There were no nominations for a Second Vice President.
Chuck Taylor thanked the departing Officers and Directors, and departing Sales Manager Jane Carlson, then welcomed the people joining or remaining on the Board.

Peter McIntosh presented the 2007-2008 FY Budget (which already includes the cost of a new salaried employee), John Halliday reviewed the Library’s annual requests and the budget was unanimously approved. The audit report prepared by Hantzmon Wiebel, was handed out; FOL received a clean bill of financial health from the report. The auditors will come to the next Board meeting to answer any questions.

In order to allow the Board to meet more frequently, the By-laws were changed to read “This Board shall meet at regular intervals at least four times a year.”

Fall Sale Dates will be October 27-28, 2007.
2008 Spring Sale Dates will be: Children’s Sale, 29-30 March; Main Sale, 5-14 April.

Board Meeting Summary - April 2007
The Board approved the recommendation of Treasurer Peter McIntosh to take advantage of a new “non-profit money market account” now offered by Wachovia Bank to move the Friends’ reserve funds into an account that will return increased interest.

As the Report on the Spring Sale made clear, the sale, while not setting a new record, was a definite success, though the discussion included concerns that some customers expressed about the behavior of dealers at the sale and that some volunteers expressed about their treatment, especially in the matter of scheduling, and remedies were proposed for later decisions.

President Chuck Taylor went over the extensive debriefing sessions he has been and will continue to hold with volunteers; while there are many differences among them about current problems and potential solutions, these sessions have also provided him with a lot of great ideas from them for future improvements that he’ll be sharing with us in the future.

In advance of the annual meeting in June, a committee was formed to prepare the budget.

And Janet Anderson’s award-winning revamped logo for the Friends was shown off.

Respectfully submitted, Steve Railton (Secretary)

Our Bylaws

Friends of JMRL Bylaws (pdf)