Past news: Meeting Minutes

The Friends has contributed $150 towards costs of the ornament workshop (the Branch paid another $150) for decorating the Fields Corner tree. We discussed how the Branch workds with the community and local schools. Holmes and Mather third grade classes have been coming to use the library as has the Neighborhood House charter school — often it’s due to a personal relationship with the teachers.

We discussed current plans for the new building and the most recent community meeting. Some members oppose the outdoor space and the specific vertical louvers proposed for the facade. Once the Branch is closed, the librarians will hold "office hours" locally. There is a need for printing and computer access. The Friends and the Staff hope to do extra programming in the coming months  and go out with a celebration.

In the coming months, we will hold our annual brunch on Feb. 3, we hope to host Black Trivia again, the library has organized a lion dance, and there are plans for another Earth Day event.

The members attending began brainstorming possible fundraising ideas.

We agreed to meet next on December 19.

We reviewed the architect’s presentation for the new branch building as was presented at the recent community meeting. One member is advocating for a podcast studio and feels that the proposed outdoor space on the second-floor should be used for this purpose.

We discussed whether the Friends will support upcoming events in the community and library and whether we will organize any events ourselves. The group agreed to support the community tree decorating project with $150 for the artist who works with children to make the bird ornaments. We reserved the Community Room for our annual Brunch at the Branch on Feb. 3. If the scheduling works out, we will hold a Black History Trivia event again. The member who organized the Green Energy Event last year will put together another similar event in 2024.

A local business leader has approached the BPL to offer space that can be used as a temporary location during construction. To date, we haven’t heard whether the BPL leadership has replied to this email.

The group discussed potential fundraising activities and decided to continue that discussion at a later date.

The main discussion was our group’s participation at the Dorchester Open Streets on September 17. We put together a list of materials to bring along. Volunteers confirmed their availability to staff the table.

We agreed to make a large sign advertising the upcoming community meeting about the new branch building. (A member pointed out that this is not a renovation but a completely new building.) 

A member asked why the city doesn’t provide translations about the building project on the website.

The main discussion was our group’s participation in upcoming events.

Based on feedback from the organizers, we decided not to staff a table at the Peace B Que.

However, we are enthusiastic about having.a table at the Dorchester Open Streets in September. Members signed up for shifts to staff the table, one member volunteered to approach the CityWide Friends to request books to give away, and another member volunteered to make a large sign about the renovation. We will use this opportunity to spread the word about the upcoming renovation and to solicit feedback about the new building and the community need for a temporary location.

• Conversation about the renovation

  • We will reschedule the planned drop-in conversation about the branch renovation for a time when there is more foot traffic, perhaps alongside a library event

• Peace B’Que - 8/12, 12-4:30 pm (event is 1-4)

  • Organized by the Louis D Brown Peace Institute, which invites non-profits to table. The Friends participated last year, after merging an already-planned event into Peace B’Que participation. 

  • Staffing: the Friends will staff the table with up to 2 people at a time

  • Supplies: the Friends will bring a folding table and chairs, borrowed shade canopy, fruit, and one case of water

  • The table will focus on making sure people are aware that the branch is going to be rebuilt, with a large sign. Our secondary goals are to spread awareness that the Friends exist, and to share information on behalf of the library about upcoming events and services. We will ask the librarians to prioritize a small selection of their many offerings.

  • Additionally, the Children’s Librarian will provide 30 minutes of storytelling, pending conversation with the event organizers about stopping the music and allowing the use of the stage and mic. 

Reminder: there is a thorough summary of the community input gathered so far linked from the renovation page on the Friends’ website. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, August 15, 6:30.

• The Friends declined to become a named sponsor of Little Saigon; the group prefers to co-sponsor and provide funding for specific Little Saigon events

• Some funds remain from the grant for the clean energy Earth Day event: these will be offered to the Children's Librarian for sustainability-related children’s programming

• Upcoming event: Wingmasters - Friday, July 21st event all about birds of prey

• Temporary location updates: 

  • a community member is exploring the possibility of hosting afternoon hours for children; needs to discuss details with the branch librarian

  • Friends will inquire about other potential sites as a potential temporary location

  • Several city councilors have expressed support for a temporary location for Fields Corner. One councilor's office included funding for a temporary location in the city budget, which is currently being negotiated.

• Info gathering needs

  • The Branch Librarian has asked the Friends for more information on the following questions:

    • What sorts of programming do we want during construction? What should be in the new branch? What is the status of our advocacy for a temporary location?

  • The Friends discussed the best way to gather additional community input and decided to reprise the two info-gathering methods that have been most effective in the past:

    • Comment box with pre-printed cards near the front entrance

    • Saturday morning listening session with coffee and baked goods - tentatively planned for July 1 and July 29

  • The Friends brainstormed other ways to get information from the community

    • Non-English speakers - this is a group we haven’t gotten as much input from; need to find more ways to reach them

    • Schools - in the fall, we might try to reach out to local schools for advice and help on making students’ families aware of the branch closure and renovation

    • Community members who did not know the branch was closed for the pandemic - if there is any info about who tried to come to the library or expected it to be open, this may help us identify community members who rely on the branch but are not reached by communication channels we currently use

Reminder: there is a thorough summary of the community input gathered so far linked from the renovation page on the Friends’ website. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, July 18, 6:30.

The main discussion was the Community Meeting held April 24. Changes to the proposed new building indicate that the BPL and the architects have listened to community concerns, particularly regarding the collection size, the shelving, shading for the west-facing windows, location of the children and teen spaces, as well as need for library services in the community during the construction.

Another important area of discussion at this meeting is understanding the goals of this organization. Our mission is “to create public support for the Fields Corner Branch and its programs, to increase community awareness and use of the library, to aid in public education, and to raise funds for equipment and projects in support of these aims.”

Several years ago, our booksales were a focus of activity, our primary source of funding, and an outreach to the community. Now that activity has ended, we are looking for a new identity and way to interact with the community.

One member suggested three priorities:

1. Advocacy for the branch and its programs

2. Publicity for programming at the Fields Corner Library

3. Fundraising to support the librarians and programs that they organize

Another member suggested research into funding sources including grants, philanthropic donations, and partnering with other libraries.

Upcoming events include the AAPI Heritage event to be held May 30 (we have agreed to sponsor).  Public events in the area include the Mayor’s coffee in Town Field (May 12), the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace (May 14), the Dorchester Day parade (June 4), the Little Saigon Night Market (July 15), and the Open Streets (Sept. 17). There may be opportunities for the Friends and the Library to be visible at any of these.

Our bylaws need to be reviewed and officer roles updated.

Friends of the Fields Corner Branch of the BPL: Report for Annual Meeting: April 18, 2023

Recap of Activities

Last year we agreed to organize a broad range of activities to bring the community into the library and to try to reach potential new members. These activities were largely funded through a grant from the City-Wide Friends of the Library. We have been very successful in putting on events but our membership has not seen an appreciable growth.

Events have included:

• Ice Cream Social at Chill on Park (July 2022)

• Hosting a table during the Louis D. Brown PeaceBQue (August 2022)

• Info session on bicycle maintenance from Jack Pelletier at Ashmont Cycle (September 2022)

• Educational session on beekeeping by Val Mayo during the Dorchester Open Streets event and assisting Mike Ritter’s Beautiful Dot portrait session (September 2022)

• Artist talk by Mike Ritter (October 2022)

• Handcraft and baking session (December 2022)

• Urban Wildlife talk from Mass Audubon (January 2023)

• Brunch at the Branch (February 2023)

• Hella Black Trivia contest at Chill on Park (February 2023)

• Performance of Flawed and Whole followed by discussion session (March 2023)

Upcoming events are:

• Nature Collage family activity with Speak for the Trees (April 2023)

• Climate Resiliency Fair (April 2023)

• AAPI Month activity with Little Saigon   

We also participated in one community meeting about the library renovation.

Financial Report

In the time period between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 we had an income of $2,331.90.  The majority of which was a $2,000 grant for programming support from the CityWide Friends of the Boston Public Library.  The remaining income was from gifts ($229.90), dues ($55) and some continued income from a book sale shelf in the community room ($64).  Thanks to the CWF grant, we have increased spending on events ($1,950.01 with two home.stead invoices still to pay) Other spending in this past year  has been for administration fees for the website and our non-profit registration status ($30.50).  An additional $74 was needed to file previous years reports with the state that had been overlooked from the time of our status change to the present.

Our bank balance as of March 31, 2023 is $4006.62 and ~$200 in PayPal.

Organizational

We have 11 dues-paying members and 201 names on our mailing list. Last year, we formed an Events Committee (two members and the President and Vice President). According to our by-laws, we have 3 officers: President, Vice-President, and Secretary/Treasurer. The Secretary/Treasurer serves as the Clerk, an office required by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The President and Secretary/Treasurer are signatories on the account at Eastern Bank. We use Google apps for most communication needs (Contacts, Gmail, Forms, Web Services, Site Hosting, Analytics), PayPal, and Quickbooks.

Future Plans

We will continue to participate in meetings about the renovation and to reach out to the community to bring them to the library.

We must address two critical organizational needs — filling the position of Secretary/Treasurer and considering whether to rewrite our by-laws to change the structure of the organization. According to the by-laws, the Secretary/Treasurer maintains the accounts and manages correspondence (specifically meeting announcements and minutes). the Secretary/Treasurer has been a primary point of contact with the BPL administration about the renovation and also has signing authorization on the bank account.  

Recap on activities

Since the pandemic began, we are operating with reduced circumstances. Since the last “Annual Meeting” in June 2021, we have sponsored/supported/organized 

• Hallowe’en Giveaway

• Welcome Back to the Branch (ice cream and coffee provided by Chill on Park)

• Equal Means Equal showing

• Black History Month Trivia Night  

• Table and banner for librarians’ use at local events

Financial Report

Income: $460 in gifts

Expenses: $1119 ($561 for Black Trivia event, Table and banner was $250, Halloween bags cost $180, Equal Means Equal movie was $100)

Balance: $3544.86

A member asked how much book sales raise? The answer was not very much at all for a promoted day sale (roughly twice annually), maybe a little around $200 after publicity expenses were considered. The ongoing sale did better because over time could make ca.$200 every 6 months or so. The one-day sales were to get books in the hands of children and the community.

Without our annual book sale, we’ve lost our main source of revenue, and the Friends must also think about who we are if we don’t run a book sale.

Organizational

Over the past year, accomplishments are a new bank account at Eastern Bank, which is linked to PayPal, financial tracking is now set up on Quickbooks and linked to the bank account, the Friends have set up a TechSoup account to purchase software and hardware as needed, and the organization is currently up to date on required paperwork to maintain non-profit status.

The goals for the upcoming year are to grow this group, become an advocacy voice for the library, offer activities that will engage the neighborhood to help strengthen the Friends and bring attention to the Branch, which is particularly important as approaching the renovation. The challenges to do this are that we are a small organization, our members have busy schedules, and there is limited time and space to hold events in the branch. A separate issue is that the by-laws call for annual officer turnover which is an organizational challenge in terms of banking and maintaining records with the appropriate governmental agencies.

The president proposed reviewing the by-laws to see if there are administrative fixes to some of the group’s challenges; the original by-laws were simple in order to file for non-profit status and now it may make sense to change to add committees. The group’s overall feeling was that we are not big enough to make the Bylaws more formal and that when we get to a larger size, we can formalize practices. The clerk offered to review and propose any necessary revisions.

Future plans

The group discussed making a public statement of intent of our priorities for the year and posting it on our website and in other public communications. There seems to be some confusion about the group’s purpose and goals; we discussed and decided that in the near term we aim to do community outreach for information about the upcoming branch renovation, and our overall goal is to provide programming that supports the community and the library.

Some attendees asked for changes to the information brochure to clarify when dues are paid and that members are welcome and encouraged to participate prior to paying dues in the spring. The president agreed to do that. 

There were questions about publicity, the email list, and how events are announced. The email list is ~200 names, most of whom signed up when attending an event at the library or by completing the Friends brochure. Events are announced by email to that list, on the website, on Facebook, on the BPL events calendar, and in flyers posted at the branch. While the email list is large, meeting attendance is small. How can we change that? Can we visit other organizations (e.g., VietAid) to share what we do?

We approved a funding request of $253 for an AAPI Heritage Month event, provided that the Friends are listed as co-sponsors in all publicity. We also reviewed a list of other potential upcoming events, to be loosely tied to National Months and holidays (list attached below):

• 1619 Project discussion sessions (ask for update on organization)

• Mike Ritter, local photographer who has a City of Boston Opportunity Grant to take portraits of Dorchester residents and then mount an exhibition — we could invite as a speaker

• Poetry event in April

• National Yoga Month in September

• Brunch at a local restaurant

• Collaborate with local vendors/groups/spaces for events

• Bike event in June, perhaps with help from Ashmont Cycles

We agreed to keep a donation box at events in order to help raise funds and we set Tuesday, June 7 as a tentative date for the next meeting. Once events are planned, we will send members to local civic meetings to spread the word about what is happening at the Fields Corner Library.

Other needed actions are to draft a statement of what the Friends do and criteria for determining which events we support. Those tasks are yet to be assigned.

National Theme Months

February

Black History Month

National Bird-Feeding Month

March

Irish-American Heritage Month

Women's History Month

Youth Art Month

April

Arab American Heritage Month

Financial Literacy Month

Jazz Appreciation Month

National Poetry Month

School Library Month

Earth Day

May

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Haitian Heritage Month

Jewish American Heritage Month

National Bike Month

National Foster Care Month

National Pet Month

June

African-American Music Appreciation Month

Caribbean-American Heritage Month

LGBT Pride Month

Juneteenth

July

National Ice Cream Month

September

Gospel Music Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month (US; September 15 to October 15)

National Honey Month

National Yoga Month

October

Filipino American History Month

Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month

National Arts & Humanities Month

National Cyber Security Awareness Month

National Pizza Month

Polish American Heritage Month

November

National Novel Writing Month

Native American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month

Liz Blake, Programs & Community Outreach Librarian, joined us. She reported that the branch fully reopened in June, the staff have seen an increase in foot traffic, after-school Homework Help has restarted, in-person activities are approved for masked adults with a 15-person limit. Programming for children must be held outside or remotely. She brought a copy of the Programming Study for the expected branch renovation and informed us that the renovation is still on the city's planning schedule, but is delayed due to covid issues. The next steps will be meetings to determine the design.

We discussed opportunities for the Friends to reach out to the community and help the library. Suggestions included:

• Book club for adults

• Giveaway bags for kids for Halloween

• Support and outreach for the elderly and disabled in the community

• Sponsoring a discussion group related to the 1619 Project

Friends members suggested that activities could meet in Chill on Park or at Town Field. Other suggestions  included working with ETHOS, offering activities through a hybrid model, and planning for in-person activities in the spring. 

Our next meeting will be October 19.

Kim McCleary, Branch Librarian, provided updates on the city's plans for reopening the Central library on June 1 and the branches to follow — much is still unknown, but those in attendance were very happy to hear that the library will be open for use this summer.  She reminded the Friends that the BPL has eliminated late fees (although there are still replacement fees for lost items).

The renovation status is unknown at this point. The renovation is budgeted, but covid has changed plans. The librarians and the Friends hope to hear more soon.

After many years of active involvement with the Fields Corner Friends of the Library, Jane Matheson will be stepping down from her position as Secretary/Treasurer, but will continue to serve as a Director. Ann Whitesides will assume the responsibilities as Secretary/Treasurer until our next Annual Meeting; we are grateful that she will join us in this role, and are looking forward to working with her and learning from her professional experience.

During the pandemic, the officers were able to set up a new bank account and to complete required administrative tasks related to our non-profit status. Liz Blake, Programs and Community Outreach Librarian, has been sorting the book donations and distributing through a bin at the book pick-up point. It is hoped that the Friends will be able to have a Book Sale this summer or fall, perhaps outside in Town Field. 

Meeting called to order by Rachel Kemper at 6:35 p.m.  

Attending ( see attached) were members of the Friends of the Fields Corner Library, CAC members and library staff.  

The agenda was to provide an advisory opinion to David Leonard on the height of a new branch library on the existing site.  The choices were as outlined on the earlier Community Meeting.

One Story library

Two Story Library

Five Story Library.

The group immediately dismissed the notion of a one story library.  

A detailed discussion of the five story options ensued.  The proposed use was to create housing on the top three floors.  The proposed design is for 36 units ranging from studio to one bedroom units.  The discussion revolved around issues of affordability, density concerns, and size of the units.  A major concern was the size of the units.  They did not allow for family size apartments which appear to be a great need in the area.  It is not fiscally viable to create family size units in such a development as proposed.

Discussion moved on to a two story library.  Questions were raised as to whether the option of a third story was possible for future development.  Library staff provided some detail as to budget time lines for decisions on whether the two story design could be expanded to three stories.

Library staff provided a time line for final decisions on the library design and its relationship to City budget needs.  January 2020 is a deadline for next steps to be launched

A show of hands vote was called from to give Library staff an advisory opinion from the community.  Of those in attendance, a strong majority voted to back a two story library.  

Friends of the Fields Corner Branch

Minutes of the Meeting

November 12, 2019

Meeting opened by Rachel Kemper at 6:30

Those attending (see attached), included Friends members, seven CAC members and Library staff.  The objective of this meeting was to bring CAC members up to date on activities thus far as well as to introduce Library staff to CAC.

There ensued a round table discussion centering on three areas of concern with reference to the future of the FC Branch.

• Location of Branch.  Possible new locations and difficulties of present location.  Advantage is proximity to MBTA.  Disadvantage is lack of parking.  New locations should be investigated as part of planning process. In addition to exploring new locations, parking options should be investigated and perhaps included in new library design.

• Need for alternative Reading Room during construction.  No near branch alternative in easy reach.  No other branch with easy  MBTA access.  Extreme need to service area youth during construction.  Possible storefront, other City-owned properties, mobile classroom.

• Nature of new library building.  In response to statement that Central is giving serious consideration to a mixed use property with affordable housing on upper stories as a use which the community had indicated as a priority.  Chaos among attendees at this.  It was reported that the notion stemmed from some City agencies.  Attendees were adamant that this was not an acceptable use and had never received support at prior community meetings.   Discussion of construction costs and potential for income stream from upper stories to support construction/future branch operations.  Alternative uses proposed included non-profit tenants, child care, other commercial options.  

As a result of suggested affordable housing, a discussion of how decisions are being made about the whole process for this branch.  Who are the decision makers here and what degree of input from the community is being included.  Consensus that community suggestions did not appear to have been heard to date.

It was agreed that the group, led by attending CAC members, would prioritize items to be brought to the meeting on the 18th.  Most important to future discussion was a position that housing was not a feasible nor desirable option for a mixed use building.

Candice Gartley will speak for the attendees at the meeting on the 18th and will present the priorities as agreed at tonight’s meeting.  

The Fields Corner neighborhood was settled nearly 400 years ago and has welcomed every wave of immigrants to Boston. It is the most diverse neighborhood in the city, representing a wealth of cultures, languages, and socio-economic backgrounds and valuable perspectives. This neighborhood has valued education and literacy since the earliest days — the Mather School is the first public elementary school in North America and the Fields Corner library is the successor to the Dorchester library that joined the BPL after annexation and was the first branch location.  The current branch building was constructed in 1969, and it’s likely that this renovation will last at least that long —this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Fields Corner community to create a resource for all and it is critical to get it right. The BPL can partner with educators and community members to create an institution that will serve this community in a new and innovative way in the near future and for decades to come.

The group heartily supported this statement and were all in agreement that a “cookie cutter” branch was not an acceptable option.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.