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Newsletter Issue 117 May 1998 Membership Welcome to new Members who have recently joined the Friends: Gillian Carder Marian Crickmer Evangelina Garcia Jamie Greenough Deborah Nesbitt David Nesbitt Victoria Nesbitt Harro Wegner Greg Witzke Michael Witzke Deborah Nesbitt was elected to the Library Board earlier this year and one of her responsibilities is to liaise between the Board and the Friends. We are delighted that she and her family have become members of the Friends, as we also welcome family members of Patricia Witzke who joined us last year. Our meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of the month and are open to all Members of the Friends. Copies of the Minutes of these meetings are not circulated but are available from the Library's Administration Office weekdays between 10am and 4pm Finances The Treasurer's Report for the period March 25 to April 21 was tabled at our April meeting. Copies are available from the Library's Administration Office. Our funds are being well looked after by Treasurer Ron Lucas, who diligently seeks to achieve optimum interests rates. We have deferred expenditure for the purchase of: ♦ Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. ♦ Construction of bulletin board for information sharing between, and publicising the events and activities of, the Friends, the Library's volunteers, the Board and the Foundation. ♦ Construction of a book cart in the event that it is decided to run an ongoing book sale. Computerisation Ann Goodhart told our April meeting that Council had approved the necessary expenditure to hire a consultant to assist with the selection of a new computer system and equipment for all the Library's operations. Invitations to bid have been sent out to all appropriate consulting companies in North America. Internal reviews / discussions will be held to define the library's requirements for the system. The process of actually selecting a new system will involve getting input from a broad range of people. Ann would like to invite a member of the Friends to participate to represent the needs of Library users. This year's Conference of the Canadian Library Association, an annual national event, is to be held in Victoria in June. In conjunction with the conference itself, there will be a trade exhibition at which suppliers of library related systems, equipment, and so forth will be displaying their wares. June 19 is "exhibitors' day", and Ann Goodhart can obtain a pass for any member of the Friends wishing to visit the exhibition.