English Library Operation - Interim report

Audit Report
Interim audit of English Library Operations
Conducted by David Flaningam May 14 to June 13, 2013
Date of Report: 26 September 2013

The English Language Library operations are managed by two dedicated volunteers; Cate Howell and Brenda Dawson. Cate handles the management of the volunteers including training, scheduling, and performance. Brenda manages the English Language Library workroom including; processing new or replacement books into the collection, acceptance and disposition of donated books.

The position of English Language Library Coordinator/Director has been vacant for several years. In the absence of a English Language Library Coordinator/Director Cate and Brenda report to Terry, The Executive Director. He approves all expenditures not just Gillespie Fund monies.

Cate and Brenda are supported by a staff of 18 volunteers who perform the functions of managing the collection, assisting members with the check in/out of books, locating books and authors, buying books, managing the collection and managing the disposition of donated books.

English Language Library Policies and Procedures

Donations Policy
Scope of Collection
Book Selection and Review Policy
“How To” Quick reference guide for English Language Library volunteers

Accounting

The responsibility for security deposits by temporary members was turned over to Membership. All income and expenses are tracked by the main accounting system. This includes fines for late books. While there is a cap on fines of 60 Pesos, the only time fines are forgiven is when a book goes missing.
Purchasing new books

The selections are made by the English Language Library Committee. The purchasing is handled by Brenda. Terry must approve all expenditures for the English Language Library paid for using general operating funds and /or Gillespie Fund money. There appears to be an aversion to using the Gillespie Funds money to purchase books. I was told that the Gillespie Funds are being saved for the “building fund.” There is also an aversion to buying much new inventory which is driven by the belief that a) they’re too expensive due to shipping cost, and b) all hot best sellers show up as donations within about three months.

FINDING

Saving the Gillespie Fund monies is contrary to the restrictions under which the Gillespie donation was accepted. The resources of the Gillespie Fund have not been used in accordance to the terms under which it was accepted nor the Gillespie Committee recommendations adopted by the Board in 2009.

Recommendation

Abide by the terms under which the Gillespie donation was accepted and the adopted recommendations from the Gillespie Committee.

FINDING

Since there is no English Language Library Manager Cate and Brenda report to Terry Vidal, the Executive Director. Cate has been a member of the Board of Directors for several years and is now in her second term, which ends in 2015. This is in conflict with the Constitution Article 9, section 9.01 (3) that states, A member of the Board of Directors, during their term of office, may not hold a position that reports directly to the Executive Director “

Recommendation(s)
1. LCS appoints a English Language Library coordinator/director who is qualified and eligible to serve
2. Change the organizational structure so Cate’s position no longer reports to the Executive Director
Policies and Procedures

In general, the English Language Library Policies are documented and well understood by the actors. However, the organization depends heavily on the institutional memory of Cate and Brenda. The existing Policies document what the organization believes it should do but not how they are to do it.

FINDING

Several procedures are not documented. In particular these include;

• Putting a new book in the system
• Processing donated books
• User manual for the English Language Library software program
• Scheduling, training, and managing the volunteer staff
• There is no written policy concerning volunteer’s access to new books from the English Language Library.

Recommendation

The procedures and policy listed above should be developed ASAP.

FINDING

English Language Library volunteers have first access to new books. This preference potentially delays regular Members access to new reading material.

Recommendation

Develop a Policy on volunteer privileges that is fair to Members.

FINDING

The English Language Library has been without a Director for many months.

Recommendation

The Program Committee should recruit a qualified English Language Library Director




FINDING

Readership is down, however there is no active program to increase the use of the English Language Library

Recommendation

Develop a plan to actively promote the use of the English Language Library. Such things as; creating and publicizing a “new arrivals” list and buying multiple copies of current best sellers should be considered as well as adding e-readers for use by members.

It is requested that if the Board wishes to comment on this report that it be done in writing within 90 days.


Submitted for review March 6, 2014
Kenneth Caldwell, Chairman
Audit and Advisory Committee

Library numbers since 2009

I will have to figure out how to post it so its clear, it is on TOB.

That "building fund" is what keeps sending my b.s. meter into the red zone.

Why, oh why are those Gillespie funds not being applied to serving the membership's CURRENT needs, like an e-book setup? (See "building fund" for the answer).

My book club is making selections from the Booker Prize and Pulitzer Prize lists:  I head for the LCS library to find them.....and they aren't there, so I have to shell out to Amazon to get them.
And here I thought LCS existed to serve the membership. 

I am told that this report has a number of factual errors which will be addressed by the Board.  This was supposed to be confidential until addressed but here we have it posted by the wife of the signer.  Also, it might interest you to know that Anita is not even a member of LCS.  She is Ken's wife and one who has been very vocal in her accusations of my wife giving me confidential information which she most assuredly did not.

Now I know just whom was improperly given confidential information about this report and hence was able to correct my very incomplete picture obtained from just reading the minutes and asking questions about what transpired in public Board meetings.  I made those errors precisely because I didn't have access to this report.  Those who were correcting me did and divulged some of that confidential information on this and TOB. And now we have it divulged here by a non member of LCS.

And Gringal, I'll pose the question to you of how you expect to have a viable library in a crumbling building.  

The people we elect have the very difficult job of trying to deal with a lot of competing priorities and not near enough money to pay for them.  The decaying physical plant of LCS is a pretty big problem.  I don't see a lot of these folks offering constructive suggestions as to how to deal with that problem.  However the  Board will meet again in April and perhaps some of you who ARE LCS MEMBERS would like to attend and offer those suggestions.

I would respectfully suggest that the rest of us withhold judgment until we see what the Board has to say about the content of this report.

Mainecoons wrote:I am told that this report has a number of factual errors which will be addressed by the Board.  This was supposed to be confidential until addressed but here we have it posted by the wife of the signer.  Also, it might interest you to know that Anita is not even a member of LCS.  She is Ken's wife and one who has been very vocal in her accusations of my wife giving me confidential information which she most assuredly did not.

Now I know just whom was improperly given confidential information about this report and hence was able to correct my very incomplete picture obtained from just reading the minutes and asking questions about what transpired in public Board meetings.  I made those errors precisely because I didn't have access to this report.  Those who were correcting me did and divulged some of that confidential information on this and TOB.  And now we have it divulged here by a non member of LCS.

And Gringal, I'll pose the question to you of how you expect to have a viable library in a crumbling building.  

The people we elect have the very difficult job of trying to deal with a lot of competing priorities and not near enough money to pay for them.  The decaying physical plant of LCS is a pretty big problem.  I don't see a lot of these folks offering constructive suggestions as to how to deal with that problem.  However the  Board will meet again in April and perhaps some of you who ARE LCS MEMBERS would like to attend and offer those suggestions.

I would respectfully suggest that the rest of us withhold judgment until we see what the Board has to say about the content of this report.

Dan, I don't believe that Anita said a word until you gave her name and Ken's in one of your postings. After you named them, then, and only then did Anita post. You started it.

mainecoons wrote:And Gringal, I'll pose the question to you of how you expect to have a viable library in a crumbling building.

 

I gave the answer on TOB, but basically, you don't need the biggest,most expensive contractor to spend a fortune on it.  My own building was so old and tired that it even had some adobe walls leaking water and creating mold.  And, you don't need a million bucks to patch that library building so that it doesn't leak or have bad wiring.  And, you don't need a ten thousand dollar feasibility study to have a contractor know what needs to be done.

What we need is a library that works in today's world, with e-books included.
We don't need to buy e-readers at this point to lend out. Humongously expensive idea.  Most people who like to read already have a device, since the LCS book selection committee doesn't seem to choose the greatest selection of prize winners and best sellers, so they head for Amazon and pay for what they want.
This can be done.  It takes "intention" and "action" to do it.  The money for the e-books (a legitimate use) is sitting idle in a bank ccount.....since 2009.

Constructive debate is good however let's keep it above the belt or I'll have to shut it down as this is in the General discussion area.

There are no factual errors in the report. You Dan can post uncertainty and doubt and impune the integrity of posters on your forum but not here.  Please stick to the facts and leave the negative speculation out of it.  

If the BOD does anything they will simply change the facts.  Since there is no longer an AAC there will be no "final report."

If you can, please name ONE "factual error."

That is your opinion David. And we have heard your opinion ad nauseum. Now it is time for the Board to state their case.

It is really laughable for you to be complaining about having one's integrity impugned anywhere since you, among all the antagonists, have leveled the most personal attacks against the Board, my wife and me as well.

While all along you've been using the confidential information in this now improperly divulged report to correct my errors, which were the result of my not having access to this information.

I think there's a little hypocrisy problem here, David, and it isn't mine.

fund money can be spent on EQUIPEMENT. power is necessary and is provided by EQUIPMENT. components of a building are required to house and protect the power EQUIPMENT needed to operate the other EQUIPMENT. there,fix the whole library with impunity and in keeping with the bequest.-SNORK!

I have no dog in this fight. I use ebooks and audiobooks from my Canadian Library for free.
An E-Library needs a website, someone ro set it up and choice of materials. It can be done from any building on or off LCS property that has electricity and internet. There are established libraries, like Mymediamall dot com that have the structure and need only have a contract negotiated for membership access. No need to reinvent the wheel. The revenue from such a service might be able to rebuild the bricks and mortars library. I would consider rejoining LCS if they had a good enough selection as a show of support.

Mainecoons wrote:That is your opinion David.  And we have heard your opinion ad nauseum.  Now it is time for the Board to state their case.

It is really laughable for you to be complaining about having one's integrity impugned anywhere since you, among all the antagonists, have leveled the most personal attacks against the Board, my wife and me as well.

While all along you've been using the confidential information in this now improperly divulged report to correct my errors, which were the result of my not having access to this information.

I think there's a little hypocrisy problem here, David, and it isn't mine.

I have not "attacked" anyone personally, but you have.  I have critcized the actions of some board members, the ED, your and egregious behavior.  I not disclosed ANY confidential information.  I have not been a member of the AAC since November.  The knowledge in my head is not confidential.

You, on TOB, criticized my "behavior at the December 2013 Board meeting." You weren't at that meeting and the minutes do not describe my behavior.  Never the less, you have gone on and on implying that you were there.  You've led people to believe that you know what went on in other meetings as well, even though you weren't in attendance and the details you reported were not in the minutes. 

You're nearly a master at disinformation.

The report has not been improperly divulged.  The reports were submitted at a board meeting to the board per the policies and procedures in effect at that time.  During the same meeting the LCS Board dissolved the committee as being unconstitutional (after 5 years and a 2011 reaffirmation of the role of the committee).  And then the chair of the former committee resubmitted the reports to the board asking that they be included verbatim in the minutes and handed copies to a member of the audience.  Thereby it is in the public realm.

It is unlikely that any of the questions raised in these reports will be substantively addressed if the public and membership are not aware of the issues these reports raise.

The minutes described your behavior quite well, actually understated as told to me by the people who were there.

Your denials about personal attacks are a joke. You've been criticized for it by posters on the same threads.

You really should do LCS a favor and resign your membership.

did they follow roberts rules of order-jiji!

Mainecoons wrote:The minutes described your behavior quite well, actually understated as told to me by the people who were there.

Your denials about personal attacks are a joke.  You've been criticized for it by posters on the same threads.

You really should do LCS a favor and resign your membership.  

That's pure BS.  The minutes report SOME of what I said, not my behavior.  Apparently someone besides you has difficulty with vocabulary, e.g. understanding critcizing actions vs. "attack."

solajijic wrote:The report has not been improperly divulged.  The reports were submitted at a board meeting to the board per the policies and procedures in effect at that time.  During the same meeting the LCS Board dissolved the committee as being unconstitutional (after 5 years and a 2011 reaffirmation of the role of the committee).  And then the chair of the former committee resubmitted the reports to the board asking that they be included verbatim in the minutes and handed copies to a member of the audience.  Thereby it is in the public realm.

It is unlikely that any of the questions raised in these reports will be substantively addressed if the public and membership are not aware of the issues these report raised.

You have no business divulging LCS reports at all,  You are not a member.  You have no basis for claiming that the due process which requires this report to be responded to by the board and entered into the minutes will not be followed.  This claim is nothing more than a rather flimsy attempt to justify your and Ken's off the reservation behavior.  Even more ironic, while you made claims that I was privy to this information, all the time you've been given this information by the signatory in direct violation of the rules governing the confidentiality of this report.

I think before you publish any more inside information about LCS, Anita, it is time for you to pay your dues and become a member.  Otherwise, one really has to wonder what your agenda is.

And yes, they most certainly followed Robert's Rules of Order. What is really ironic is that not only did the main antagonist here, David, not even show up to support Ken, out of the in excess of one hundred voting members there, literally less than a handful supported him.

Maybe that's why you all continue to grind your axe on these public message boards. It is hard to see how you could have had less support from the AGM than you did.

WOW........all this animosity, aggravation and frustration from volunteers, members and even non-members of the Lake Chapala Society. What a dysfunctional dinosaur it really seems to be. I personally won't go near it with a 10 foot pole (other than the fact my property borders it.....jajaja) because the type of behavior being demonstrated here has always been my feeling about the place. You people really need to get better things to do with your "retirement years" than moan and piss about something that probably has very little direct bearing on your lives.

Just saying.......

CanuckBob wrote:WOW........all this animosity, aggravation and frustration from volunteers, members and even non-members of the Lake Chapala Society. What a dysfunctional dinosaur it really seems to be. I personally won't go near it with a 10 foot pole (other than the fact my property borders it.....jajaja) because the type of behavior being demonstrated here has always been my feeling about the place. You people really need to get better things to do with your "retirement years" than moan and piss about something that probably has very little direct bearing on your lives.

Just saying.......

perfect! it's nothing but a geriatric ward garden with a bunch of old farts[esses] bitching at each other and treating potential newcomers like shit.-SNORK!

I have chosen over past month or so to not participate in any of these discussions on any of the forums. That does not mean I do not have any opinion on what has been percolating with regard to any of these issues. I am an opinionated person. However I am also a spouse of a person who has required my confidentiality and I gave my word.

Just for the record there was no reason for Ken to attend the AGM other than to put the motion in action and have the results included in the history of LCS. He has been cooperative being on the committee for hiring an outside auditor etc.... and completing the business of committee to its end.

It is I who am not cooperative.

I did not see either of these reports until March 6th.

It is not required to be an LCS member to participate in discussions or information in online forums. But please note that I have only provided information and not an opinion on that information or the actions of either side on the issues at hand.

This would be because I am not finished.

CanuckBob wrote:WOW........all this animosity, aggravation and frustration from volunteers, members and even non-members of the Lake Chapala Society. What a dysfunctional dinosaur it really seems to be. I personally won't go near it with a 10 foot pole (other than the fact my property borders it.....jajaja) because the type of behavior being demonstrated here has always been my feeling about the place. You people really need to get better things to do with your "retirement years" than moan and piss about something that probably has very little direct bearing on your lives.

Just saying.......

YOU HAVE NAILED IT, CB. Nailed it!

I was just thinking how these "discussions" immediately turn into vicious personal attacks and leads me to believe that all of this crapola has nada to do with LCS and everything to do with personality conflicts, old thinking versus new thinking, and I wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft pole either.

solajijic wrote:I have chosen over past month or so to not participate in any of these discussions on any of the forums.  That does not mean I do not have any opinion on what has been percolating with regard to any of these issues.  I am an opinionated person.  However I am also a spouse of a person who has required my confidentiality and I gave my word.

Just for the record there was no reason for Ken to attend the AGM other than to put the motion in action and have the results included in the history of LCS.  He has been cooperative being on the committee for hiring an outside auditor etc....  and completing the business of committee to its end.

It is I who am not cooperative.  

I did not see either of these reports until March 6th.  

It is not required to be an LCS member to participate in discussions or information in online forums.  But please note that I have only provided information and not an opinion on that information or the actions of either side on the issues at hand.

This would be because I am not finished.

If the report you published here is accurate, it is hard to see how the intent, spirit of intent, and actual conditions of the donor were not ignored/violated, no matter how pressing other expenses of the organization were.
If all of this is as you say, the transgressors should be exposed.

After a sabbatical of many months and numerous snide comments on TOB regarding confrontations on this forum, I would guess we are now seeing just why Mainecoons returned for another visit?

What CanuckBob and Trailrunner said.
Geez, people. Do you have any idea how few years (at most) you have left to spend on this planet? Are you sure this is how you want to spend your precious remaining time?

Pedro wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:WOW........all this animosity, aggravation and frustration from volunteers, members and even non-members of the Lake Chapala Society. What a dysfunctional dinosaur it really seems to be. I personally won't go near it with a 10 foot pole (other than the fact my property borders it.....jajaja) because the type of behavior being demonstrated here has always been my feeling about the place. You people really need to get better things to do with your "retirement years" than moan and piss about something that probably has very little direct bearing on your lives.

Just saying.......

perfect! it's nothing but a geriatric ward garden with a bunch of old farts[esses] bitching at each other and treating potential newcomers like shit.-SNORK!

I have been lakeside for almost a year. When I first arrived I went to check out the LCS. As a potential newcomer, I was treated with no respect, an inconvenience when I asked questions, and like a piece of sh-t.