News

News from Friends of the South End Library

by Submitted by Marleen Nienhuis, FOSEL
Friday Jun 19, 2020

This article is from the June 18, 2020 issue of South End News.


Events
Widely Praised Novelist and Lambda Award Winner, Carter Sickels ("The Evening Hour"), Will Discuss His Latest Work, "The Prettiest Star," via ZOOM on Tuesday, June 23rd, at 6:30 PM
Atlanta Journal-Constitution review suggests the theme of the "toll on smalltown America" during the AIDS epidemic is not dissimilar from the impact on rural America of the Covid-19 pandemic of today. "What happens when a son comes back home, and he's sick with the most feared disease of our time?" is the question at the root of tale. Kirkus Reviews called the book a "brutally fresh kind of homecoming novel."
For more information visit https://www.friendsofsouthendlibrary.org/

Annual Members' Meeting
The FOSEL Annual Members' Meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 1, at 6:00 PM, via ZOOM.

FOSEL's joint Members/Annual Board Meeting in March was canceled due to the pandemic. Instead, the board held a separate Annual Meeting on May 7 via ZOOM. We had hoped to hold out and convene an in-person Members' Meeting, but given the uncertainty we are facing, we thought it best to move ahead with a virtual Members' Meeting.
At the Annual Board Meeting in May, the directors voted to elect a new slate of directors to govern for 2020 and to approve a series of changes to FOSEL's bylaws. At the upcoming Members' Meeting, the Members will be asked to vote to confirm the 2020 slate of directors and to approve the bylaws changes. Links to the list of the 2020 slate and to a copy of the bylaws highlighting all changes can be found below. The most important of the bylaws changes is a governance shift from a Membership governance structure as we now have to a board only governance structure.
The idea behind creating a Membership organization in 2006-7 was that FOSEL wanted to be broadly supported by the community for the Library's benefit. Over the years we have been able to achieve that aim in another way, namely by producing programming and successfully advocating for Library and Park renovations.
With membership governance, the Membership had to meet on a regular basis and keep minutes which, unfortunately, did not happen, nor were Membership rolls kept up. The primary driver of the proposed governance change was eliminating these types of administrative obligations while still enabling all interested to continue to participate in FOSEL programs, receive our newsletter, and keep up our efforts to make the South End Library and Library Park the best they can be.
After the change, all will still be welcome to attend the board's Annual Meeting. And, financially, we will still invite you to be supporting members on an annual basis at a donor level you can afford. However, with the approval of the bylaws amendments, the governance of FOSEL will be the responsibility of the board of directors alone.
For more information visit https://www.friendsofsouthendlibrary.org/