President’s Corner
March 1, 2019
We Have Launched Our Own Website!
In the past, the Friends of the Newburyport Public Library website has been embedded within the library’s website. We are grateful to the library staff for enabling the Friends to have a worldwide web presence for many years. The Friends’ Board of Directors concluded that as it looked to the future, it was time to launch our own website.
While all board members contributed to the content and review of our new site as it developed, I want to especially recognize board members Jennifer Howe and Annette Trivette, who led this project. After receiving bids to have the site developed by outside consultants, Jennifer and Annette decided that they could build a better site themselves and at a lower cost. Over the past 18 months, Jennifer and Annette have spent an enormous amount of time working on the design and buildout of the Friends’ website.
We have now launched! As of March 1st, the Friends has its own, independent website. It can be accessed at www.newburyportfol.org. I believe you will find that the site is both visually appealing and easy to navigate. We will make every effort to keep the site up to date and relevant.
Two years ago, the Board of Directors determined that it would discontinue our quarterly printed newsletter, Footnotes, in part because of the costs of publication, but also because by the time the publication reached members, some of the content was out of date. Our goal in moving to an online presence is to effectively address both these challenges. I have committed to a monthly column, as opposed to a quarterly one. Friends of the Newburyport Public Library events will be posted in a timely fashion also. We hope these changes will deepen members’ engagement.
Members will also receive notices via email. We promise not to overwhelm you with emails, but email is the most timely and cost-effective way for us to reach you, the members of the Friends. For this reason, I ask all of you who use email to share your addresses with us. We will not share them or use them for any purpose other than to alert you to upcoming programs, ask your opinion or remind you when membership renewals come up each June.
June is ‘Membership Month.” As I explained in last month’s column, in 2016, the Board of Directors voted to change the long standing practice of having the membership year run from July 1 to June 30 of each year to one in which membership ran for 12 months from the date of joining or renewing. After two years of experience, the Board concluded that changing the membership year did not produce the anticipated benefits, but did cause confusion. For these reasons, we have returned to our prior practice of annual memberships that run from July 1 to June 30. Those who join or renew between now and June 30 will have memberships that run through June 30, 2020.
Recognizing that not everyone uses email, we will continue to use the U.S. Postal Service to send important communications and updates to members who prefer this mode of communication. Our primary goal, after all, is to ensure that our members are informed about the many ways in which their financial support serves to support the programs and services of our wonderful library.