Many of you may have heard about the “Friends of the Library” (short FOL) but sadly most of you probably have never heard of them at all. I would like to take this opportunity to tell the good folks in Bryan County a little bit about who the Friends of the Library are and what they do and how important they are to our public libraries.
The FOL is an all volunteer, non-profit 501(c) 3 organization that raises funds for special and innovative library programs, equipment and services, which are not part of the normal annual budget. They accomplish this by raising funds through the sale of books and memberships.
They have an annual Book/Yard Sale which is coming up on April 10 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and of course they sell books year around at the local library.
Over the past years the Friends of the Library have made funds available for the following library needs:
- Summer Reading Program (Performer Fee’s, Prizes and more)
- Purchase of large selection of large print books
- Purchase of large selection of books on CD
- Purchase of large selection of DVD’S
- Purchase of new furniture for our conference rooms
- Hosted “Meet the Author” events
- Purchase of all the small but important things like bookmarks, bags, posters, and much, much more
In a nutshell, without the support from our Friends of the Library we would not be able to offer half of what we are offering to our patrons in and around Richmond Hill.
Currently, as our economy struggles and with the state and local budget cuts everyone is facing we are relying more and more on the FOL for their support and financial help.
As I mentioned previously, the FOL is an all volunteer group that has elected Officers to help organize and initiate all that they do and members at large to help with the workload. Over the years the number of active members has been reduced drastically as some have moved away and others have moved on.
It takes a lot of hands to stock the sales shelves, to sort through the donations and of course to put together a large Book/Yard Sale. But it takes dedication and a love for books and our library to make it a success.
So at this point I encourage all those of you that have some time, that love books and most of all that care about our library, to join the Friends of the Richmond Hill Library as they strive to help and support us.
For more information on FOL membership please stop by the library.
George is assistant library manager at the Richmond Hill Library.
The FOL is an all volunteer, non-profit 501(c) 3 organization that raises funds for special and innovative library programs, equipment and services, which are not part of the normal annual budget. They accomplish this by raising funds through the sale of books and memberships.
They have an annual Book/Yard Sale which is coming up on April 10 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and of course they sell books year around at the local library.
Over the past years the Friends of the Library have made funds available for the following library needs:
- Summer Reading Program (Performer Fee’s, Prizes and more)
- Purchase of large selection of large print books
- Purchase of large selection of books on CD
- Purchase of large selection of DVD’S
- Purchase of new furniture for our conference rooms
- Hosted “Meet the Author” events
- Purchase of all the small but important things like bookmarks, bags, posters, and much, much more
In a nutshell, without the support from our Friends of the Library we would not be able to offer half of what we are offering to our patrons in and around Richmond Hill.
Currently, as our economy struggles and with the state and local budget cuts everyone is facing we are relying more and more on the FOL for their support and financial help.
As I mentioned previously, the FOL is an all volunteer group that has elected Officers to help organize and initiate all that they do and members at large to help with the workload. Over the years the number of active members has been reduced drastically as some have moved away and others have moved on.
It takes a lot of hands to stock the sales shelves, to sort through the donations and of course to put together a large Book/Yard Sale. But it takes dedication and a love for books and our library to make it a success.
So at this point I encourage all those of you that have some time, that love books and most of all that care about our library, to join the Friends of the Richmond Hill Library as they strive to help and support us.
For more information on FOL membership please stop by the library.
George is assistant library manager at the Richmond Hill Library.