If you knew someone with 23,511 books, 1,329 videos and 887 audios you could borrow, wouldn?t you want to be their friend?
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If you knew someone with 23,511 books, 1,329 videos and 887 audios you could borrow, wouldn?t you want to be their friend?
This is a question being asked by a committee working to organize the Friends of the Grundy County-Jewett Norris Library. Across the country, “Friends” groups are making an impact on their libraries. Volunteer services, fund raising, assistant with special events and seasonal projects are just a few of the activities in which Friends groups become involved.
In Trenton, a committee comprised of Tracy Utley, Deborah Dye and Helen Holck have been working with Jewett Norris Library Director Lynne Moos and Gloria Carpenter of the library board to develop an organizational plan for a local “Friends” group. Mailings will soon be sent out to invite county residents to join, and there will be an informational meeting held Sept. 9 at 7 p.m., at the Hoover Theater in the library.
It has been said that great cities have great libraries. The city of Trenton is fortunate to have a great asset in the Grundy County-Jewett Norris Library Library. The library is unique in its position in the community. It is an invaluable source of information and pleasure for children, students, adults and businesses. The lovely historic building is a popular site for visitors and the Hoover Theater on the third floor is used for presentations of interest to all.
Grundy County?s professional library staff faces many challenges in maintaining a building on the National Register of Historic Places and managing the multi-level facility while at the same time providing traditional library services. The new Friends of the Library will assist in the effort to carry out and enhance these services and activities.
One of the first volunteer activities will be helping with the after-school enrichment program for middle-school students that will be starting in October. Beginning with this project, this “Friends” corps of volunteers will work with library staff to implement new and exciting programs for patrons of all ages.
One interesting volunteer opportunity will be called ?Adopt-A-Shelf.? Like the Adopt-A-Highway programs across the country, this project will allow members of the Friends group to ?adopt? a shelf- or a stack of a section – and spend a little time each week or two to see that books are in proper order and in good condition. Maintaining all the selves is a very time-consuming job overall, but handled in small sections by “Friends” volunteers, it becomes quite manageable, allowing professional staff time to plan and direct other library activities.
Training opportunities will be available in order that members of the Friends of the Library may learn skills necessary for their volunteer work. Helpers in the genealogy section, for instance, need to be familiar with the organization of the department so that visitors may make optimal use of their research time. Volunteers in technical areas will want to learn about the equipment and software available for library patrons.
Members of Friends of the Library will not be committed to spend specific numbers of hours in volunteer service, but may arrange time to suit their own schedules and interests. Some may be interested in decorating the building for seasonal activities, others would enjoy managing the annual book sale, and still others would like to adopt a shelf. While some volunteers would enjoy conducting tours of the facility, others would prefer to help with clerical tasks. The library staff is hoping that there will be “Friends” with computer skills who may be interested in developing and maintaining the library?s web site. Altogether, there will be so many opportunities for service that each member will be able to find his or her own niche.
The organization will hold formal meetings only twice a year, according to present plans, and one of those meetings will be an end-of-the-year gala at the library. There are categories of membership, beginning with a standard single member simply known as a ?Friend.? Annual dues begin at $15 for Friends (individual members) and $10 for ?Old Friends? (65 and older). ?Family Friends,? two or more adults residing in the same home, may join for $25. There will be annual recognition for volunteer services and special honors for founding members and ?Friends for Life.? Membership applications are available at the library and list other categories of membership.
For more information, members of the committee may be contacted to answer questions or provide more details or interested persons may contact Lynn Moos at the library.