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Many non-profit organizations have a supporting group that helps them fundraise. Libraries have what is called Friends of the Library groups that can hold special events and fundraise for their library. Our Friends of the Library group consists of dedicated and supportive library champions that have consistently supported our library in word and deed. They are responsible for accepting and managing book sale donations and then holding the book sales, the annual kayak raffle (coming soon, by the way), maintaining the gorgeous garden outside the library, volunteering at the library and more.
Annual membership to the Friends of the Library, as well as proceeds from their fundraisers and book sales, go towards the funds they can provide to the library. The Friends also accept donations, which are tax-deductible. But you may wonder, what is the difference between donating to the library and donating to the Friends? Allow me to explain.
Donations to the library go towards purchasing specific books for our collection, buying mobile hotspots, funding children's programming or simply helping keep the lights on. If you want your donation to go to something immediate, a donation to the library is right for you.
Donations to the Friends go towards the library making special purchases, such as purchasing new printers, computers, making improvements to the library building and more. If you want your donation to go towards a special purchase that may not happen right away but will have a long-term benefit to the library, a donation to the Friends is right for you.
Simply put, donations to the Friends do not go towards daily operations. Either way, you are supporting the library, but it is important to know where your donation is going and what it will do.
From the Friends Membership Chair, Ginny Haubert:
"The official 2024 Friends of the Library Membership Renewal period and Membership Campaign has officially started. The Friends' membership is based on the calendar year from January to December each year. Therefore, all current memberships (with the exception of Lifetime Members) will expire on Dec. 31, 2023 regardless of when you paid your dues. (Exception: new members who join during October, November or December of any year are automatically enrolled for the next year).
There will be no change in dues for 2024. Dues are based on the following categories: Student/Senior $10, Individual $15, Family $25 and Individual Lifetime Member $200. To join or renew, visit the library or its website, www.juniatalibrary.org.
It is through your generosity and continued interest that the Friends are able to fund important additions to the library. Thanks to our membership dues, donations and support for our fundraisers, this year we were able to provide our library with a new television set, a sound bar and a Blu-ray player for the Virginia Swartz Community Room, a television set for the lobby, a computer for the assistant director, renewals for seven Hot Spots and funding for carpet and floor cleaning landscape maintenance."
Book of the week!
If you are going to read one book, give this one a try...
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks
(New adult nonfiction: self-help, personal growth, psychology) ~ 320 pages
In a nutshell: A hands-on guide to making meaningful human connections.
David Brooks, center-right opinion columnist for the New York Times, has written a handful of books. The Social Animal (2011) was a great listen (via audiobook while I drove.) In his latest book, he has the reader "recognizing how the breakdown of basic moral and social skills has been leading to a massive civilizational failure." The author offers yet another inspirational roadmap to building strong moral character and achieving authentic self-actualization. "There is one skill," he writes, "that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen--to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard and understood. That is at the heart of being a good person, the ultimate gift you can give to others and to yourself." In fleshing out his deeply earnest, relatable objective, Brooks references an assortment of literary, scientific and psychological sources, shares personal anecdotes and relates longer profile stories of a host of notables, including Vivian Gornick, Zora Neale Hurston and Frederick Buechner. He also applies ideals from the writing of Iris Murdoch as a kind of moral compass, particularly evidenced in her book The Sovereignty of Good. This book reads like a more practical how-to guide than the author's previous ones. In his aim to equip readers on their quest to a better understanding of fellow human beings, he poses thought-provoking questions and holistic insights--e.g., "A person is a point of view. Every person you meet is a creative artist who takes the events of life and, over time, creates a very personal way of seeing the world." Brooks occasionally stumbles in his descriptions of experiences from the framework of his own largely affluent inner circle of acquaintances and the many insights gathered from lofty dinner-party conversations. Cumulatively, these examples occasionally undermine his specified intent of truly seeing people from all walks of life. However, his intentions seem sound and heartfelt.
Bottom line: The virtues of seeing and being seen.
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Vince Giordano has been the librarian and director of the Juniata County Library since 2015.