Amy Dalton: Every library needs Friends

It is National Friends of the Library Week, and yes, we appreciate all of our friends, but this is about our Friends.

Just what is included in that capital letter “f”? Friends of Johnson County Public Library are donors and volunteers that raise extra money so that your Johnson County Public Library can provide larger events for our community, such as visits by best-selling authors and an expanded summer learning program, Explore Summer.

Funds raised by the Friends have helped provide you with the opportunity to meet authors like Julia Quinn, the creator of “Bridgerton,” Dorthea Benton Frank, Brad Thor and Karen Slaughter, authors who don’t always make stops outside of big cities. The Friends also have made community prizes available when Explore Summer reading goals are met. These include a circulating Library of Things, such as telescopes, microscopes, baking kits and more, that cardholders can borrow.

Have you ever attended a library program where you got to be creative and make something? A lot of those supplies — paint, fabric, yarn, canvases — are made available by the Friends. The library is about learning in all different ways, and we provide not only books but also hands-on experiences for all ages.

The largest fundraising efforts are the Friends of JCPL Book Sales. Every day, our branches get donations that are sent to the Friends where volunteers sort through and organize them for the sales. Then, several times a year, these volunteers set up thousands of items that anyone can come and purchase. Believe me, there are some true gems.

Library staff and branch volunteers box up materials to send to the Friends and get to see all the donated books. It takes a lot of hands to put up tables, arrange all the books, make signage, staff the sales and then handle all the transactions. Each sale has the inventory of a small book shop.

Our Friends also help to stock Little Free Libraries around the county, which are cute wooden boxes at parks and many other locations where anyone can take a book or leave a book to share.

All of these efforts help to get books to readers.

If you are interested in becoming a capital letter “f” Friend of JCPL, visit your branch or PageAfterPage.org/friends for more information. If you know a Friend of JCPL, make sure they know how much the whole community appreciates everything they do.

Amy Dalton is an adult librarian at the White River branch of the Johnson County Public Library. Library staff members share in writing this bi-monthly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].