Friends of Rockland Public Library
Annual Book Sale June 19, 10 AM - 2 PM
Here's an easy way to help the Friends raise much-needed funds for the Rockland Public Library! Make a donation for the sale in one or more of the following categories. Please contact the coordinator listed below for more information. Thank you for helping to make this a fun and successful event!
Books:
In good condition, especially children's, paperback mysteries, and Maine topics or authors. Contact: Nancy Eugely 594-7601 or Jeanie Schaden 593-7112.
Plants:
Perennial divisions, seedlings, herbs or annuals. Labels and descriptions are required. Contact: Kathy Thyng 596-6125 or Rebecca Albright 594-8925.
Baked Goods:
Homemade treats such as cakes, pies, breads or confections. Contact: Eileen Spectre 594-2457 or Lucy Levenseler 594-9260.
The mission of the Friends of Rockland Public Library is to support the goals of the Library and its Advisory Board in their efforts to serve the City and the greater Rockland community.
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What does this mean? Simply put, it means that we, as Friends of the Rockland Library, work to find ways to help the library be the best facility it possibly can. The main things we do are:
• Help find and train volunteers to assist in the library
• Publicize the library’s resources and needs
• Raise funds to support programs and to purchase books and materials
• Help finance the purchase of goods and services that are not provided for in the city budget.
We are a membership organization.
Community support is critical to the success of the library, and one of the ways you can show that support is by joining the Friends. Your annual dues [please see below] play a significant role in the fund raising we do, although it is not the only way we raise funds. We also look for volunteers who can be active within the organization, helping plan events, working at the Book Stop in the library, and providing various necessary services.
Please consider becoming a member of the Friends
in addition to being a card-carrying library user!
Becoming a Member
Members receive our quarterly newsletter and advance notice of special events at the library. Pick up a Friends brochure at the library next time you go in, fill out the application and give it, along with your membership dues, to the librarian at the circulation desk, or mail it along with your check to P.O. Box 764, Rockland, ME 04841.
Membership levels:
$10 Member
| $25 Contributor
| $50 Patron
| $100 Sponsor
| $200 Business
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Volunteering
Friends volunteers may work in the library, helping staff with day to day tasks, and they may also work on activities and projects that the Friends have underway. While many volunteers work on some kind of regular basis, it is important to note that it is not necessary to commit to a regular schedule for many tasks. Many Friends volunteer a few hours each week, some, a few hours each month, and some help only on special events like our annual book sale. Some folks are in town only for the summer, and some, only the winter.
A sampling of volunteer opportunities:
Shelving books
Mending books
Covering new books
Gardening
Reading at Story Time
Delivering Books-On-Wheels
Clerking at the Book Stop
Book sorting for the Book Stop and book sale
Helping to plan and/or run the book sale
Helping to plan and/or run special fundraisers
Participate in program development ideas
Bring your own personal expertise to the library!
To volunteer, please call Volunteer Coordinator Nancy Eugley at 594-7601.
Recent and On-going Friends Funding Projects
Underwriting library cards for children who live outside our school district
Funding free inter-library loans for Rockland Library users
Substantially increasing the library’s collection, with particular attention to children’s books
Providing scholarships to library staff
Offering special children’s programs
Replacing all of the public access computers in the library
Funding purchase of new meeting room chairs
Replacement of A/V equipment
For more information, contact Mary Gale, President, Friends of Rockland Public Library.
Friends of the Rockland Public Library Board of Directors 2009
Mary Gale
| President |
Nancy Eugley
| Vice President
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| P.J. Walter | Treasurer
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| Jane Rasmussen | Secretary |
| Rebecca Albright | |
| Lea Carver | |
Trudy Crane
Lucy Levenseler
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| Jo Linscott | |
| Kathy Thyng | |
| Marilyn Trask | |
| Jeanie Schaden | |
Eileen Spectre
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| Katie Syrett | |
| Amy Levine | Ex officio |
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A Brief History of the Friends
Who helps buy extra books for the library? Who saw to it that the Children's room was repainted and acquired new carpeting (before our renovations)? Who pastes little pockets in the back of new library books? Who weeds the plantings beside the library walls? Who runs the Book Stop where you can buy inexpensive used books? Who manages the big annual book sale? Who organizes the Children's Fair? Who has prepared this website? The answer: Friends! Friends of the Rockland Public Library.
Friends are all volunteers who want to help the library. There are about 240 of them. They are organized with officers and a board of directors, a newsletter, a bank account, a budget, and lots of ideas for helping the library. They are devoted to our library, but they are also one of a great many Friends organizations all around the country. If our Friends run out of ideas they can learn what other Friends are doing.
The Rockland Friends were active in the 1930s and '40s, then faded away for a time. A new group became active in 1992 and since then have not only found many ways to help the library function, but have become a force in the community, speaking up for the library, reminding people of its value and its services. They have published a history of the library; they sponsor an historical lecture series each year; they are paying to restore and preserve important historical documents belonging to the library, and General Knox's portrait. They have secured grants to help them get all of Rockland's newspapers on microfilm. Now we can look up stories back to 1846! (written by Marjorie East)