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I’m now entering my second term as President of the Friends of the Library of Flagler County. It has been a wonderful, rewarding and successful experience for me, and, I think for the Friends as well as the Library. We’ve increased attendance at the programs – for adults, teens and children. We’ve seen many improvements at the Library, such as wireless Internet access, a history room dedicated to the history of Flagler County, increased volume of foreign language books to the collection, public access software that features practice tests for many categories, including nursing, real estate and more. Currently, we are focusing on improved equal access standards and adding assistive technology. However, despite those advanced changes and improvements, I have heard that people are still not aware of the Friends of the Library and the support we offer to the advancement of literacy and the Library. In some cases, there is a lack of understanding of the funding for the Library versus what the Friends do. It is one area in which I am advised we could still use some help – we need to let the community know what we do and how they can offer support. Surprisingly, despite the vast support we get from our Memberships and, the fantastic support we get from the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners, the Friends memberships remain steady – steady is good, but with the growth in the County, we would like to see an equivalent growth. If I can provide some background and clarification, perhaps we can improve our support to the Library and community. 1). We are a County library system. Our funding comes mainly from the County budgeting and the monies collected by the Friends of the Library. Although the main library is physically located in Palm Coast and, the branch library is in Bunnell, the cities themselves do not fund and contribute to the library budget. A small amount of budget money comes from the State Aid to Libraries Grant program. However, the amount of grant money available depends on the amount of money allocated by the Legislature; since FY 2000-2001, this amount of money as been decreasing. 2). As the County grew, so did the use of the libraries. Since the new Library was built seven years ago, it has become a community center, offering programs, artwork, and access to the Internet. The Friends supplement the Library budget based on the contributions and donations we receive. As I mentioned, the growth of the county has been greater than the contributions. We, the Friends, fund all of the adult, young adult and children’s programs offered at the Library. Once the Library budget has been set for the year, if something comes up that needs to be paid for or funded and it is not included in the budget, the Friends step up. 3). We would like to offer more to the Library and community, but in order to do that, we need more help – both in terms of money and those that would like to volunteer their time to serve on committees or at the Library. We welcome anyone with the desire and/or interest. In fact, your interest might serve to add a new dimension to what we have to offer. In joining the Friends, we offer a variety of levels of Membership, with different benefits at the various levels. In my experience, the greatest advantage to joining the Friends is that you get a newsletter which advises you, usually in advance, of upcoming events, you will get notified by email of new programs and, you get an invitation to a preview book sale every April. It will also entitle you to an invitation to our Annual Meeting and Author’s Luncheon. In addition to your own Membership, there are other ways you can support the Friends of the Library. They include: 1). You can purchase Memberships for your family and friends as gifts. A wonderful opportunity and present for them and a tax deduction for you! 2). Many corporations, such as IBM and Exxon, offer Matching Grants. The program can work in a variety of ways. For example, you pay your Membership Dues and the corporation matches a portion of that and donates it to our non-profit Friends organization. Or, you volunteer for a specified number of hours per month or per quarter and your company donates a specified dollar amount equivalent to the hours you worked. In either instance, we all win! Please look into this with your corporation. This may be a valuable untapped resource which your company is already set up for and willing to pay. 3). We offer memorial or dedication bricks for our Brick Pathway which leads from the Library to the Gazebo. You can purchase a commemorative Brick for a variety of reasons: in memoriam, congratulations, birthdays, anniversaries, celebration of significant events of any reason – your choice is endless. And, it serves as a long lasting remembrance of the event. 4). Donations can be made to the Library as memorials. To provide the proper information, please be advised that in this instance, the checks should be made out to the Friends of the Library of Flagler County (FOLFC), not the Library or the County. By doing so, we will ensure that all monies go directly to the support of the Library. If your loved one had a special interest, you can even specify that the donations be used to support that interest. Designated monies are accepted and identified as such so your requests are met. 5). For a lasting, continuing remembrance, donations
can also be made to our We truly hope one of these opportunities will be of interest to you. The Flagler County community has been extremely supportive of our Library and the activities of the Friends. I hope this will provide you with some food for thought on how you can continue to offer support. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Terry Jones |
