Our Best Friends by Paula

There are lots of specially designated weeks to celebrate lots of different causes and organizations throughout the year, but one of my new favorites is “National Friends of the Library Week,” which will be celebrated all next week Oct. 20-26.  It’s a favorite for me because it’s an opportunity to celebrate all the wonderful things that the Friends of the Stillwater Library do to make our library great. 

It all begins with the semi-annual book sales. The fall book sale this year was one of the largest semi-annual sales ever with more than 25,000 books. Each of those books was moved, sorted, and displayed by a volunteer for the Friends of the Library.  During the sale, volunteers staffed the counting and checkout tables, answered questions, and helped to keep the book tables full of great finds. That’s a lot of work and they do it all twice a year in order to raise funds to support the library.  And all of their hard work paid off.  This fall’s sale garnered over $13,000 which was a record!

The Friends understand that a well-funded library is important to our community. The programs they support include everything from Summer Reading Programs for kids of all ages to “Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma” book discussions. They’ve helped purchase thousands of books, equipment to help the library run smoothly, training for the librarians and statuary to make the grounds more beautiful. Without the Friends, Stillwater Public Library would not be the place we all know and enjoy today. Their service is an example for us all in how volunteerism can lead to the betterment of our community.

It’s nice to have the opportunity next week to express appreciation for everything that the Friends have done and continue to do for our library. If you’re interested, membership in the Friends is $10 per calendar year. Your membership gets you into the preview days for book sales and your money goes to help support the Friends’ mission. If you’d like to be more involved, contact the Friends through the library website to see how you can help out. And if you feel so inclined, this would be a perfect week to make a financial donation to the Friends to show that you value not only the library and all it does for the community but all the people who volunteer their time and energy as well.