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President’s Message
Dear Friends,
Since I last reported much has happened. We have had a very
successful February Book Sale, grossing $100,000. We tried
several
new features during the sale and some of them will be
incorporated into
upcoming sales. Once again, thanks to all of the volunteers who
contributed time and expertise to the sale.
Our new book processing hardware and software is installed and
running. We have been conducting training classes and they are
going
well. Books are now routinely scanned at rough sort and several
decision trees determine the ultimate destination of the books.
Further training and experience will smooth out the process but
we are already seeing benefits in on-line listings and sales.
The single most important happening is that Friends has the
opportunity to purchase nearly an acre of land adjacent to our
current buildings. The parcel, directly behind the Catalina
Market, would solve most of our immediate parking and storage
problems. The Board has authorized the purchase and we are
seeking funding. A lot of on-site demolition and clean up will
need to occur once we own the property. We are also seeking
changes to existing zoning. Everyone involved in this purchase
is very excited about its potential for the Friends.
Finally, I end this message with a plea for more volunteers to
help
us move forward in our efforts to provide additional funding for
the library system. Volunteers are our backbone and we have need
for more of you in all areas, including the Board of Directors.
I urge you to take advantage of the variety of jobs we have
available both in processing and selling of our donated books.
FPCPL Members and the Support for Our Public Libraries.
 The
Friends enjoyed a very productive and successful year of
fundraising for the Pima County Public libraries with $216,000
contributed. Next year’s budget is anticipated to be $221,000.
In addition, we continue to serve as a significant community
recycler of materials. Currently .08 % of Pima County’s
population are FPCPL members. Can you imagine the things we
could do, if we just increased that to 1%? Membership Chair
Harlene Reeves and her Committee recently unveiled three
measures to increase the number of citizens who are FPCPL
members and broaden the support for our public libraries.
1. Many generous citizens donate books at the branch libraries.
The branches that accept these gifts have been enlisted to
provide a new FPCPL discount coupon entitling all donors to $2
off a Friends membership. The coupons will encourage book donors
to officially become members and will remind patrons that
support of time and funds beyond the Book Sales and book
donation helps the library grow even more. The coupons include
book sale dates and a space for the branch library name to help
us see where outreach efforts are needed.
2. Libby Stone, Friends’ Director, visited with Library Branch
Managers at their December meeting to personally deliver over
500 FPCPL holiday greeting letters for all library staff and to
extend a special invitation to join the Friends.
3. For those who seek memorable gift-giving,consider Friends’
memberships for your family and friends. If your family already
has everything they need, what better gift than to connect them
with the joy of community giving? A new gift card is now
available for these special occasions. Basic membership levels
provide a newsletter,
early access to the Book Sales, and the joy of knowing they are
helping library services expand. Advanced membership levels
receive a FPCPL mug and book bag.
Fall Book Sale a Great
Success
The 8th Annual Holiday
Book Lover’s Sale held Oct. 26-Nov. 6, 2007 was tremendously
successful. Our gross sales were over $79,000 and net sales
over $68,000 for the nine-day sale, with average daily sales and
average daily attendance both up from previous fall sales. Many
thanks go to our book sale
volunteers who helped out. Most of them even seemed to be having
fun! Members’ Day was terrific – thank you to everyone who
joined us on Friday, Oct. 26th, for a busy, busy day. Half-Price
Sundays were also a big hit, as well as Dollar Day on Mondays.
Senior Hours We’ll continue with Senior Hours at the February
sale on Monday, February 4th, from 8-10 am. This is also a good
time for anyone in a wheelchair or scooter to come in when the
crowd is smaller. So if you, or if you know of someone who has
special accommodation needs, this is a good time to plan on
shopping at the next sale.
Lost and Found
Recently, one of our volunteers opened a worn, 7x9", bound volume and found . . .
WOW! . . . ORIGINAL DEATH
CERTIFICATES! Dated 1925–1928, the certificates are for locations within Fresno County, California. Realizing that it’s highly unusual for vital statistics such as these to be circulating freely, the volunteer called the Fresno County Recorder’s Office, and learned that this volume (no. 5) had been missing for more than 23 years. The supervisor there said
that the public had been allowed to access records freely until about 10 years ago, resulting in the loss of some documents.
Incidentally volunteers: keep an eye out for volume 4, which is still missing per the recorder’s office.
Friends’ Long Term Strategic Goals
One of the key policy roles of the Friends Board is to develop a
long range strategy for the organization. On Saturday, October
7, 2006, the Board, along with the Friends General Manager and
the Library Director Nancy Ledeboer, gathered for a
day-long retreat, facilitated by Ann Markewitz. The Board heard
about the future of libraries and information technology from
Nancy Ledeboer. We brainstormed Friends’ strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. And we whittled down our priorities &
goals for 2006-2009 into these four categories:
Fund Development
Goal
1. By October 7, 2009, we
will increase revenues by diversifying revenue sources,
resulting in gross revenue exceeding year-end fiscal year
‘06 by $100,000.
Community Partnerships
Goal
2. By October 7, 2009, we
will establish at least one successful
collaboration/partnership in each of the following
categories:
-
Umbrella organization
-
Equal organization – organization with similar mission,
values
-
Limited – organization that we may do one time event
with to benefit both of us
Human Resources
Goal
3. By October 7, 2009, we
will implement a management structure and systems to achieve
our strategic goals. Specifically, by October 7, 2007
- Hire full-time Executive/GM
- Board & Executive/GM agree
on plan for identifying and utilizing existing
resources, including a survey of volunteer capabilities
- Bi-annual meeting with
Executive/GM and Board to focus on measuring progress
toward goals
Infrastructure
Goal
4. By October 7, 2009,
implement a system for the efficient and safe handling and
storage of materials from receipt through sales.
Specifically, by October 7, 2007:
If you think that you might be interested in helping the Friends work on our planning goals, please call us at 520-795-3763. We appreciate any help that you can give so that we make Friends a more successful organization.
Help us spread the word about our incredible book sales and the support we provide to our fabulous public library. |
