We hope you enjoy this edition of the Friends of Tualatin Library e-newsletter.
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                         News and information                                                          January 2018

In This Issue

Annual Meeting
Chamber AM Networking
Donations to the Library
WCCLS Levy Goals
People For Libraries
Umpqua Bank
"Christmas Past" Display
Spotlight on Laura Baker
Welcome New Members

Have You Renewed?

If you haven't already renewed your Friends of Tualatin Library membership, please do so today. You can send us a check or renew online on our website and pay with a credit card.

Next Book Sales

We've set the dates for the two 2018 semi-annual book sales. Mark your calendars:
May 4-6, 2018
November 2-4, 2018

Annual Meeting/Elections

You are cordially invited to attend the Friends of Tualatin Library annual meeting on Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at 6:30 pm in the Library Community Room.

On the agenda will be our recent election of Board Officers and Directors. Serving as officers will be: Laura Baker, President; Eleanore Mickus, Vice President; Allison Austin, Secretary; and Donald Swygard, Treasurer. Board of Directors Members at Large will be Kay Kendall, Gwen Martin, Dee Sitko, Molly Skeen, and Karen Uboldi.

We hope you will join us.

Chamber Networking Meeting

The Friends will host the Tualatin Chamber of Commerce AM Networking meeting on Friday, February 2nd at the library. As host, we'll have the opportunity to share a ten-minute spot about our organization with the group, which can number from 50-75 local business leaders and representatives. This will be a great opportunity to showcase the Friends at our library.

Donations to the Tualatin Library

At our November meeting, the Board voted to donate $2000 to the library for various programs:
  • $800 for winter break programs for kids including: Mo Phillips, a musician who specializes in kid-friendly rock 'n roll; a mock Oregon Battle of the Books for grades 3 to 5; and a Star Wars party for kids of all ages.
  • $1200 to fund the popular Music Around the Hearth series. Next up is the synth-pop group DoublePlusGood (pictured above), scheduled to perform on Sunday, January 28th. Check the library calendar for other scheduled performances.

WCCLS Levy Goals

At a recent meeting of the Countywide Library Friends group, WCCLS Director Eva Calcagno spoke about the county system's progress toward achieving "levy goals." These are the five-year goals the system set to make use of funding granted by the replacement levy, Measure 34-235, passed by voters in 2015.

There are five goal categories: 1) public library operations; 2) reading programs for children; 3) book purchases; 4) resources for job-seekers; and 5) central support and outreach services that link libraries together.

Each category includes specific ambitious, but achievable goals. For example, the goal under "book purchases" states that WCCLS will seek to "expand purchase of books, e-books and other materials that would be available to all users of libraries in Washington County." Progress made to date for this goal includes: 1) increases in budget for e-books and e-audiobooks; 2) hire full time e-content librarian; 3) migrate to one e-book vendor for better service; 3) add Spanish e-books and e-audiobooks; 4) add another digital format for countywide access; and 5) expand the high-demand purchase program.

These are just part of what WCCLS has accomplished with the levy money. If you would like to learn more, please link to the document Update on Levy Goals for FY2016-17 through FY2020-21.

People For Libraries

The Friends budget $500 annually to support People for Libraries, the Washington County political action committee that advocates for public library funding for WCCLS. The group worked hard to help pass Measure 34-235, a 5-year replacement levy that helps support library services through 2021.

But why would we continue to send money to this group in the years between levies? Here's how the People for Libraries PAC explains the need for ongoing funding:
"The Oregon Political Contribution Tax Credit is limited to a certain amount each year per individual or couple, and the IRS places limits on how much nonprofit groups are allowed to give to political measure campaigns each year. Donating in the years between campaigns allows us to hit the ground running when the levy goes on the ballot!"

You can learn more about People for Libraries on their website.

Thank you, Umpqua Bank

We want to thank Umpqua Bank and its employees Samantha, Logan, and Anna for their support at our recent semi-annual book sales. Umpqua Bank is committed to community service and encourages staff to volunteer up to 40 hours each year (paid!) with nonprofit organizations in communities where the bank does business.

Umpqua explains its community service philosophy on its website:
"Here at Umpqua, investing is who we are, what we are, and why we are—but we’re not talking about your money. We’re talking about shaping our neighborhoods and engaging with our neighbors through community giving and community action."

During the past year Umpqua Bank donated more than 50,000 hours to the community through the Connect Volunteer Network. Umpqua also makes financial donations to nonprofits through the Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation.

Christmas Past Display

We hope you had a chance to see the Friends special Christmas Past exhibit in the library lobby display cabinet. It was compiled by Friends volunteer Kay Kendall in collaboration with the library staff and other Friends volunteers.

The project began in late 2015 when a copy of Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster was donated to the library. Inscribed by a father to his daughter for Christmas 2016 the inscription is now 100 years old. To collect one book inscribed at Christmas each year of the century between 1916 and 2016 would be a nifty trick!

Word went out to Friends volunteers to watch for Christmas inscriptions; book by book over the following two years, the inscribed copies were set aside. Tualatin Library staff contributed many hours of time, expertise, and encouragement as the project developed. To date, approximately more than 60 books representing 45 years in the last century have found their way to the Christmas inscription collection.

The display featured many of the collection’s antiquarian and vintage books, as well as their inscriptions.

Spotlight on Laura Baker

Laura Baker started her active involvement with the Friends in 2011 when Eleanore Mickus asked her to help with shipping books sold through our new Amazon book store. Soon after that she agreed to serve on the Friends Board.

Laura had some ideas for improving our semi-annual book sales in 2012, so she offered to serve as chair. Since then she's made many improvements to sale operations: streamlining the transport of books from storage to the sale; better signage and publicity; adding a members-only presale; more categories for book genres; and identifying a way to sell the books left over at the end of the sale.

While continuing to ship books and chair the semi-annual book sales, Laura agreed to serve as president of our organization in 2015. In that capacity, she has led the organization in identifying and achieving an impressive list of goals to increase membership and volunteer participation.

What does Laura see as the biggest challenge to the Friends?

“We presently have a wonderful, hard-working, and creative group of volunteers but we are always in need of more help to keep our operation going," she said. "The biggest challenge we have always faced is to have enough volunteers to meet our ambitious goals for the Friends of the Library.”

Welcome New Members

We extend a warm welcome to the newest members of Friends of the Tualatin Public Library:
Rodney Harwood, Lifetime Member
Marguerite Morin
Nicholas Schiller Family
Ashley Wahl Family
Copyright © 2017, All rights reserved.

Friends of Tualatin Library
P. O. Box 3914
Tualatin, OR 97062-3914
friendsoftualatinlibrary@outlook.com
friendsoftualatinlibrary.org
Tax ID: 02-0609835
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Friends of the Tualatin Public Library · P. O. Box 3914 · Tualatin, OR 97062 · USA

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