In honor of our annual Friends of the Library Authors Dinner being held this month, I thought it was fitting to take a moment to recognize our fabulous friends at the Stanly County Public Library.
Sara Hahn
This month, attendees can enjoy a delicious taco bar sponsored by Second Street Sundries and wine from Uwharrie Vineyards, chat with author Kimmery Martin, and receive a signed copy of his book, “Antidote for Everything.” , provided by The Country Bookshop in South Pines. With our Spring Book Sale in April and our Authors’ Dinner in May, you’ve no doubt heard of our Friends in Town.
Did you know that in addition to hosting great events and offering frugal deals on books to our community, they also give back to your library?
Over the past few years, sales from the Spring and Fall Book Sale and other Friends-sponsored events have funded projects large and small across our library system. Each year, Friends of the Library offers “mini-grants” to our libraries so that ideas can be imagined, presented and funded.
Have you noticed the beautiful murals on the walls of the children’s room in Albemarle?
Our friends funded the cost of the murals, painted by talented local artist Kevin Smith, over three consecutive years of mini-grants. One of the murals features our picture book collection with many favorite characters including The Cat in the Hat, Curious George and Arthur.
The other two murals bring art and education together in our non-fiction collection by labeling the Dewey Decimal location for subjects on the shelves that are in the paintings. A dinosaur scene takes us back to prehistoric times with size comparisons between a human (612), an elephant (599.6) and many dinosaurs (567.9) while an underwater scene focuses on different types of marine life, including a sea turtle (597.92), a shark (597.3) and a great blue whale (599.5).
Speaking of adding beauty to our spaces, the Friends funded the cost of adding slatted wall finials to the shelves in the children’s room in Albemarle to provide more book display space facing face, an area for advertising programming and to help create a cohesive appearance connecting children. adult areas and common areas of the library. Beautification also took place on behalf of our Friends in the branch libraries, with the addition of chairs, tables, shelves and new books to add to their collections.
If you have ever participated in our summer reading program for adults or children, the Friends have also helped sponsor these events. From booking community programs, shows at the Agri-Civic Center for Kids, to offering incentive prizes to readers of all ages, our community members have been reached in many ways through music. , literacy, contests and more.
This summer our theme will be ‘Oceans of Possibilities’ and Friends will be providing ‘Brag Tags’ which children will earn by completing up to 10 hours of reading and can clip to their schoolbags to show their friends. Keep a close eye on our summer schedule coming later this month. A special thank you to Carol Sasser, our Chair of the Friends of the Library, and all of her team members.
For more information on becoming a friend of the Stanly County Public Library, contact stanlylibraryfriends@gmail.com
Now Playing: “Ugly Love” by Colleen Hoover.
Children’s Book Highlight: “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein.
Sara Hahn is the Child and Youth Services Librarian at the Stanly County Public Library, 133 E. Main St., Albemarle.
