news and events
APRIL BOARD MEETING 4/21/08
The board will meet Monday April 21st at 5:30 pm, in Lawson McGhee Library's Arts @ the Library Room. The meeting will be led by President-Elect Bonny Naugher. Among other business we will discuss the upcoming budget process.
MARCH 2008 BOARD MEETING
The full board will meet Monday, March 10 at 5:30 pm in the East Tennessee History Center. This month we are meeting a week early to discuss Program Council business.
BOARD MEETING MONDAY 2/18/08
The Friends' Board will meet next Monday, Feb. 18, at 5:30 pm, in the LML Arts @ the Library Room.
2008 BOOK SALE
Our annual Used Book Sale is coming up soon! The sale kicks off on Sunday, March 2, 2008 from 1 to 5pm with the Members Only Preview (memberships available at the door,) then opens to the public Monday March 3 through Friday, March 7 (see hours below.) This year we are at the Old Convention Center, 701 Henley Street, in downtown Knoxville. There are plenty of volunteer opportunities prior, during and after the event. Your time can help the Friends put books into the hands of the Knox County reading community! Please contact the FOL office at 215-8775 or info@friendsoftheknoxcolib.org to volunteer, and help us make this the best Used Book Sale yet.
2008 USED BOOK SALE SCHEDULE
Friday 2/29/08 and Saturday 3/1/08, 9 am to 4 pm: Set-up in Old Convention Center.
Sunday 3/2/08, 1-5pm: Members Only Preview.
Monday 3/3/08, 11-7pm: Sale opens to the public.
Tuesday 3/4/08 and Wednesday 3/5/08, 11-7pm: Discount Days for Senior Centers, Day Care Centers, Moms' Organizations and Teachers
Thursday 3/6/08 and Friday 3/7/08, 11-7pm: Half-Price Days
Saturday 3/8/08 9am -3pm: Bag Sale Day
Saturday 3/8/08 1-3 pm: Clean-Up
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE & PROGRAM COUNCIL MEETING
The executive committee, together with the Program Council, will meet on Monday, February 11th at 12:30pm in the Lawson McGhee conference room.
BOARD MEETS JANUARY 28, 2008
The Board of Directors will meet Monday, January 28 at 5:30 pm, at the East Tennessee History Center on Gay Street.
BOARD MEETS MONDAY 12/17/07
In lieu of our December board meeting, the Board of Directors will gather at the home of Ginna Mashburn at 6pm on Monday December 17th, to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the Friends of the Knox County Public Library.
PROGRAM COUNCIL MEETING 12/10/07
The Program Council, plus all Communications Committee members, will meet at 4:00 p.m.on Monday, December 10th at LML, downstairs meeting room, to work on the Look and Feel of FOL publicity. Mary Pom will lead us in this "branding exercise." All board members interested in this project are welcome to attend.
BOARD MEETS MONDAY NOV. 19, 2007 AT 5:30 PM
The Board of Directors will meet Monday, November 19 at 5:30 pm, in the Lawson McGhee branch Arts @ the Library room. The meeting will be led by President-Elect Bonny Naugher.
NOVEMBER EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
Knox County Public Library proudly honors Christy Harvey as the November 2007 Employee of the Month. Christy is Lawson McGhee Library’s Children’s Room Manager.
NATIONAL FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY WEEK
The national Friends of the Library Week is October 21- 27, 2007. The Knox County Friends of the Library will have tables with information at the branch libraries. Join the Friends and receive a quarterly newsletter, attend the members only preview at the annual Used Book Sale, and join other citizens in showing support for the Knox County Public Library.
CLASSIC FILM THIS THURSDAY ON THE SQUARE
In conjunction with The Big Read, the Library will present the 1962 film classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" with Gregory Peck on Market Square this Thursday, October 18. Friends of the Library will be offering concessions, with popcorn, candy, and sodas each just $1. The film begins at dusk (around 7:30 p.m.), with pre-show entertainment beginning at 6:30 p.m. by spoken word artist Black Atticus.
FULL BOARD MEETING AT ETHC
The Board of Directors will meet Monday, October 15, at 5:30pm. This month our meeting will be held at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, instead of our usual location at Lawson McGhee. Among other business, we will be discussing how the Friends can best convey our library system's needs to new County Commissioners.
WILMA DYKEMAN LECTURE SERIES BEGINS
Charles J. Shields, the author of the 2006 biography, "Mockingbird," will speak Tuesday October 2 at 7pm at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 Gay Street, about the life of Harper Lee and the long-lasting affects her book has had on our country.
FRIENDS ROCK MARKET SQUARE
This Thursday, Movies on Market Square presents 'School of Rock' as this week's feature, starting at dusk. Friends' coordinator Abby Wintker will be warming up the crowd with her band Three Man Band at 6:30pm, a raffle will award prizes, plus all proceeds from concessions go to Friends of the Knox County Public Library. Come out to rock and roll and support your library system!
Julie Webb, Mary Lawrence and Parris Woodhull at the annual meeting
LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD --FOL ANNUAL MEETING, JULY 26, 2007
At the Friends' annual meeting, President Ginna Mashburn gave the following talk in which she outlined the successes of the year just past and pointed to future needs, with the hope that all FOL members will find a niche for themselves to further the organization's work.
We are fortunate to live in a community that has a rich, long tradition of love for its libraries. In fact, Knoxville was the first community in the state to
offer a library service some 130 plus years ago. Friends of the Library, as an organization, is a little younger at 37 this December 17th. And while 37 years is nothing in a human's life, it's pretty long for an organization. When FOL was founded, it took as its mission "To foster a love of libraries, books, and reading . . .by community outreach, advocacy, and support for the Knox County library system and staff."
I'd like to take just a few minutes to evaluate the year past in light of this worthy mission, and to look ahead to how we hope to fulfill it in the future.
III. Let me take the third mission first because it's the easiest, to support our library and its staff. Frankly, the library staff makes supporting them a
delight. Larry, you're a lucky man to be surrounded by folks with such exceptional talent; they're not just good at what they do professionally; they're wonderful people to boot.
So, what have we done to show our support? We've funded some wonderful programs and provided some needed materials, something we're able to do because of member's contributions and our used book sales. I hope you'll look closely
in the most recent newsletter to see a list of the programs we've funded for this next fiscal year, to see specifically where the major portion of our book
sales proceeds are going. I'm proud of them all, but I'm especially pleased that we're funding a professional development day so that the entire library staff, system-wide, will have a time of retreat and rejuvenation. They deserve it. This, together with an employee of the month award that we've funded, are a couple of tangible ways of showing our appreciation.
I. Our first mission is to reach out to the community, and I think we've been
successful there as well. Let me just list a few things that we've done:
1. We've financed and provided leadership for a Knox County Library Foundation. Watch for news of this group as it figures out ways to fund a much-needed new central library.
2. We sponsored a successful essay contest for high school students in conjunction with the library-sponsored Garden Heritage Festival.
3. We've created a new, handsome brochure and our very own Web site, all with the purpose of getting our message out to more people.
4. We've extended our outreach to all the county by promoting Branch Buddies, a group of volunteers who help out in their branch in any way that is needed. We have some wonderful stories about these programs, and I know we'll continue to
strengthen the program under Bonny Naugher's guidance.
5. We've provided a speaker for numerous civic clubs where we talk about library programs and FOL work.
6. We brought a world-class novelist, Elizabeth Kostova, to town for a reading where her novel, The Historian, came to life for all who heard her read.
7. We have funded a Wilma Dykeman Stokely Lecture Series in honor of a grand lady and a marvelous regional writer who also was an important Friend of the Library. Watch for details about the inaugural talk later this year.
8. And perhaps our most important civic outreach of all is our annual used book sale. Yes. It is our primary fundraiser, but it is more importantly a way of recycling books and allowing people to build an affordable personal library.
Dave Patterson has chaired the book sale committee, and Maggie Carini has taken on the challenge of filling John Thomas's shoes. I think she's more than filled them, and you will see some significant changes this next year such as on-line
sales, more collaborations such as the summer event with Friends of the U. T. Gardens, and more opportunities for niche markets where we take books to other venues. Just yesterday, I saw Maggie carting a load of large print books to a
senior citizens tower. And she has recently set up a program with the sheriff's department to provide books for people in our jails. It's a thrill to see a
number of volunteers, working several days a week to sort, shelve, and box books in order to keep up with the many volumes that come our way.
9. We continue to support Imagination Library with funding as well as volunteer help, and our Head Start reading program, under Janet Oakes leadership, continues to be an important civic endeavor.
II. And finally there is our mission to advocate for the library. Yes, as I stated at the beginning, Knoxville has a rich tradition of valuing its library; however, the recent budget crunch lets us know that valuing and paying for are two different matters. It is a sad and ironic fact that this community that was the first in the state to found a library now comes in dead last among the metropolitan areas for per capita funding. I hope all of you read my article in the recent newsletter where I spelled out some of the pressure points. And I hope you'll pay attention to the statistics listed there where we are compared
to peer institutions in other cities. It's imperative that we stay informed and that we make our concerns known to our elected officials. We intend to push our advocacy role up a notch or two by continuing conversations with county commissioners. Before the term-limit decision sent things into a tailspin, our board members had met in pairs with individual commissioners. We hope to resume those conversations in the future. We will host county commission for a luncheon in September, thanks to Mary Starke's efforts. Yes, we'll discuss important Friends' programs that support our libraries. And we'll also remind them, at every opportunity, of funding inadequacies and their consequences as well as the need for a strong central library that gives life to the 17 branches.
As advocates, there's a role that we think we can play for our community, and that is to be honest brokers of public discourse. We've done this in the past when the library board became an advisory group. And we'll be looking for other ways to facilitate conversations, not shouting matches or finger pointing, about important library matters.
As an organization, then, we've done fairly well in fulfilling the mission laid out 37 years ago. We want to build on our successes but never to become complacent. We hope to continue to be flexible, to respond as needs arise to encourage the love of libraries, books, and reading. An example from this year that we'd love to do more of is a $2000 matching grant to the Powell community
that enabled them to purchase a marvelous painting by local artist, Robert Birdwell, that now resides in the Powell Branch Library. Go by to see it if you haven't already.
This is not a pretty time for our county government, but despite the dismal budget situation, it is a beautiful time for our library. Knoxville deserves
healthy, vital, inspirational, community meeting places that are also deep reservoirs of knowledge in its many forms. We will continue to work towards
that end, and I hope everyone here will look for that personal niche where you can be a part of fulfilling our mission in the future. Thanks for being a
Friend.
The Woodhulls with executive board member Mary Pom Claiborne and library director Larry Frank
Judge Bozeman and Charles Benziger with Jack McElroy
Board members Jean Idell and Mary Stark
Jack McElroy with board member Gorgon Clem
Board member Maggie Carini with Judge Bozeman and Joyce Benziger.
Jack McElroy addresses the gathering at the annual meeting.
Johnson Named July Employee of the Month
Knox County Public Library proudly honors Scott Johnson as July 2007 Employee of the Month.
“As Library Business Administrator, Scott is our ‘Money Man.’ He insures that financial records are maintained according to county procedures, and is the financial liaison between the Library and the County. Daily, Scott counts and records all the fines, fees, and copier money from all public agencies. He handles special funds, orders furniture, and supplies, helps monitor and plan the Library budget, and performs a host of other budget related tasks. He does all these things in a calm, helpful, accurate, conscientious, and almost prescient way.”
“It is in this professional and efficient manner that Scott handles each project in his care. Scott not only puts through the necessary paperwork, but also takes the time to understand the project, listen to the needs, consider the possible solutions, and offer the best, most effective way to properly handle the purchase and payment. And if we run into a billing problem, as can happen with some projects, he is quick to handle the situation and communicate with you about the problem and the solution.”
“‘So, how did it go this weekend?’ First thing on Monday morning following the Children’s Festival of Reading, Scott inquires to see how the Library’s biggest event of the year went. This happens on numerous occasions after a special program or event has concluded, which only more genuinely demonstrates the way in which he becomes personally invested in how the projects turn out once completed. It is the sum of all these thoughtful considerations that make Scott a pleasure to have as a co-worker.”
“Scott is truly one of the unsung heroes of the Knox County Public Library system. Working behind the scenes, his efforts often go unnoticed by the staff and community at large, but it his dedicated involvement in each project that contributes to the overall success of everything we do here at the Library – whether it’s a festival, rewards for a reading challenge, a monthly newsletter, or just getting change for a cash box.”
It is an honor to recognize Scott as July’s Employee of the Month. This recognition serves as a salute to Scott’s unfailing dedication to the success of the Knox County Public Library and his fellow colleagues.
FOL Annual Meeting
The FOL Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, July 26, 2007, at the East Tennessee History Center at 601 S. Gay Street.
Dessert Social: 6:30 p.m. Brief Meeting: 7:00 p.m.
Featured speaker: Jack McElroy, editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel will speak on the Importance of Reading.
Maggie Carini and Suzanne Freeman (standing, L-R,) with Judy Loest and Susie Webb Ries, (seated, L-R.) Susie Webb Ries, daughter of Julie Webb, is the FOTL reginal representative for Nashville/ Davidson County.
UT graduate student Terumi Watson, here with Maggie Carini (right,) was the Friends' first customer at the used book sale on Blooms Day, June 24.
Used Garden Book Sale
In a first-ever collaboration with Friends of the U.T. Trial Gardens, we held a used garden book sale on Sunday, June 24, at Bloomsday. We were able to recycle many fine garden books and, in the process, raise over $400 each for both Friends' organizations.
You Can Never Have Too Many....
of a hot best-seller. The library wait-list for the following titles is long and the Lawson-McGhee Circulation Department would love to have many more copies to lend. If you have bought and read any of these books, don’t just let them become dust-collectors! Drop them off at any of the branches to be shared with other readers.
Please check this site frequently. The list will be updated as these needs are met and new ones arise. THANK YOU!
THE 6TH TARGET by James Patterson
NINETEEN MINUTES by Jodi Picoult
I HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE by Mary Higgins Clark
A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini
FRESH DISASTERS by Stuart Woods
OBSESSION by Jonathan Kellerman
SIMPLE GENIUS by David Baldacci
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE: A YEAR OF FOOD LIFE by Barbara Kingsolver
BACK ON BLOSSOM STREET by Debbie Macomber
BODY SURFING by Anita Shreve
Book Sale a Huge Success!
The 2007 Friends of the Library annual Used Book Sale was a huge success. Customers and workers both enjoyed the new, more roomy location. Thousands of books were recycled back into the community and the $45,000 raised will go to support library programs.
In the photo (click to enlarge) FOL Board members Gordon Clem and Jean Idell ring up sales.
Elizabeth Kostova Headlines Book & Author Event
Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian, discussed her book before an appreciative audience of 150 at FOL's Book and Author event on November 14.
Ms. Kostova, who attended Knoxville's Webb School, is pictured here with Nelda Hill (left), Manager of Lawson McGhee Library (click on picture to enlarge).
Ms. Kostova told her audience that she surprised herself by writing about Dracula, because she finds horror fiction "too scary". However, she grew up listening to her father tell "creepy fairy tales" about Dracula when the family traveled to Eastern Europe or Britain. Later, when she wanted to write a novel about a father telling a story to his young daughter, she remembered these stories.
The Historican has been translated into 39 languages. International reaction, especially in Croatia and Bulgaria, has been superb. It was #1 on the bestseller list in Croatia for many months.
A film based on the novel is in the works. It’s being produced by Red Wagon Pictures, with screenplay by David McGhee, who wrote the screenplay for Finding Neverland. Ms. Kostova is a consultant on the film.
Ms. Kostova began writing a second novel a few weeks after The Historian was accepted. She says it's a very different book, about history and peoples' obsessions with it.
Carpe Librum Booksellers provided books for the book signing.
Frank Named Top Librarian
Knox County Public Library Director Larry Frank has been named one of the nation's top 21 librarians by The New York Times. The newspaper's annual Librarian Awards program recognizes public librarians "whose exemplary performance and outstanding community service have made their libraries friendlier and more accessible institutions."
Frank joined the other winners at an award presentation on December 13th in New York. His recognition is an honor to Larry Frank personally as well as to the system he has shaped since 2003. All of us can be proud of his successes in "enhancing the library experience." Marti Davis, News Sentinel reporter, nominated Frank for this prestigious honor.
Frank was honored at a reception hosted by Mayor Ragsdale on December 19. At the reception, he chatted with FOL members Robert & Judy Loest (click image to enlarge).
KCPL Staff Association Calendars Available
The Knox County Public Library's Staff Association 2007 calendar, "Knoxville Remembered" is now on sale. This year's calendar features beautiful vintage photographs from the McClung Historical Collection and the Beck Cultural Exchange Center.
Calendars are available for $10 at any library location or through the Friends of the Library at 500 W. Church Ave. If ordering from the Friends, make checks out to Friends of the Library.
FOL Honors Bob & Julie Webb
At the FOL annual meeting on July 11, FOL, along with the Sublett family, was delighted to present a Carl Sublett painting to the McClung Collection in honor of Bob & Julie Webb.
Bob Webb, who died last winter, was an avid supporter of the East Tennessee Historical Society, and Julie has been an FOL stalwart for many years.
The photo (click for a larger view) shows FOL board member Bonny Naugher and Julie Webb admiring the painting, "Places Around Knoxville, 1972."
FOL Receives ALCOA Grant
For the second year in a row, FOL is the recipient of an ALCOA Foundation grant. This year's award of $10,000 is targeted for the
Knox County Imagination Library program.
FOL would like to thank the ALCOA Foundation for this generous grant.
FOL Board Adopts Strategic Plan
The Board of the Friends of the Knox County Public Library, led by committee chair Dave Patterson, recently completed a strategic plan.
After reaffirming FOL’s mission of fostering a love of libraries, books and reading in the Knox County area through community outreach, advocacy and support, the group wrote an imaginative vision statement that will guide our work for the coming one-three years. The board then identified a select group of strategies to implement as soon as possible. Work is already underway on an Action Plan to support these strategies.
Vision Statement
We envision a vigorous Friends of the Library, well-trained and diverse, supporting our library system, which is visible, popular, and seen as a necessity to the rich life of our community. (More faces supporting a must-have library!)
Priority Strategies
• Establish Volunteer Committee
• Reestablish Membership Committee
• Develop a three-year used book sale plan to include a comparison of our current annual book sale operation vis a vis multiple sales, online sales, year-round sales, branch sales, special program sales, etc.
• Foster and expand Branch Buddy program
• Develop training program w/support from KCPL Volunteer Coordinator
• Establish a Communications Committee
• Assist in immediate development of a separate library foundation
FOL Invests in Knox County Public Library
The Friends of the Library board has approved over $32,000 in FY 2007 investment expenditures for the Knox County Public Library.
Each year the library submits to FOL a “wish list” of programs and other items the library would like FOL to support financially. The FOL board then reviews the list and decides which items will be funded.
Investment items for FY 07, which begins July 1, include continuing support for the library’s popular After Hours Program, the Children’s Summer Reading Club, and next spring’s Festival of Reading. In addition, FOL is funding the restoration of a large Catherine Wiley painting for the McClung Collection.
New to the list this year is funding for the McClung Collection to film video interviews of three East Tennesseans and North Carolinians whose stories and memories are important to preserve for posterity. FOL is proud to participate in preserving the life experiences of significant local individuals; as Alex Haley often said, “Every time an old person dies it's as if a library burns down.”
The complete list of FY 07 projects includes:
After Hours Program/Jazz Festival
Decals for Children's Outreach Vans
Children's Summer Reading Club
Teen Programming
Children's Room - Refreshments
Sidewalk Sign for Karns Branch
Wiley Painting Restoration
Video Interviews
Children's Festival of Reading
Scanner for Archives
Friends Receive Sun Coke Community Grant
The Friends are pleased to announce that we have received a $500 community grant from The Sun Coke Company. The grant will be used by the Knox County Public LIbrary to fund software services to make databases of local information available to the public via the Internet.
The first database to be converted is the Database of Local Organizations, which includes over 600 area non-profits, service agencies, clubs and interest groups of all kinds.
This is the second year in a row FOL has received a grant from Sun Coke. We are grateful to the company, and to FOL member Ward Bastian, an employee of Sunoco, for alerting us to these community funds!
FOL Starts Speaker's Bureau
The Friends have recently added a Speaker's Bureau to our list of projects and services. If you would like to have someone from FOL speak to your club or organization about FOL and/or the Knox County Public Library, please contact the FOL office at 215-8775, or email us.
Friends Donate to Bay St. Louis Library
Customers at the 2006 Friends annual used book sale not only helped support the Knox County Public Library, they also provided assistance to a library devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Ten percent of the profits of the sale have been donated to the library in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
A check for $4,000, which included donations by book sale customers, was sent to the Hancock County Library Foundation for use in refurbishing the Bay St. Louis Library.
In response, Mary Perkins, Executive Secretary of the Hancock County Library Foundation, writes: "There are no words to express our gratitude. The outpouring of love and support has been unbelievable since Hurricane Katrina hit here. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, administration, and staff of the library system and the Board of Directors of the Library Foundation of Hancock County, please accept my heartfelt thank you. This gift will be placed in a special Hurricane Katrina fund.
"We are so appreciative of your kindness and concern. You have become family to us, and we will definitely keep you up-to-date on our progress."
FOL board member Mary Starke coordinated the effort.
Emily Wilson Enthralls Audience
Emily Herring Wilson enthralled a deeply appreciative audience of Elizabeth Lawrence fans at her lecture on March 7 on the writing of Miss Lawrence's biography and the editing of letters she exchanged with Katharine White.
Carpe Librum Bookstore provided No One Gardens Alone and Two Gardeners for Mrs. Wilson to sign. A few autographed copies may still be available at the Kingston Pike shop.
Many thanks to co-sponsors, the Friends of the U.T. Gardens and the Hodges Fund of the University of Tennessee English Department. Friends of the Library look forward to more cooperative programs with these fine organizations.
(click on picture to enlarge)
Join the Friends’ List Serve
We have created a Friends of the Library message board to find volunteers for our growing number of projects, to answer questions and to hear your suggestions for better ways to serve the library and the community. To join, send a blank email to knoxfol-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Commission Retains Library Advisory Board
At its 10/24/05 meeting, County Commission voted 14-5 in favor of ratifying State legislation to retain the Library Advisory Board. This decision left governance of the Knox County Public Library as the responsibility of the County Executive.
Commissioners opposed were Cawood, Clark, McMillan, Moody, and Pinkston.
Click to read the Friends' position on this issue.
Thanks to all Friends and other library supporters who attended this important meeting for the library's future.