our history
President Ginna Mashburn with past president Maggie Carini
The Friends of the Knox County Public Library was founded on September 29, 1970, for the purpose of "promotion and interpretation of the library's programs and services to the community, and in return making known the community's needs to the library." One of the first activities of the Friends was a guided tour of the soon-to-be-completed Lawson-McGhee library at the corner of Walnut and Church.
Over the following 35 years, the Friends have grown to our current membership of over 700. Our primary function has been raising funds that are used to promote the library through public activities and to purchase items that are unavailable through public funding. Since 1980, the Friends have donated over $500,000 to the library.
Initially the Friends' only income was through membership dues and gifts. This steadily increased after 1973 when the Friends participated in the West Town Charity Fair with its first used book sale. By the 1980's this annual event was earning several thousand dollars, and the book sale was moved to Lawson-McGhee Library and then to the Candy Factory. Revenues now top $40,000 annually and the Friends’ used book sale is recognized as one of the best in the southeast. In the summer of 2005, the Friends sponsored three mini-book sales at branch libraries with a portion of the proceeds going to the Imagination Library program and the remainder staying at the branch.
In 1989, the Friends published a historical calendar using local photographs from the Thompson Photography Collection. The calendar was priced at $5 and was produced for ten years. The Friends also receive gifts and funds from special programs such as the Library Centennial Celebration in 1986 and the Book & Author events which began in 1987.
Administrative expenses are minor, since the Friends are a volunteer-driven organization. Until 1990, when a part-time coordinator was contracted, these expenses were mostly postage and stationery. The group has now computerized its membership database and newsletter production.
From the beginning, the Friends purchased items not included in the county budget. One of the earliest gifts was a wheelchair for use by patrons. Other early contributions included the restoration of the elevator in the East Tennessee Historical Center and the purchase of encyclopedias for the smaller branches. The Friends provided answering machines for all the branches, a freezer for preserving the Thompson Collection nitrate negatives and shelving and related equipment for videotape and CD storage and security. In 1995, the Friends purchased 11 computers and support equipment to provide initial Internet access for Lawson McGhee and ten branches.
In recent years, the Friends have made large gifts toward the expansion of the East Tennessee Historical Center/McClung Collection, provided funds to purchase the Knaffl glass plates and negative collection, funded training for staff development programs, restored Catherine Wiley and Lloyd Branson paintings and purchased CD-ROM databases. In 2004, the Friends donated over $65,000 to purchase custom-made shelving for the John Z.C. Thomas Reading Room in the renovated McClung collection spaces. The Friends have also provided funds for incentives and special events for the children's summer reading program. Equally important are the small purchases, such as rugs for story time in some of the branches.
In related projects, the Friends began a formal Outreach Program in 1995, providing volunteer readers and books at local Head Start Centers. In 2002, the Friends co-sponsored the "One Book, One Community" program, designed to foster a love of literature and reading in our community. The first selection was John Steinbeck's The Pearl, followed in 2003 by A Death in the Family by James Agee and in 2004 by Ernest Gaines' A Gathering of Old Men. The Friends-sponsored Book & Author evenings have brought regionally and nationally-acclaimed authors such as John Updike, William Kennedy, Pat Conroy, John Berendt, James Stewart, Ferrol Sams, Rick Bragg, and Homer Hickam, and Monica Langley to Knoxville.
New projects and collaborations with other community organizations abound. The Friends remain a low-key, grass-roots organization of members who love, use and support the Knox County Public Library.