FRIENDS OF PORTER PUBLIC LIBRARY MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

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1 FRIENDS OF PORTER PUBLIC LIBRARY VOLUME XXII ISSUE 1 JANUARY 2010 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Happy New Year 2010! Welcome to a new year Friends promises to make it an exciting one! A few items of business 1. Have you renewed your Friends membership yet? If not, please do so soon we had 300 members last year and our goal is to increase by 15 members. 2. Mark your calendars for the following events: Feb 3 Book Sale open to Friends Preview Night with new hours Feb 4-7 Book Sale open to the public July 26 Ice Cream Social here at the library, rain or shine! 3. Look behind the Circulation Desk after February 3, for the new Friends mascot, Porter J. Mouse! He will be showing the public things Friends has bought, or contributed to, over the years. 4. Want to help? Let one of the Board members know, call the Library, or me at jenmatlak@yahoo.com. I d like to thank Barb Hajek, the outgoing Friends President, for a wonderful, hardworking presidency that has really grown our group. She epitomizes the meaning of being a Friend! Some goals I have for Friends are: o to increase membership by 5% each year; o to bring new people in as volunteers in the Book Nook and Portables Gift Shop; o and to make Friends more visible in the library and community by displaying the logo and being mentioned in the media. Thank you very much for all you do - whether you give your time, talent, or financial support. Even though we all have small parts, they add up to make one great contribution to the library and to our community. Jennifer Cirincione President

2 New Friends Board The Friends Board is: President Jennifer Cirincione VP Cathy Schultz Interim Treasurer Sandy Sauer Recording Secretary Carol Welo Corresponding Secretary Karen Alfred Book Nook Lynn Pettyjohn Book Sales Carol Masek Membership Nancy Shaw Interim Newsletter Leslie Rozman Portables Gift Shop Sharon Didion Hospitality yet to be filled Publicity Matt Long Programs Barb Hajek Trustees Jeanne Bishop, Alice Lang, Joanne McGunagle HAVE YOU RENEWED YOUR MEMBERSHIP? If you received a Membership Renewal Form in this newsletter, we haven t received your renewal yet. Friends members are admitted to the Book Sale Preview on Wednesday February 3rd. Avoid the long line Renew Today! Renew your membership two weeks before the sale, and we will mail your membership card to you. Renewing later? We will hold your membership card at the Book Sale Preview for pickup. NEWS FROM THE BOOK NOOK To get ready for the Feb. big book sale, the Book Nook will close after Sunday, January 24, and reopen on Wed. February 24. Remember we have low prices every day, and can beat Half-Price books prices any day. Stop by before we close to beat the rush at the book sale. We are often asked the question: What happens to books left after the book sale is over? Non-profit organizations have a day when they can come in and take anything left. They usually clean us out, so the Book Nook starts with all new library discards and donations. Even though our shelves won t be fully stocked when we reopen, there will be some good buys, so be sure to come in and shop after February 24. And don t forget the big book sale Feb This year we will have three rooms full of books and audio visual items. If you are a Friends member, you can shop at the preview night on Feb. 3.

3 From the Director Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year was a great year for the library but it was a tough year as well. We were once again named the number one library in the country for libraries our size. It was even more special to receive the award the same year we turned 125 years old. On the downside, due to the economy and state budget cuts, our revenue decreased overall by approximately 15%. During the summer the grassroots movement which sprang up to let the Governor and legislators know just how important libraries are resulted in a much smaller cut to our budget than was originally proposed. Thank you so much to all who participated in the Save Ohio Libraries campaign. The budget crunch, more than ever, reminds us how important a strong Friends group is to a library. In addition to advocating for the library the Friends continued to fund vital library programs such as the Summer Reading Program, as well as our entire 125 th anniversary celebration and WestFest. A contribution of $25,000 was made toward our landscaping project that significantly enhanced the aesthetic beauty of our building façade. Several end of the year gifts included the funding of canvas bags to start a book discussion group collection in which a book group can check out one bag with multiple copies of a title, money to replace VHS titles on DVD, and new lightweight tables for our meeting rooms. Over the Christmas break I gave a tour of Porter Library to my sister-in-law who lives in Pittsburgh and is fighting for her library to remain open. She has resurrected their dormant Friends group and wanted to see what our Friends do for us. She was mightily impressed and heartily inspired by the work you do. Of course it is not hard when everywhere you look is evidence of your hard work and generous giving. Thank you! Andrew Mangels, Director

4 Trees & Wreaths 2009 THANK YOU to everyone who donated or purchased an item during the 2009 Trees & Wreaths Silent Auction! The Trees & Wreaths (over 40 were donated) made $1400, and the Silent Auction items in the lobby display case (over 20 baskets) made $800. A special thanks to Gale s, Pat Catan s, Silver Fox Florist and Flower Port for donating to Trees & Wreaths. The large tree in the lobby, which was donated by Pat Catan s, and decorated by Friends and Staff members, sold for $120! Thank you to all the individuals, businesses and groups, who helped make this fundraiser a success, as well as decorating the library so beautifully! The following businesses donated an item to the silent auction baskets: Pat Catan's Hot Locks Salon Portrait Innovations Henkel Consumer Adhesives Cleveland Botanical Garden Alpine Valley Rockin Robin's Amazone b.a.sweetie Chipotle Monster Mini Golf Ben & Jerry's Friendly's Coldwater Creek The Perfect 10 Nail and Hair Salon Artist for a Day Petitti's Garden Center Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum SUNDAY SOUNDS We have two programs remaining in our series: March 14th - Westlake High School Jazz Band under the direction of Raymond Walczuk April 18th Westlake High School Company D under the direction of Jennifer Butler

5 Please join us for The 2010 Annual Book Sale February 4 7 Friends Preview Night - Feb. 3 rd Notice --- New Hours for the Preview Sale 4-8 only for Members of Friends Regular Sale days are Thursday, Feb. 4 th from 9:30 to 8:30 and Friday, Feb. 5 th from 9:30 to 4:30 Half-price sale on Saturday, Feb 6 th from 9:30 to 4:30 $2 Bag Sale Sunday, Feb. 7 th from 1:30 to 4:30 This year we have added a new room to our sale to make it more convenient for you to browse through our selections. We will have books of fiction, non-fiction, oldies but goodies, children s and young adult as well as CD s, DVD s and thousands of VHS tapes. We also have been putting aside some great special-priced books that have not been available in the Book Nook during the year so come early to get the best selection. The Silent Auction starts Jan. 11 th and closes at 3:00 on Feb. 7 th. We have autographed books signed by Colin Powell, Oliver North, John Grisham, Bob Dolgan and others. We have assembled a nice collection of books about Cleveland as well as other items that we felt were very special. Check out the items in the showcase in the lobby and join in the bidding. If you are interested in helping with the sale, please call Peg Gambrel at We always need new volunteers.