STATESBORO-BULLOCH COUNTY FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY NEWSLETTER

P. O. Box 1265

Statesboro, GA 30459-1265

www.statesborofriends.org

Spring, 2009

 

The President’s Corner

As we enter the last quarter of our fiscal year, we are reflecting back over the events and activities of the year while we plan our last activities of the membership year. Our Spring Book Sale is scheduled for April 16-18 and our Annual meeting is May 11th. June will bring our annual membership drive. Details are included in this newsletter. We excitedly await the installation of automatic doors that will make our Statesboro Library more accessible to its patrons. We appreciate all the support we have from our members that make this organization such a pleasure to associate with. Please do not hesitate to share your thoughts and opinions with our board members so we can improve our services to our community. I want to challenge members to attend board meetings and share their ideas. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Ceil Hardin

chardin@hardinsystems.org

 

 

 

 

The Open Book: Library News

     by Cora Fay, Assistant Library Director

 

Cora Fay

coraf@strl,info

 

Mark your calendars for May 1 to May 15.  Those are the dates for this year’s Reading is Fundamental Program.  RIF is always a library highlight, but this year we are super-sizing the celebration because… the Statesboro Regional Library’s RIF program is thirty years old! Children who came to the library’s very first RIF program are now bringing their own children.  What a legacy for our community!

 

My own introduction to RIF came on my first day of work at the Statesboro Library in April, 2001. The day coincided with the first day of that year’s RIF.  When I walked in

I noticed the library was packed with excited children.  Before I could get my feet under my new desk, a volunteer grabbed me saying “you must be here to read to the children” and she put a book in my hand and a child in my lap. Since I had not a clue what was happening, I just did what came naturally and started to read aloud. The child was delighted and so was I.    I have been a RIF reader ever since.

 

One of the most popular aspects of the program is free book distribution. Certainly that puts the FUN in FUNdamental.  However, the heart of the program is to encourage life-long literacy skills. We may do things in a light-hearted way, but a lot of learning is taking place. 

 

 By May 15, 3900 children, ages preschool - 2nd grade will have visited the library (many for the first time), watched a funny puppet show, chosen a book for their very own and had that book read aloud to them before heading back to school.  Just imagine the excitement in Bulloch County homes the afternoon after the visit as children show off their new books and tell parents about a wonderful discovery called “the library.”

 

A program of this magnitude takes a multitude of volunteers.  How many is enough?

Youth and Family Services Coordinator Elaine McDuffie says the answer would be,

“If we had one volunteer for every child, then that would be enough.” 

 

That means we need a lot of volunteers!  So, if you are an aspiring volunteer who has a few minutes to spend reading to a child, we have a child and a book waiting for you at the Library.  Just give us a call: 764-1344 or stop by the library to sign up.

 

Happy Birthday to RIF and thanks to the community, thirty times over!

Cora

 

 

Libraries Are Awesome

Every February, our FOL organization sends volunteers to the 4th grade classrooms to introduce them to the library and read them a story. Eleven volunteers covered 8 schools in our county to the delight of many teachers and students.

 

One Book, One Community - Fahrenheit 451 Program Completed

We started our One Book, One Community Program with citizens voting for the book they were most interested in reading. The community selected Fahrenheit 451. We ordered 500 copies of the novel with the help of the Pilot Club.  370 paperback copies of the novel were sold to community members for $2.  The extra books were donated to schools in our area.   The Statesboro Lions Club donated large print and audio versions of the book. About 40 patrons participated in the evening book discussion group led by Dr. David Dudley, Dr. John Bressler, and Ken Homer. About 10 attended the morning group discussion which was led by Dr. Caren Town.  About 40 people attended Dr. Nick DeBonis’ presentation entitled, “The Censor in the Mirror, Lighting the Fuse.”  The movie was shown at the Averitt Center with an introduction and discussion led by Dr. Reed Smith and Dr. Jo Bastarache.  There were 36 volunteers who assisted in various ways for 72 hours. We thank the community for their support.

 

Update on the Doors

We are happy to announce that the installation of automatic doors at the entrance of the Statesboro-Bulloch County Library will begin in April. Because of your generosity, we are closer to paying for this installation so that patrons will find our library more accessible. At press time, we still needed about $5000 to completely pay for this project. Our fundraising committee, headed by Ruth Whitworth, has met and proposed some fundraising activities to meet this financial goal. You will hear more about that soon. In the meantime, if you would like to make a donation to this project, feel free to send your donation to the Friends of the Library at the address listed at the top of this newsletter. We will also have members on hand at our book sale to take your donations.

Annual Meeting

On May 11th at 6pm at RJ’s Steak House, the Friends of the Library will hold their annual meeting. Just order your meal and move to a meeting room in the back of the restaurant. We will have a short business meeting, vote on Constitution/By Law changes and then have a special program presented by Savannah native, Dr. William Harris. Harris has released a new novel with a plot that centers on the Tybee Island bomb controversy.  Wassau Sound, a work of fiction, is based on the historical event that took place in 1958 when a bomb was lost off the Georgia Coast. It covers sixty years of Savannah history from that fateful day to the present. Over the years many tales have sprung up about the bomb, but none quite as intriguing as this one.

 

Readers will remember Dr. Harris from his earlier works Delirium of the Brave and

No Enemy But Time.  All of Dr. Harris books are set in Savannah with sights, sounds and characters that ooze Low Country charm.

 

After the meeting Dr. Harris will autograph copies of his books.

 

 

Spring Book Sale

 

The Friends of the Library will be hosting the annual Spring Book Sale April 16-18, 2009, in the community room at the library. 
Members Only Sale              Thursday                               4/16        5-7 p.m. 
General Public Sale               Friday                    4/17        2-6 p.m. 
General Public Sale               Saturday                4/18        9am-2pm
 
If you would like to contribute books, audio tapes, CDs, DVDs, or videos, please bring them to the library before the sale. If you would like to volunteer to help set-up, clean-up or work during the sale, please contact either Charlotte Crittenden (489-8223) or Connie Sanders (690-0683).

 

 

Constitution/By-laws Changes

A committee composed of Mary Margaret Jones, Nelda Bishop, Verdery Kennedy, Sheron Bolen, and Charlene Stewart spent extensive hours reviewing our constitution and by-laws and have recommended some revisions. The revisions are posted on our website (www.statesborofriends.org) and available for review at the library. Please review these changes prior to the Annual Meeting so we can vote on these at that time. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or email Ceil Hardin, FOL President.

 

June is the Time to Renew Your Membership!

(The membership year runs July 1 - June 30)

Since all memberships run from July 1 through June 30 of each year, we will have a membership drive at the library during the month of June. We will have volunteers with membership forms and information at a table ready to assist you in continuing your association with our organization. If you would like to volunteer to assist with the membership drive at the library during this time frame, please contact Nelda Bishop at 764-6353 and, if you get a message, please leave your name and phone number.  We sincerely appreciate everyone’s help!

 

 

 

Membership Drive:

 

Monday, June 8th                   12:00 noon -7:00 PM

Tuesday, June 9th                   10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Wednesday, June 10th            10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Thursday, June 11th                10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

 

If you would rather, you can download a membership form from our website (www.statesborofriends.org) and send it to:

Friends of the Library

P. O. Box 1265

Statesboro, GA 30459-1265

 

 

Upcoming Events

Spring Book Sale at the Library                     4/16-18                                   

Annual Meeting                                              5/11, Mon., @ 6pm @ RJ’s

Membership Drive                                          June 8-11

June Board Meeting                                        June 22, Mon., @ 4pm in Community Room