Friends of the Libraries of Towns County Newsletter

Comments from FOL President Janice Cochran

TWO BIG WEEKENDS FOR THE FRIENDS FALL BOOK SALE

Friends of the Library are making big plans for the Fall Book Sale to be the best ever. I hope each of you will be able to participate either by donations, purchases or both. Remember the funds raised go to help the library purchase books, shelving, crafts for summer reading programs, and many other library needs.

The Friends Book Sale Committee, chaired by Jan and John Roberts have planned two big weekends to give even more time for book selections. If you have books to donate, please bring them by the library.

Friends of the Library Book Sale

Thursday, September 17th	5:00-7:00pm*
Friday, September 18th	9:00-5:00pm
Saturday, September 19th	9:00-2:00pm
Friday, September 25th	9:00-5:00pm
Saturday, September 26th	9:00-2:00pm

*Members Only. This is a great time for "friends" to fellowship and have first choice on those special literary treasures. Refreshments will be served.

Jane Manuszak will chair the Bake Sale section of the Book Sale. Watch for delicious "goodies" to enjoy during the first weekend. If you can contribute items for the bake sale, please call Jane at 706-379-3538.

Mark your calendar and make plans to come to the Book Sale for good eats and book treasures galore.

See you Tuesday, August 4 @ 5:30 pm at Mountain Regional Library for our next meeting.

Officer Roster

President	Janice Cochran
Vice-President	Doris Tilley (706-379-1306)
Recording Secretary	Jean Caputa (706-379-2496)
Corr. Secretary	Maureen Gustafson (706-379-2637)
Treasurer	Jane Manuszak (706-379-3538)
Book Bunch	Barbara Hale (706-379-3296)
Membership	Jan Roberts (706-994-0958)
Newsletter	Linda Dye
Publicity	See below*
Scrapbook	Shirley Heide (706-379-3861)

Book Bunch Info from Barbara Hale

• July book is March by Geraldine Brooks with Rhetta Grey as discussion leader, July 15.
• The August book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Jim Hale will lead the discussion on August 19.
• In September there is no meeting but there is the big Book Sale.
• October will find us reading and discussing A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, under the leadership of Gigi Smith, October 21.
• November's choice is Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and will be led by Maureen Gustafson on November 18.

Long range plans are in the works for next year. Some time will be spent during the October and November sessions to select all the books for 2010. That should give us time to print a brochure of our choices and put it in the hands of potential new members. In order to be sure we include a variety of categories, seven different types of books have been selected and assigned to specific months. The categories are: classics, humor, regional authors, mystery, Pulitzer Prize winners, non-fiction and biography/memoir. More specific information on this will be announced later.

New members are welcome this year. No one has to wait until next year. Today mark the book bunch dates on your calendar: July 15, August 19, October 21 and November 18. Please join us at the Mountain Regional Library at 12:00, bring a bag lunch if you desire.

From Director Donna Howell's Desk

Summer is truly upon us! Vacation Reading Program (VRP) is going strong. Miss Linda and other library staff have done a lot of work and volunteer crafters and artists have contributed their talents for tie-dye shirts, gardening, music, quilting, and other creative endeavors. Just during the month of June, attendance at library programs in Towns County was 428! Thanks to all our local banks and our Friends for supporting the VRP.

Earlier in the year, we submitted application for renovation and additions to the Mountain Regional Library and the Towns County Public Library. Both libraries are now on the state's list and we will hope to get these much-needed repairs and expansions done in the next couple of years. We will keep you posted!

As we ended our latest fiscal year on June 30th and began our new one July 1st, we learned of still more state budget cuts. Even before our year began we lost 41% of our total book budget for the new year - on top of the cuts left in place from last year! That sounds bad, and it is! But we are more fortunate than many libraries across the state in that we did not have cuts from our local funding agencies - the Towns County Commissioner, Towns County Board of Education, and the cities of Young Harris and Hiawassee. Because of that, we did not have to cut library hours or staff. But that also means that we will be depending on the Friends for much of our book budget again this year. We could not have made it through our last year without your help!

And finally, it is with heavy hearts that we mourn the passing of Billy Carney, the husband of Michele Carney our much beloved Library Assistant at the Mountain Regional Library. Billy was one of the first people I met when I started to work at MRL 19 years ago. He was a voracious reader and was in the library almost daily until Michele came to work for us 12 years ago - then Michele became his personal librarian. Michele is such an asset to our libraries. She is always caring and considerate and goes the extra mile for our library users and staff. Billy and Michele's daughter, Kati, was so small when Michele first came to work for us that she would sometimes ride the bottom shelf of the book cart when her Mom was shelving books. Now she is a beautiful teenager about to graduate high school. They are a treasured part of our library family and we will miss Billy. Please remember Michele and Kati in your thoughts and prayers.

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