Friends of the Library
Friends of the Library are organized to support and promote libraries. A Friends group can help assess your library's strengths and weaknesses, provide financial and moral support, and advocate for the library and its cause. Friends do not have a policy-making role; they are meant to help improve and extend services. Just as the public library promotes the common good of the community, so too can the community work to promote the good of the library.
In many Montana communities, citizens who support the public library have established Friends of the Library organizations. A Friends of the Library group is a nonprofit organization that voluntarily supports library causes and services. Each group has its own bylaws, board, committees and policies, and sets its own goals.
It is important for you to work closely with the Friends group to ensure that the goals of these volunteers are consistent with those of the library. The Friends' role can be enormously important, especially in small libraries with very limited budgets.
The Friends can serve as publicity agents for the library: sponsoring cultural and educational programs. They can also be advocates for the library with local government. They can develop and coordinate volunteer services in cooperation with the library director and staff; organize fund-raising events; and encourage donations of books, videos, DVD's and other materials, as well as bequests and endowments.
To prevent public confusion or misunderstanding about the role of the Friends group, you and your library board need to clearly communicate the library's needs and your expectations of the friends organization. In some communities, a trustee is appointed to act as a liaison to the Friends to ensure coordination of the group's activities with the library policies and goals. In turn, a member of the Friends group might be invited to attend library board meetings.
There is a Friends of Libraries U.S.A. group that has great information about Friends groups. Their website is http://www.folusa.org. The following information was gathered from FOLUSA.
American Library Association (ALA) has a division called Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations that has great information about Friends groups. Its website is http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/altaff/.
ALA Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations
ASPeN: The New Library Directory
- Home
- Introduction
- Wanted: A Library Director
- Contacts
- Montana Library Scene
- Montana Library Scene Overview
- Montana Public Libraries
- Montana State Library
- Montana Library Association
- Wired-MT and Focus
- Federations
- Continuing Education in Montana
- Certification
- Public Library Standards
- Montana Shared Catalog
- Library Director, Trustee, and Local Government
- Library Director, Trustee and Local Government Overview
- Library Laws
- New Library Staff
- Library Board Overview
- Responsibilities of the Library Board and the Director
- Tips For Working With the Library Board
- Getting Boards to Attend Meetings and Plan for the Library
- Policies vs. Procedures
- Policies vs. Procedures Overview
- Policies
- Procedures
- Public Service
- Public Service Overview
- Customer Service
- Reader’s Advisory
- Reference
- Reference Interview
- Circulation
- Interlibrary Loan
- Outreach
- Programs
- Visiting Senior Centers and/or Schools
- Services to the Homebound
- Bookmobiles
- Children Services
- Young Adult Services
- Adult Services
- Collection Development
- Collection Development Overview
- Assessing the Collection
- Collection Development Policy
- Collection Management Honor Roll
- Selecting Items for the Collection
- Acquisitions
- Weeding or Deselection
- Technical Services
- Technical Services Overview
- Organizing Your Collection
- Classification and Cataloging
- Processing and Mending
- Public Relations
- Public Relations Overview
- Library’s Image
- Publicity
- Programming
- Community Relations
- Role of Trustees
- Marketing
- Friends and Volunteers
- Friends and Volunteers Overview
- Friends of the Library
- How to Organize a Friends Group
- How to Revitalize Your Friends
- Volunteers
- Volunteer Programs
- Recruiting Volunteers
- Managing and Keeping Volunteers
- Personnel
- Personnel Overview
- Personnel Policy
- Hiring
- Interviewing
- Job Evaluations
- Discipline and Termination
- Grievance Procedures
- Important Employment Laws
- Finances
- Finances Overview
- Local Funding Sources
- State Funding Sources
- Information Access Montana Act
- Coal Severance Tax
- Federal Funding Sources
- Library Services and Technology Act
- Telecommunications Discount Program (E-Rate)
- Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
- Library Foundations
- Other Funding Sources
- Budgeting
- Budgeting Calendar
- Following the Money
- Planning for the Future
- Planning for the Future Overview
- Long Range Planning
- Preparing to Plan
- Describing Your Community
- Your Community’s Vision
- Questions That Should Be Answered
- Planning for Disaster
- Technology in the Library
- Technology in the Library Overview
- Planning and Evaluating Technology
- Automation
- Statewide Cooperative Projects
- E-Rate
- Montana State Library
- Montana State Library Overview
- Montana State Library Commission
- Montana State Librarian
- Library Development Division
- Montana Talking Book Library
- Montana Digital Library
- Publications
- Timeline of Required Paperwork
- Explanation of Paperwork Required by Montana State Library