The Friends of Pleasant Hill Library Newsletter Upcoming Friends Events: 1750 Oak Park Blvd Pleasant Hill, CA September 2013 Sept. 11, 2013 Sept. 14, 2013 Sept. 24, 2013 Oct. 5-6, 2013 Nov. 9, 2013 Town Hall meeting 6:30 pm at the Pleasant Hill Library Giant Used Book Sale (parking lot behind the Library 9:30 am-3:30 pm) Return of the Night of 1,000 Inventions 6:00 pm in the PH Library. TAG Recycled Art fundraiser at the Pleasant Hill Wine & Jazz Festival FoPHL Board Meeting 10 am (PH Library Meeting Room) Giant Parking Lot Used Book Sale September 14, 2013 Our next Giant Used Book sale is scheduled for Saturday September 14th in the parking lot behind the Pleasant Hill Library. Members get early-bird access and may start shopping at 9:30 am; all others begin at 10 am. At 1:30 pm we begin the bag sale: as before, $3 allows you to fill a regular paper bag with books. However, you can get the new blue reusable FoPHL tote bag for $5 including a free fill with books of your choice after 1:30 pm on Saturday, September 14, 2013. This bag is bigger than a regular shopping bag and has a reinforced floor! At the September book sale we will have a new (free) activity available called Child ID. From 10 am to 2:30 pm, New York Life will provide free ID cards for all children. As usual, we will also have free e-waste recycling available in the parking lot adjacent to the book sale. Do you need community service hours or just want to make a difference? If you can handle boxes of books, we need your help with set up and take down of the sale. Please contact Brian Crowell at fophlsale@gmail.com for information or to sign up, What s new? New Library Manager : Please welcome Chris Brown our new Library Manager. As many of you know, Heidi accepted a position with the Solano County Library system in June. We are fortunate to have a new Library Manager so quickly and look forward to a long and productive relationship. New Friends Logo: How do you like the new Friends of Pleasant Hill Library Logo? Many thanks to Alena Crowell for her very attractive new design! New Facebook page: Join us on the new FoPHL Facebook page designed by Cynthia Shim at https:// www.facebook.com/pages/friends-of-the-pleasant- Hill-Library-CA/541320415930106 Table of Contents: Update from the Board... 2 Spotlight on Cynthia Shim... 2 Teen Advisory Group Update... 3 Upcoming at the PH Library... 3 History of the Friends... 3 When you donate books... 3 Who are we? What do we do?... 4 How you can join... 4 September 1, 2013 Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library Newsle er #3 1
The Friends of Pleasant Hill Library - Update from the Board For the past 3 months the bylaws committee, chaired by Dan Safran, has been working hard to update our bylaws (last revised 20 years ago). A special General Membership meeting was held on Saturday, August 10, 2013 and the proposed revisions were unanimously approved. The new bylaws are posted in the library in our book sales area to the left of the FoPHL donations box. Many of the changes were essential updates such as correcting the name of our library. Some changes involved modernization such as allowing electronic communication, and permitting more than one method of fundraising. Others improved functionality: we modified board terms from one year to two with half the board being elected each year in order to provide more continuity in leadership; we added an ex-officio non-voting TAG member to the board; we clarified financial procedures; and we added a section on ethics and conflict of interest. In other news, we welcomed the new Library Manager, Chris Brown; we selected Janet Clark to fill the position vacated when Cynthia Shim had to resign (for family reasons); and we conducted routine business. Minutes of the meeting are available near the new bylaws in the FoPHL sales area. The next FoPHL Board meeting is November 9th at 10 am in the Library meeting room. Cynthia s Legacy Cynthia Shim was only able to serve on our board for 2 1/2 months but made amazing contributions in that very short time. Although she has had to resign her position, she will continue to participate as an active member of the Friends. Some of her key Board contributions were: Fourth of July Parade: Cynthia organized our participation in the Fourth of July Parade this year. She and her family created the cake decorating Veronica Dangerfield s patriotic red Cadillac and drove the decorated vehicle while Veronica led cheers with the bullhorn. See photo below. Centennial Celebration: Cynthia organized our participation in the Centennial Celebration July 21st in Pleasant Hill Park, including an attractive velvet board with photos or our activities. Brian & Alena Crowell designed the tote bags we introduced there, and Lynn Murphy selected the books for sale and give away at the event. Facebook Page: Cynthia set up our Friends-of-the- Pleasant-Hill-Library- CA Facebook page and assembled all its great photos including the one here of the Fourth of July Parade. (Cynthia is at far right of photo). Brian Crowell will take on the maintenance of the Facebook page for now, but many thanks to Cynthia for getting us started. September 1, 2013 Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library Newsle er #3 2
Teen Advisory Group Corner By Natalie Hill, President of TAG Hello! We're the Teen Advisory Group (TAG)! TAG helps teens have fun and express themselves by serving their community. Our group is made up of teens, ages 11-17, who have put on events such as a Hunger Games Party in 2012, and a World Party in 2013, which had over 125 attendees! We partnered with Allied Waste, now Republic Services, to create a donation drive at the Art, Jazz & Wine Festival last year using recycled art made by library patrons, in which we raised over $365 dollars. However, this year we are also working with the Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library. Please join us September 18, from 3 pm - 5 pm to make recycled art to be used for our donation drive, as well as October 5 th and 6 th to see the art work displayed at the Art, Jazz and Wine Festival! Upcoming at Pleasant Hill Library Lego Creators Club Saturdays from 2-3 at the PH Library. New themes each week and a HUGE collection of Lego bricks. Outstanding creations are displayed in the library lobby each week. Coming soon to Lego Creators club - Lego robotics! Townhall Meeting Wednesday September 11 at 6:30 pm in the rotunda. Help develop the library s strategic plan. Bring a friend and especially invite someone who does not use the library so we can learn why. TAG Repurposed Art The Teen Advisory Group invites teens to create art from recycled materials 3-5 pm on Wednesday, September 18th. These items will be available on October 5 and 6 at the Pleasant Hill Art, Jazz & Wine Festival to raise money for teen and young adult programs at the PH Library. Return of 1,000 Inventions 6 pm September 24th even bigger and better than before. Explore innovation; let your imagination come to life. Friends of Pleasant Hill Library History Did you know that the Pleasant Hill Library Committee incorporated as the Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library in December 1953? They began fundraising for the first Pleasant Hill Library in early 1954 and opened the library in November 1954. That library was in a restored portable school building of about 1,200 square feet and contained about 9,000 books. It was open 37 hours per week which is 2 hours more than we have today! Our current library facility was opened in November 1961 (the city of Pleasant Hill was incorporated the same month). The library had a community reading room but most of the space was devoted to the County Library shared collection warehouse. Over time our library became the Pleasant Hill Central Library with 31,000 sq feet of space and a collection of over 176,000 items. In 2009, the county library decentralized and we became a community library. Help us help our library: We are especially fortunate in the generosity of our library patrons for the continuous stream of fresh books that are donated for resale. If the books you are donating have dust jackets, please protect them and keep them with the books as this improves the value of the book for resale. If you would like to help us with sorting or with stocking shelves, please contact Mary at (925) 945-5171 or Lilli at (925) 935-8707. Please stop by the FoPHL book shop any time the library is open and don t forget to pay for your books in the donation box. Also, please stop by the giant used book sale on Saturday, September 14th behind the library. Early Bird at 9:30 am, regular 10-3:30 and a bag sale after 1:30 pm. September 1, 2013 Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library Newsle er #3 3
Who are the Friends of PH Library? What do they do? Why should I join? The Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library (FoPHL) is a non-profit organization whose purpose (as stated in the bylaws) is: To foster closer relations between the Pleasant Hill Library and the citizens of Pleasant Hill and its environs To raise funds through book sales or other means to benefit the library. To promote knowledge of the functions, resources, services and needs of the library; To lead in the development of a program for the extension and improvement of adequate housing and other facilities for the library. Recently, most of our effort has focused on used book sales to raise money for improving the collection and programs at the Pleasant Hill Library. Last year FoPHL volunteers donated about 4,900 hours to these activities and just over $32,256 dollars to collections and programs. For 2013, the FoPHL has pledged $25,000 ($15,000 to collections and $10,000 for programs). The program budget includes $3,600 for Family (monthly children s) programs, $1,200 for quarterly music programs, $500 for Teen Advisory Group activities, $500 for books for second graders who come in and request a library card, $1,200 for books and prizes for the summer reading program, $1,000 for the city/county-wide read this fall and $2,000 for contingency and miscellaneous. The PH Library depends on us and you can help by joining. Join the Friends: Membership in the Friends of Pleasant Hill Library is tax deductible and a great way to show your support for the Pleasant Hill Library. Members may vote in the annual elections (held in May), get early bird entrance to quarterly book sales and stay informed about what s happening. Join or renew your membership, and please invite your friends and neighbors to join as well. You may use the form at the bottom of this page, download a form from http://ccclib.org/friends/phlmem.pdf, get one in the Friends book sales area of the library or at the quarterly book sales or other special events. Additional donations are also welcome and are fully tax deductible. We are always looking for volunteers and will be glad to match your talents with our projects. For example, we need: people familiar with selling books on the Internet, fundraisers, photographers (for FoPHL activities), web designers (Facebook), copy writers (to design flyers, information sheets & write articles for Patch, Community Focus and the Outlook ). Member Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library 2013 1750 Oak Park Blvd. Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 Name (Retain this stub) FRIENDS OF THE PLEASANT HILL LIBRARY 1750 Oak Park Blvd., Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 Membership Dues 2013 Check one: $5.00 Individual $10.00 Household $25 Business $3.00 Student (12-20) $3.00 Senior (62+) $100 Lifetime Name: Street: City/State/Zip: Phone: E-Mail: I would like to help with: Pickups Sales Sorting Phones If you would like newsletters, you must give an e-mail address September 1, 2013 Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library Newsle er #3 4
September 1, 2013 Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library Newsle er #3 5