Friends of the Library

I am the head chair of the Friends of the Library in my city. And like a lot of people 2020 has been a hard year. Last Monday our head librarian passed away. It was a shock to everyone in the city. I find myself thinking about the future and how to go forward. I could use some help with the following:

What video conferencing programs and apps works the best and is free or close to free?  I know that zoom is a good program but I have not used it. If you have what has your experience been good or bad?

What is the best way to plan for future events? I have asked the group to make a list of ideas and events we could do. My hope is to focus on a future when covid 19 is not an issue.

Are there any other permies that are in Friends of the Library groups? If so cool! We could help each other out and share ideas.

How is your Friends of the Library group doing and what events and projects are you doing? I would really like to know and if I am being honest borrow a few ideas.

I've not heard of "Friends of the Library" up here in BC, Canada, but I will say that in my humble opinion, libraries are even more important when times are tough.

1. One of the things that my librarian really appreciated was that I would recommend quality non-fiction books that were about practical, real-life skills.
2. Computer and WiFi access is good for getting people in. Maybe have them wear gloves until we get on top of covid?
3. I've read that Zoom's "free" version has been severely limited due to the sudden increased demand.
4. Having a cheep or free "meeting room" that can be booked, and encourage people to form groups like repair cafe? peer-to-peer tutoring? gardening edibles/permaculture topics? Attendance can be booked but still "free" or by donation.
5. Our library does have a Book Club and boxes with multiple copies of a single book the club members read and discuss. Do something like that for real-life skills useful in permaculture like books about tool sharpening, or Gaia's Garden.

I'm not actually part of our local friends of the library group but it's something I've considered.  My sense was always that they were mainly about doing fundraising things to help support the library.  This is great and much appreciated, but for myself I don't know that I'd much care for the task of coming up with ways to ask people for money.  Does your group do things beyond this?  Maybe I just don't quite understand what all the group does.

Regarding zoom, this is what my library has been using for our book group discussion since covid.  I can't give it high marks so far.  It may just be errors on the part of the librarian hosting the talks but I've been in 2 so far and each time getting into the meeting has been a problem.  I would say the user interface is not that intuitive for many so people don't know what to click on to make it work.  It's not just me whose had this issue either.  The last time there was someone we all could see trying to get in, but never managed to fully log on and eventually gave up.  I don't know for sure if this is true, but I've also heard zoom is one of those insidious surveillance type programs that once you load onto your computer you can't actually remove.  Uninstalling it just removes your access to it.  I guess it doesn't actually get rid of the program.

I probably would not have done the zoom book group thing but for the fact that they took my earlier suggestion that Building a Better World in Your Backyard Instead of Being Angry at Bad Guys would make a great discussion book.  The local friends of the library group agreed and donated the money to purchase a dozen for a "Book club in a bag" set that will now be available to all the regional branches.  Since I was the main instigator in all this I really had to take part!  I feel like I should also note here since other library group type people might be reading this thread that I created a set of discussion questions book groups could use to get things going.  I have them posted in this blog on my blog site.  All are welcome to copy, share, and use them.

David Huang wrote:I'm not actually part of our local friends of the library group but it's something I've considered.  My sense was always that they were mainly about doing fundraising things to help support the library.  This is great and much appreciated, but for myself I don't know that I'd much care for the task of coming up with ways to ask people for money.  Does your group do things beyond this?  

To answer your first question. We do a lot of fundraising and have had a good return. We use the money to fund projects that the librarian wants to do. I want to have more events that get people in to the library and be more active in the community. I hope that after covid 19 Friends of the Library will grow. One of the projects I would like to do is something like PEP.

If zoom is not a good video conferencing program what program do you use if any?

Hi, sorry to hear about your librarian passing away.

I am the community librarian at the Bitterroot Public Library in Hamilton, MT. I use Zoom for book clubs, meetings with the State Library, conferencing with speakers, and hosting interesting presentations to the permies. It works very well.

Our Friends group is a bit quiet right now do to covid, but we normally do have a large book sale each year. A previous library I worked for has done a Chocolate and Authors meet and greet each year that was always successful. Basically a large group of volunteers baking sweets and getting as many local authors together. Again, this would be post pandemic.

Make sure you have a vibrant social media presence, advertise the library's goings ons as well as your own.

As the vaccine becomes readily available, in person programming and events are going to be doable within the next six or seven months most likely. Plan a big "welcome back to the library" party. It will culminate with summer so have the library do a plant or seed swap.

A great friends fundraising program is to do a 5k for the library.

Daniel Ray wrote:
Make sure you have a vibrant social media presence, advertise the library's goings ons as well as your own.

As the vaccine becomes readily available, in person programming and events are going to be doable within the next six or seven months most likely. Plan a big "welcome back to the library" party. It will culminate with summer so have the library do a plant or seed swap.

A great friends fundraising program is to do a 5k for the library.

I like the idea of a "Welcome back to the Library party"! We do have a little social media presence. The thing I have an issue with social media is what to post and how many times a week. Is there a magic number?

T Blankinship wrote:
If zoom is not a good video conferencing program what program do you use if any?

To be honest I haven't used any other and will readily admit to being a bit of a Luddite.  zoom might be the best out there, or there might be others that are better.  I don't know.  I was just offering up my experiences with it.

The thing I have an issue with social media is what to post and how many times a week. Is there a magic number?

We are lucky enough to have a staff member who does all this for us. But I would start with two or three facebook posts every week. Post about what is going on in the library, but also what is happening in the community. Libraries often forget they are the intermediary many times between the public and any and all resources available to them. Post what a local history center is doing, or find interesting zoom tours available for free.