Franklin Matters: Friends of Franklin Library book sale

Monday, September 16, 2013

Friends of Franklin Library book sale - Oct 2103 cancelled

Hello, Steve,

As you may recall, a few years ago, the Library Board tried to cancel the Friends' book sale at the DPW. Thank you for your coverage, as I feel it was instrumental in continuing the sales. It's happening again - the Library Board has cancelled the Oct 2013 sale. The Friends' were notified abruptly via the following letter:

As you know, the Town of Franklin has recently drafted a Master Plan for the entire town. In conjunction with the Master Plan, the Franklin Library Board of Directors is in the process of developing its own strategic plan, which will reflect the Town's plan. During this process, we must consider all sources of revenue, including fundraising. Our Library Director has conducted community surveys and focus group interviews since January 2013, beginning with the Friends of the Franklin Library. The Board wanted as much information about community needs and desires as possible before developing the strategic plan.

Some of the initial improvements included: changing the regularly-scheduled morning programs; beginning new afternoon programs for school-age, children, tweens, and teens; updating the children's audio-visual collection; sprucing up the children's room; and instituting an "ongoing "book sale on the second floor of the library. We are also working with an architect to review both the building needs and space requirements for the next generation of patrons.

The popularity of the "ongoing" book sale has led us to expand it to the first floor near the circulation desk. Accordingly, we do not believe we need a fall 2013 book sale at the DPW. We will continue to monitor this new approach at the Library prior to making a decision about the 2014 spring book sale.

We recognize the community nature of the book sales as well as the tremendous effort by the Friends and volunteers to support and to staff the book sale. We hope that the "ongoing" book sale will free your members to consider other events and ideas for fundraising in support of the Library.

The Franklin Library board deeply appreciates all the past and present efforts of the Friends to support the patrons of the Library We welcome your suggestions and ideas and look forward to an ongoing dialogue with the Friends on our continued efforts to provide the citizens of Franklin the best possible Library in the region.