Friends of the Library | Weeks Public Library

Friends of the
Weeks Public Library

The Friends File

The Friends File: The Library as Change Agent

From the outset one of the things I’ve intended is to reflect on the purpose, meaning, and function of libraries. I want to dig into this question of what it is we’re doing in libraries and why.

At the beginning of each monthly meeting I share a reading or poem that touches on this. Below is an excerpt from one. It gets at this notion of the way libraries can reach us, touch us, even change us. Its ironic title is If Librarians Were Honest. The author, Joseph Mills, was once described as “a nomadic poet who gets a library card every time he moves in order to root himself in each new city.”

If Librarians Were Honest

If librarians were honest, they wouldn’t act welcoming.
They would say, You need to be careful…
They would say, These rooms house heathens and heretics.
They would say,
each book is a Pandora’s box,
so why would you want to open one.
They would post danger signs warning that contact
might result in mood swings,
severe changes in vision,
and mind-altering effects.

If librarians were honest they would admit
the shelves contain a scandalous, permissive mingling
of Malcolm X, Marx, Melville,
Merwin, Millay, Milton, Morrison…
And anyone can check them out.
If librarians were honest, they would say,
No one spends time here without being changed.
Maybe you should go home.
While you still can.

Humorous…but true!

We are living through challenging times: times when all kinds of institutions find themselves under threat. This includes libraries. The fact is that libraries are inherently democratic, with a small “d”. They are “open source.” As our librarian, Adam, reminds us the mission of a library is not to provide answers but access. The good news is, as Joseph Mills notes, libraries can enable changes in vision and mind altering effects. They can be agents of change. I would add: it’s all for good.
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Our next Friends meeting is Monday May 13 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Come join in the conversation.

The Friends File

Archive:

Information about the Friends:

The Friends of the Weeks Public Library is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization comprised of volunteers dedicated to encouraging and promoting our beautiful new library and enhancing its many services.

We cordially invite you to join the Friends. We meet the second Monday of every month (except for July and August), at 6:30 p.m. in the library’s Conference Room.

The Friends of the Weeks Public Library provide:

Museum passes
Annual Summer Reading Program and reading incentives
Youth programs and holiday events
Adult programs that contribute to Greenland’s educational and cultural life
Ongoing book sale
Public support and good public relations for the library

We are independent of the library’s Board of Trustees and focus our energies on providing financial support for items not covered in the town budget for the library. Since our beautiful new library is now four times larger than before, those needs are greater than ever. Please help us ensure that the Weeks Public Library delivers the services, resources, and programming that we have all come to enjoy. Won’t you become a member?

Would you like to join the Friends? To view our brochure, click here.

National Library Workers Day

We recently celebrated National Library Workers Day on April 25th, and the Friends of the Weeks Public Library presented our staff with a nice plant and a gift card! We cannot thank our beloved staff enough for their loyalty & dedication to our library, and we're "Forever Grateful" to the Friends for their continued support & recognition of our wonderful staff!

Awards

On Nov. 17, 2022, Katrinka Pellecchia of the New Hampshire Library Trustee Association presented the Friends of the Weeks Library with the 2022 Sue Palmatier Award for Friends Group of the Year. Friends Stuart Bauder, Debra Miesfeldt, and Phyllis Picha gleefully accepted the award. This award was in recognition of the Friends' successful "Bookmarking the Future" Campaign to raise funds for the renovation and addition to the Weeks Public Library in Greenland, NH. The reception was held in the living room of the library's newly renovated historic building.

Fundraisers

We are Forever Grateful! The Friends of the Weeks Public Library are pleased to announce that we received a February grant of $6,156.78 from The Fabulous Find in Kittery! We were thrilled to be the recipients of such a generous donation which will be used to provide enhanced library services to the Greenland community. The Friends of the Weeks Public Library is so grateful for this amazing grant and honored to be part of The Fabulous Find’s long tradition of giving back to the community. We cannot thank them enough for selecting our library as a grant recipient and know that our library patrons will also be thrilled.

Fabulous Find is a boutique-style resale shop at 139 State Rd. (Route 1) in Kittery that identifies non-profits to support with the boutique’s income. All profits from the boutique are donated each month to local non-profits. The busier the month, the greater the donations back to the community. You can learn more about The Fabulous Find at their website: http://www.thefabulousfind.org.

The Weeks Public Library is located at 36 Post Rd. in Greenland and offers a wide array of library materials, programs and ever-increasing services to Greenland’s youth and adults. We have recently greatly expanded our facility and are expanding services and programming to satisfy the growing need. Our grant received from The Fabulous Find will assist us in those efforts. Please stop in soon or visit us 24/7 at weekslibrary.org.