Friends of the Library turns 25 with $200K raised

SANDPOINT — Next month, the Friends of the East Bonner County Library celebrate a quarter century of going above and beyond to keep the library growing and in top shape.

The group was formed in 1989, when Jim Clarke pulled together a team of like-minded founders that included Judith Clarke, Phyllis Burwell, Gloria Ray, Dick Wolf, Jeff Johnson and Pat Stevens.

“Jim called me and asked if I would help start up a Friends of the Library group,” Stevens recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, as long as I never have to be president or vice president.’”

Since that time, the co-founder has managed to keep that promise to herself, but has held every other office in the volunteer organization — some of them multiple times.

Just as they did in those early years, the Friends continue to rely on their book sales, held the first Saturday of each month, to raise money for East Bonner County Library needs. The first sales were conducted in the basement of the former library building on Second Avenue — a space so small that fire code required those attending to take numbers and wait in line until someone else left the sale area before entering.

“We made $45 one month and we were ecstatic,” said Stevens.

With the move to the current site — a move that the Friends helped execute when they organized a bucket brigade to pass books by hand from downtown to Division Street — the book sales now fill the entire outer lobby.

“Our last sale raised over $900,” said member-at-large Bette Heffner. “We’re way over $200,000 in money we’ve raised for the library. That’s impressive when you consider that hardbacks are a dollar, paperbacks are 50 cents, children’s hardbacks are 50 cents and children’s paperbacks are a dime.”

Many of the library improvements funded by the Friends are in plain view, such as the Diana Schuppel mural in the youth area, the Gail Lyster art tile outside the Rude Girls Room, shelves for new releases and highlighted books, the kiosk and Friends of the Library display case in the lobby and refurbishments to the Lincoln statue just inside the entrance. Other projects are less visible, including purchasing a sound system, library carts, window blinds, a speaker’s podium and color copier.

Because Friends of the Library is a non-profit group, the money it raises goes right into library. To date, the more than $200,000 in direct funding has been earmarked for purchases suggested by library staff and administration.

“They come to us and give us a wish list and we vote on it,” Stevens explained. “I’d say that, 95 percent of the time, we give them what they ask for.”

Outside the library walls, the Friends have donated hundreds of books to local elementary schools and Sandpoint Middle School, as well as similar donations to Kinderhaven, L.O.V.E., Inc., and a shipment of more than 600 books that went south in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“We also established the library at Lake Pend Oreille High School and, at one time, we established the library at the jail,” said member-at-large Pat Ramsey.

With total funding approaching the quarter million-dollar mark, the organization stands out, nationally, for its consistent schedule of fundraising sales. Although other libraries hold such events, they usually happen once a year, according to Stevens.

“I don’t know of any other library that has them once a month,” she said.

“Or that does the volume that makes this kind of money,” Ramsey added.

Just as the non-profit status affects how much money the group can pass along, so, too, does the nature of how it collects the books it sells. A small percentage is culled from the library collection, but the majority comes from community donations.

“And a huge number of them are in pristine condition,” Ramsey said.

Before the monthly fundraiser can take place, about a dozen Friends of the Library members tackle a mountain of books, sorting them into appropriate categories for display in the outer lobby on sale day. A small group of teens — most of them students at Lake Pend Oreille High School — helps out with that effort.

“We do pay them,” said Heffner. “That’s the only expense we have that doesn’t go directly to the library. The reason we hired them is that we’re all getting too old to lift those boxes of books.”

“Older,” corrected Stevens. “Not old — older.”

“One of our big focuses is community interaction,” Ramsey said. “Our interaction with high school students has been very effective — especially Lake Pend Oreille High School students. They have a special place in our hearts.”

One trademark of the Friends of the East Bonner County Library has been its diverse slate of presenters for the organization’s monthly board meetings. At first focused exclusively on local artists, those presentations have branched out to include authors, educators, historians, scientists and community service groups.

Those presentations, combined with an ongoing public awareness campaign for other library programs and services, has made East Bonner County Library the most consistently used library in the state on a per-capita basis, according to Ramsey.

“It’s just amazing — we really do have something for everyone,” she said.

Though the co-founder and the two members-at-large no longer hold board positions, they remain as involved as ever in the Friends’ activities.

“We all have a passion for books,” Heffner said.

“And a passion for serving this community,” said Ramsey.

“Plus, they just can’t seem to be able to get rid of the three of us,” Stevens said.

The Friends of the East Bonner County Library meet on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 11:30 a.m. in the library meeting room. The public is invited to attend and hear the featured presentation at those meetings. Book sales, which also offer CDs, videos and magazines, take place on the first Saturday of the month from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

For more information, call the library at (208) 263-6930, or visit them online at: www.ebcl.lib.id.us