Meet, Greet and Goodbye

The readers of this blog are invited to a farewell gathering the Friends of the Library are holding for Library Director Darryl Eschete on Monday, April 2nd at 7pm. As you may know, Darryl is headed for Iowa.

The bittersweet little soiree' will be held in the mezzanine level, complete with refreshments.

A book will be donated to the library by the Friends in recognition of the time Darryl has spent here.

Winter Used Book Sale!

The Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library are having a book sale this month!

Books, Books on CD, DVDs and Music CDs will all be offered...

The sale will be held of Tuesday, January 17th from 12 noon until 7:30pm & Wednesday, January 18th 10am--2pm

The sale will be in the large meeting room of the Chippewa Falls Public Library at 105 W. Central St. in Chippewa Falls.

Call Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library President Carol Peterson at 715-723-4970 for more information.

Save the Date! Friends Book Sale Coming Before We Know It!

PRESS RELEASE:

The Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library will hold their annual book sale on Friday, June 17th and Saturday, June 18th this year. The book sale will be held in a tent in front of the library at 105 West Central St. and will begin at 9am and continue until 3pm on both days.

The Friends expect to do better business than usual in 2011.

“A very nice lady on the West Hill donated thousands of beautiful books to The Friends this year, all at once and all in fantastic shape,” says library director Darryl Eschete. “I think that when the public sees the offerings this year, they’ll be as pleasantly surprised as I was.”

The books for the sale are either donated by the public over the course of the year or are discards from the library’s collection, Eschete says. The Friends don’t have an exact figure for how many books will be offered this year, but Eschete says it is thousands.

“This is the most books I’ve seen in one of these sales,” says Jan Joas, Treasurer of The Friends. “It’s overwhelming.”

This year, the sale will be part of “Discover Downtown,” a two-day sidewalk sale meant to encourage shoppers to visit the commercial area of downtown Chippewa Falls.
Prices will range from 50 cents for used paperbacks up to five dollars for hardbacks in like-new condition. All proceeds from the sale benefit the Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library, a non-profit charitable organization that raises money for the library and literacy-related causes in the area.

Book Sale June 17th, 18th--Volunteers Needed!

The Friends of the Library book sale is coming early this year, and volunteers are needed!

People are needed to set up, move boxes, help people carry their items to their cars, etc. If you or someone you know is interested in helping the Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library with their book sale, email me, Darryl Eschete, at deschete@mycfpl.org and I'll forward your interest to the Friends.

Be sure to let me know if you want to work early in the morning; last year, set up began before the sun was up, if memory serves.

All proceeds from the sale benefit the Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library, a non-profit group dedicated to supporting the library and other literacy issues in our area. It's really a great cause.

Space Needed...Tell A Friend About A Unique Charity Opportunity

I've gotten some questions about this, and I've decided to re-word it so that the intent is clearer. The Friends aren't looking to have a building donated to them...they just need the space for a while. So, let's try again:

Do you or does someone you know have some extra space in a storage unit or building that could be temporarily used until mid-June by the Friends of the Chippewa Falls Library, a 501(c)3 organization ? You may be able to deduct rent as a donation “in kind.”

Space is sorely needed for the storage and sorting necessary for the annual book sale, to begin June 17th.

Email me at deschete@mycfpl.org if you can help and I'll pass the information on to the Friends.

Book Sale 2010

Well, the numbers are in on this year's book sale, held last week during "Crazy Days." According to Friends of the Chippewa Falls Library treasurer Carl Miller, the Friends cleared just over $1850.00. This is down a bit from past years, but, still, not bad! And, the Junior Friends of the Library did brisk business with their bake sale, too, though I'm not sure just HOW brisk.

The Friends of the Library uses the money to support our efforts here at the Chippewa Falls Public Library, paying for things like speaker's fees, new equipment and possible minor improvements. If you like the idea of helping the library out in a real way that isn't terribly taxing on your time, consider joining. You can pick up a membership packet at the libray. And, it's a 501(c)3 organization, so donations to the Friends are tax-deductible.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some pictures from the sale:

ABOVE: Library/City Hall/Police Department/snow plow driver/busiest-man-in-the-downtown-area Randy Bilderback pulls up with yet another load of sale books.

ABOVE: Junior Friends of the library show the come-hither looks that equal sales.

ABOVE: Library Board President Robert Hoekstra and Friends of the Library Member Gordon Kauffman sort and stack sale books.

ABOVE: "Better Books" wait to be sold in climate-controlled conditions.

See you next year!

Among Friends...

Last night was my first meeting with the Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library (see photo above). That's (from left) Carl Miller, Mary Ann King, Jan Joas, Carol Peterson and the big guy is me. We discussed where the group might go in the future and the level of involvement a director might and should have in the regular operations of the group. It's still all open for discussion.

In my experience and estimation, a Friends group has enormous potential to do enormous good, even when the library in question isn't enormous. In a town like Chippewa Falls, there is always the opportunity to tighten and strengthen the bonds which already exist, and a Friends of the Library group can offer not just fund-raising, but FUN-raising opportunities.

Friends groups in some communities have done dog parades, trivia contests, bazaars, motorcycle poker runs, costume contests, etc. The sky is the limit.

So I thank the Friends who are now members and encourage anyone reading this who is NOT a member of the Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library to consider joining.

Everyone can have a role to play in the future of the library, after all, and can have a good time doing it. The public library is, truly, ALL YOURS.