How About A Friend's Group Here?

Someone gave me a copy of an email they received the other day. It was about an article from the Journal-Constitution by Wally Eberhard, who is the president of the Friends of Georgia Libraries and a retired UGA journalism professor. He wrote about loyal "Friends," the organizations of supporters that work to help libraries.

There were some interesting facts in Mr. Eberhard's article. Things like:

• Georgia library statistics for the 2007 fiscal year report 35.7 million visits to public libraries in the state, which tops the million attendances at UGA or Tech football games, the 3.5 million visits to the Georgia Aquarium, and the 2.75 million tickets brought for Atlanta Braves games.
• Jim Rettig, library director at the University of Richmond and president of the American Library Association, wrote in the American Librarian that as the nation's economy struggles, public libraries nationwide report increases in circulation and new demand for other services.
• A library card is still free and available to anyone with minimal credentials. With that card you can check out a book that costs upward of $20 at a bookstore. Also, many can't afford a computer or Internet service, but their library provides both.
• Mr. Rettig also reminds us of the importance of libraries...that from preschool story hours to research collections at university libraries to programs for senior citizens, the library is the only agency or institution in American society that provides lifelong learning.
• For the year ending June 2007, the Georgia Public Library Service reported revenues of $220 million. Seventy-five percent of that was from local funding, 27 percent from the state of Georgia, 1 percent from the federal government, and the rest from other sources, including grants and gifts.
• Georgia's state allocation for collections and library maintenance has been level for a decade or more, meaning the value has declined.

Mr. Eberhard said, "All of Georgia's publicly funded institutions are on a forced economic diet these days, and your public library isn't exempt. But most have a loyal group of Friends - that's uppercase, please - to help them out...Mr. Carnegie funded construction of 1,689 libraries in the United States...Since then, the cause of the library has been taken up by others, including local Friends groups." He quoted Lady Bird Johnson in his article: "Perhaps no place in any community is so toally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest."

Thanks to Mr. Eberhard for bringing this information to our attention. Could we use a Friend's group here?

(Source: Journal-Constitution, 01/05/09; Georgia Libraries www.georgialibraries.org)