Rebecca Purcell, President
Sarah Taylor, Vice President
Ellen Campbell, Clerk
Stephan & Faith Bader, Co-Treasurers
Jane Torpie, Membership
Frances Brown, Historic Concord Sales
Kate Stout, Publicity
Judy Dennen, Fowler Liaison
Laurie Gioia, Film Series
Edith & Kenneth Hetling, Book Sales
E. Glenn Mitchell, Adult Programs
John Lynch, Book Sales
Jacqueline Barnard, At Large
Sherin Spofford, Marketing
Barbara Powell, Library Liaison
The Friends, a non-profit, volunteer organization marked its 37th year by continuing to provide many of the services and amenities that enrich the experience of our library community. The Friends provide museum passes, large-print books, books on tape, cd-roms, dvds, multimedia equipment and staff development opportunities. The Friends also fund the author and music series, a film series, and most of the special children’s programs and events throughout the year (See Children’s Services under Library Report.)
Town residents continue to provide us with books and other materials to sell at our book sales and book cart. Once again, we had a very successful June sale and a record-setting December holiday book sale. Our book cart sales and on-line book sales set records. All monies realized from these sales are used to benefit the library.
John Hope Franklin, Recipient of Ruth Ratner Miller Award.
The Friends poetry and author programs included Helen Vendler, Linda Pastan, Kevin Young and Cleopatra Mathis. In March, the Friends participated in the Chinese-themed “Concord Reads” Town-wide event by underwriting two of the featured programs. The Fowler film series featured films from China, Russia and South America. The Friends hosted two Concord Festival of Authors’ events--the Suspense Night on Halloween and the new-author reading at Fowler
.
This year marked the tenth anniversary of the Friends-sponsored “Music from the Library” series. This year’s concerts featured a mixture of classical and cutting-edge contemporary music with virtuoso performances by cellist Matt Haimovitz, Four Nations Ensemble, and the Firebird Ensemble. We congratulate the Music Committee for their achievement in producing this superb series over the years.
True to library tradition, all the foregoing Friends events were free and open to the public.
On October 20, the Friends hosted its seventh annual Ruth Ratner Miller Memorial Lecture in Concord. The award associated with this event recognizes the contributions of American historians. This year’s honoree was John Hope Franklin, distinguished historian and social commentator
.
The Friends contributed over $52,000 to the library this year. Our funds are derived from our book sales, Friends’ merchandise receipts, and membership dues. The key to the success of the Friends is the support of its members and volunteers. We welcome you to join us.
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