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Public Library Friends, Large Budget

Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, Minnesota focuses its attention on four major activity areas: fundraising activities, grassroots advocacy, cultural programming, and public awareness. They provided over $1.9 million in financial assistance to the library. They also provided funding to a pilot Homework Help Center program to provide a safe and educationally supportive environment for students. In addition, they restored cuts of $470,320 to the library's city budget through advocacy efforts.

Public Library Friends, Medium Budget

Friends of the Pickerington Public Library became a 501(c)(3) organization in 2001 and has been extremely active ever since. They have raised thousands of dollars through both traditional and innovative projects, including the publication of a cookbook, selling books online, a direct mail campaign to residents who had dropped from their rolls, and selling candy bars at the circulation desk! Their biggest accomplishment for 2001 was reaching children in grades 1-4 through an aggressive "Patches for Progress" reading campaign.

Public Library Friends, Small Budget

Friends of the Mazomanie Free Library, Wisconsin created several special programs including their locally produced variety show, Cabin Fever Reliever, which has been an annual community event since 1981. This year's Poetry Party on the Prairie included the development of a Poet Laureate of Mazomanie!

Academic Friends

The Friends of the University of Arizona Library helped establish and raise funds for four new endowments to support the University library, including internships for Native American students pursuing a career in librarianship at the University's School of Information Resources and Library Science. The remaining endowments provide funds to strengthen Special Collections, upgrade and maintain library technology, and purchase texts in Talmud, Rabbinics, and Jewish Law. The total amount of these new endowments reached almost $1 million in a single year. Other activities included a membership drive, a special program, "The Fate and Future of the Printed Word," two book fairs, and a Library Day cosponsored with the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team.