It’s time for the Friends of the Library membership drive!  If you are already a member, we thank you for your participation and hope you will use this time to renew your membership and encourage your friends and family to join also. If you are not a member, we would like to share with you just a few of the programs and projects Friends of the Library members have funded and perhaps you will want to join our group of library supporters.

Among the many and varied things funded by Friends of the Library are:

• Supplies, Prizes, and incentives for kids, teens, and adults participating in the Summer Reading Program
• An ongoing project to digitize historic Fort Smith newspapers making it possible to preserve them and to access them from home
• eBook and downloadable audiobooks on Library2Go/Libby
• Movie screening site licenses for films so the library can show movies to the public
• DVDs for checkout at all FSPL locations
• Underwriting fees for authors and performers to come to the library

In 2023-2024, Friends will provide over $60,000 in funding for these and other projects and activities.

In addition to the membership drive, Friends of the Library will also raise funds through four book sales and a Chocolate Festival.  Dates and information for these are:

• Mostly Fiction Book Sale  (Adult fiction and audiovisual): May 5 (presale for Friends only) May 6 & 7 – Public  (May 7 – half price)
• Adult Non-Fiction:   August 25 (presale for Friends only) August 26 & 27-Public  (August 27-half price)
• Children’s and Young Adult Sale:   October 27-29 (no presale)
• Rare and Vintage Book Sale:  December 4-10 (no presale)
• Chocolate Festival: September 24, 2:30-4:30 p.m.

To become a Friend of the Library or to renew your membership, just complete the online form.  As always, your donation is tax-deductible, to the extent allowed by law.  Thank you for being a Friend.

Sincerely,

Louise Turner, Membership Committee Chair