Ankeny Library Holding "Friendraising" Event to Celebrate National Friends of Libraries Week

From a City of Ankeny news release:

Join the Friends of the Kirkendall Public Library and help make a difference in Ankeny today! As part of the National Friends of Libraries Week celebration, October 21-27, 2012, the Friends group is holding a membership drive under the theme of "Friendraising."

As part of the "Friendraising" event, Friends will display information about their mission, their accomplishments, and the opportunity to become a member. New members may stop in, complete a membership form, pay their annual membership fee and receive an exclusive Friends reusable mug as well as the knowledge that they are supporting Kirkendall and the growth of the spirit, imagination, and culture in Ankeny.

During the 2012 National Friends of Libraries Week, over 5,000 members of the Ankeny public are expected at the Library as patrons, as participants in the children and adult programming including the Annual Trick or Read event for families on October 25, and even as early voters for the Presidential Election.

The Friends were formally organized in January 2012. Members launched a freewill offering coffee nook in the Library and formalized the opportunity to raise money through membership dues, donations, and sales of reusable coffee mugs as well as a year round book sale in the Library.

Friends' funding is used to supplement regular programming with events like the wildly popular Children's Summer Reading Program, which had over 1,600 children register for the program last summer. In addition, the Members are working to fund a special programming series in 2013-2014 at the Library regarding culture.

"In times of economic hardship we need our libraries more than ever, and they are used more heavily than ever," Friends co-chair Jami Jansen Frazier said.

According to 2011 circulation data, Ankeny residents visited the Kirkendall Public Library nearly over 259,000 times and checked out more than 574,000 items during 2011.

Not only are libraries a public good – serving people of all ages and economic backgrounds – but several state and local surveys show that investing in libraries packs a wallop in economic impact

"Only free countries have free libraries. Americans cannot afford to lose sight of or access to this vital community resource," Friends co-chair Sarah Goedken Kool said.