By Jennifer Hubbard
Friends of Rowan Public Library

Friends of Rowan Public Library has moved its membership year to coincide with the season of beginnings. There are Friends all across this country supporting local libraries, and, boy, do we have a great one in Rowan County. A membership here — $10, as small and unassuming at that first crocus — affirms our local branch library’s meaningful work.

Here’s how it works. You see, the library politely asks the Friends to cover what the county’s budget doesn’t, such as the $10,000 required to mount the children’s summer reading program at each of the four branches, by far the Friends’ most important mission. Friends of RPL also purchases books and DVDs for the library’s collection, and last year, we provided comfy furnishings and a book drop for the new West Branch in Cleveland, a most excellent repurposing of an old elementary school.

Speaking of repurposing, we opened the Second Saturday Bookshop at West End Plaza to sell used books that many of you have donated to us — and thank goodness for it because we never quite know what the library is going to need next (air-conditioning repair? a new roof?). Sales from the shop help cushion those unexpected hard hits. You wouldn’t think that selling books for $1 and $2 would make a difference, but, like Friends memberships, little things can do mighty work. (By the way, a membership grants you occasional early access to bookshop sales.)

Please consider stopping by your local branch’s circulation desk and asking for a membership envelope. Or simply visit our website: www.friendsofrpl.org. For the first time, we’re seeking businesses and individuals to sponsor summer reading at the $500 (Silver Friend) and $1,000 (Gold Friend) levels. Every membership and donation received in March and April will be recognized in a special summer-reading section of the Salisbury Post.

If you’ve already become a Friend, thank you ever so much for being the early bird. You’re in good standing through March 20, 2023, as those who join today will be. Crocus by crocus, the spring comes.

Jennifer Hubbard is president of Friends of Rowan Public Library.