Thank you for your interest in volunteering as a Friend of the Library. Your enthusiasm for libraries and dedication to serve is commendable. We hope the resources in this page will help you focus your efforts and maximize your labor, thus strengthening the role of the Friends group and its impact on the library and the community.

Getting Grants in Your Community by Sally Gardner Reed & Beth Nawalinski, United for Libraries.

• Example: Book for Babies Grants

Resources

• Roles for Friends of the Library groups (PDF). This is a three-page document extracted from the Manual for New Directors of Public Libraries in Utah, 5^th Edition.
• The Ethical Dozen for Friends of the Library. Friends of Tennessee Libraries.
• Examples of roles and activities proper for Friends groups:
  • Working Together: Roles and Responsibilities Guidelines. Connecticut State Library, Connecticut Library Association, Association of Connecticut Library Boards, Friends of Connecticut Libraries.
• United for Libraries Toolkits for Friends Groups:
  • Academic Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • School Libraries

Getting Organized

• Friends of the Library: Guidelines for Organization. Minnesota Association of Library Friends.
• How to Revitalize your Friend Organization. Friends of Kansas Libraries.
• Libraries Need Friends: A Toolkit to Create Friends Groups or to Revitalize the One You Have. Sally Gardener Reed, Executive Director, United for Libraries.
• Sample Bylaws for Friends Groups.
• Sample Memorandum of Understanding between Friend and Libraries. This documents helps clarify the roles of the Friend of the Library and the relationship to the library (director and board).
• Starting a Nonprofit in Utah. Excellent step-by-step guides from the Utah Nonprofits Association:
  • The Art of Forming a New Nonprofit
  • Starting a Nonprofit
• United for Libraries Fact Sheets. These 1 or 2 page documents offer practical advice on a variety of topics ranging from organizing a Friends group, to launching a fundraising campaign, to planning successful programs, to advise when a Friend steps out of bounds.

Archived Webinars & Recorded Presentations

• WebJunction – Friends & Trustees Resources. Documents, News, Webinars.
• Keys to the Whole World: American Public Libraries. NPR. Special Series.
• Primer on Roberts’ Rules of Order. Washington State Library. 1 hour recorded presentation.
• Successful Friends Groups: What works, and what doesn’t work. Washington State Library. 1:17 hours recorded presentation.
• 10 Quick and Painless Steps to Effective Advocacy for Libraries. American Library Association. 1:02 hours archived webinar.
• They’ve Got to See it to Believe It: Getting Decision Makers Into Your Library. American Library Association. 1:02 hours archived webinar.

Professional Organizations

• United for Libraries – Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (a division of the American Library Association)
• Utah Library Association

Questions?

Merrily Cannon
 801-715-6769 or 800-662-9150 (Utah Toll-Free)
 [email protected]