North Highlands-Antelope Friends of the Library update for July-August 2021

SAVE THE DATE!

You are invited to attend the ALL FRIENDS meeting on Sunday, September 26, 2021 at 1:00pm. The meeting will be held via ZOOM. Check the Friends website for ZOOM information and login https://saclibfriends.org/

MESSAGE FROM THE BRANCH FRIENDS PRESIDENT
CHARLYNE NICHOLS NHAntelopefriends@gmail.com

I greet you on behalf of the Friends of the North Highlands-Antelope library, to encourage you to renew your dedication and support to this very worthwhile group and, by extension, to the library itself and our community.

Without doubt the pandemic has affected everyone in some small or significant ways. Our library has been caught in the midst of it.

Since the library's Covid-mandated closure in March 2020, much has happened. After a relatively brief time, the library reopened on a limited basis, subject to numerous restrictions, many imposed by CAL-OSHA. In time, the library has returned to its pre-Covid days and hours of operation while continuing to require masks be worn by staff and patrons. While some restrictions have been relaxed, a "return to normal" is slow in coming.

It is not clear when we will be able to resume activities associated with book sales or other fund raising efforts like our author tea. In spite of the challenges, your commitment to the Friends is more vital now than ever before.

I encourage you to keep your membership current.

We will keep you informed as we know more about the changes at the library and ways in which the Friends will be able to more fully participate in fund raising and community outreach efforts.

You are the key to our continued success. I welcome your suggestions. Please feel free to email me anytime.

MESSAGE FROM THE SYSTEM FRIENDS BRANCH LIAISON

KAREN LINDH    Karen.lindh@icloud.net

While activities may be on hold at the branches, the Friends have had a busy spring and summer.

The Big Day of Giving was a smashing success. The Friends raised over $100,000 for the 2021-22 Book First Program. And now anyone can donate at any time of year! One member is holding a personal fundraiser for his 50th birthday, and new donations for Book First continue to come in each week. Here is the link if you would like to check it out: https://saclibfriends.org/book-first/book-first-form/.

Book Sales. One of the things that all the branches want to know is when can we return to book sorting and book selling. Sacramento Public Library is following workplace guidelines established by Cal-OSHA, which requires that social distancing continues for staff, eliminating the space needed for Friends activities. The rules have been evolving, so stay tuned for potential changes.

The Book Den warehouse is holding sales twice per month, by appointment only. The Book Den is also accepting donations, also by appointment only. For more info, contact Pam Whiteley at macsa46@gmail.com. The upcoming dates: September 11 and September 25.

Hope to see you at the library!

MESSAGE FROM THE BRANCH SUPERVISOR

VANESSA 'Chacha' CENTENO, MLIS

Civic engagement is at an increase with Vote at the Library, placing ballot, drop boxes at 26 library locations and establishing 5 libraries as in-person vote centers starting September 11th.  

Summer Meals - Sacramento Public Library distributed 31,800 meals to youth 18 years of age and under. The Summer Meals program provided an opportunity for teens to return to in-person volunteer activities where they helped staff distribute books, activity kits, and 2,928 meals at the North Highlands – Antelope Library. 

Summer Reading - Summer Reading results are in: 224,132 books read and 3,579 medals earned, including the 5,822 books read and 122 medals earned at the North Highlands – Antelope Library! Congratulations to all the Summer Reading participants! We are grateful for the support and advocacy the Friends of the Library give to the library and community. Thank you for helping us make a difference.

What are library staff reading? Library Supervisor Vanessa ‘Chacha’ Centeno is reading Sisters of the Neversea by American Indian Youth Literature Award winning author Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek Nation). Sisters of the Neversea is an Indigenous re-telling of Peter Pan and features cover art by Coretta Scott King Award winning artist, Floyd Cooper (1956-2021). 

RIVKAH SASS is retiring at the end of the year as Library Director and CEO. In just 12 years, Rivkah has transformed the Sacramento Public Library from a dysfunctional organization under investigation by the Grand Jury to one of the nation’s finest. The reputation of 

Sacramento Public Library has received national prominence under her leadership, and Rivkah herself was the 2020 winner of the Charles Robinson Award, a national award given to a public library director who has been a risk taker, an innovator or a change agent.

Under Rivkah’s leadership, the Friends’ have achieved a true partnership with the library, benefiting the Friends, each of the branches and our entire Sacramento community.

To honor Rivkah, the Friends and our foundation, Friends Investing in Sacramento Public Library, have created a new endowment, called the “Young Reader Fund.” Friends and FISPL will be raising $100,000 for the endowment, with the first $50,000 donated by the Friends of Sacramento Public Library. The Friend’s Board has provided $30,000 in seed money, with an additional $20,000 to be used for matching grants. This gets us to the halfway mark! The campaign kicks off in September and continues until 2022. 

The purpose of the Fund is to:

• Help fuel young readers potential through new initiatives;
• Expand access to books for all young readers;
• Bring an array of new experiences to inspire young people;
• Provide SPL with resources to adapt to changing conditions in order to continue to support young people.

Branch Friends have many ways to contribute:

• Share information about the Young Readers Fund with prominent members of your own community-this can potentially open doors for the FSPL fundraising team;
• Volunteer to work on a task force or working group currently being developed in support of the Young Readers Fund;
• Make a Branch Friends contribution to the Young Readers fund to leverage matching funds;
• Support the Fund with your own donation;
• Stand ready to assist the Friends Board and SPL with the implementation of new initiatives that the Fund will stimulate, just as the Friends do with Book First.

WHY I VOLUNTEER

My name is Stephanie Lamphere and I have been volunteering at the North Highlands-Antelope Library since December 2019. There are many reasons why I volunteer!

First, I care about the well-being of everyone in our society, and I believe that a society can't really function when people only consider themselves, so I try to do things that are helpful to other people.

Second, reading and information literacy are crucial skills today, and libraries are a key provider of these skills and resources.

Third, I strongly believe that people are happier when they can follow their curiosity and learn whatever they want to learn, and libraries are the perfect place to do this.

Lastly, I have always loved reading and exploring new topics, and think that everyone should have the opportunity to do those things. And besides all of these, I enjoy organizing things, which means that I really do enjoy my volunteer work!

The most meaningful experiences in my life involve reading and/or travel. The common thread is exploring new ideas, places, and cultures. My mother used to buy books by the bagful at by local library sales usually run by various friends of the library organizations, so that I would not run out of interesting reading material! As a child, I read anything and everything that struck my interest, and I still do this today. I will also travel anywhere that is mostly safe, and have visited places like Cuba, Singapore, most of Europe and the Soviet Union.

To me, reading and travel are very much connected, and I hope that my volunteer work helps in some small way for our patrons to create their own meaningful and interesting explorations.