How to become a friend of the library

By Molly McMasters
Guest Column

As the 2011-12 Marion County Friends of the Library president, I would like to tell you a bit about our group. The FOL was established in 2005 to assist the Marion County Public Library in promoting reading, providing programs for our local community and raising funds to help pay for those programs.
A yearly membership with FOL is $10 per year. Everyone asks "What do I get for my $10?" This past year, the FOL paid for two new microfiche cabinets for the genealogy room, a screen printing machine, and a DVD cleaner and helped fund the summer reading program activities, a trip to Louisville for comic-con for the youth, and the DJ for the Halloween party in October.
Of course, membership fees were not the only funds we raised to help cover the above costs. We hold two books sales each year where you can purchase discarded or donated books for little to nothing, and we attempt to have other events to bring attention to the MCPL.
In October the past two years we held a legislative meet and greet with our local, county and state officials, and we've asked our community to come discuss the reasons that they should support our local library.
There are many reasons, all of us should support our MCPL. They are one of our biggest tools in education for our children. They are an avenue to those who do not have Internet access to have the tools they need for continuing their education on-line, keeping in touch with others, job hunting and reporting to the state unemployment office so that they do not miss a check.
Our MCPL librarians are some of the best informed and educated in multiple areas. And if they don't have the answer, they will do everything possible to get it for you.
They watch over our children, grandchildren and even us adults from time-to-time. They go above and beyond. During the summer months they have extra programs to keep us busy and even feed our children with the school lunch program provided by the state.
They are not just librarians, they are overseers of us all when we are there,  especially our youth. The librarians love their jobs and show it through everything they do.
The state government, like many businesses, has cut its budgets and cut our MCPL's budget where it comes to getting state assistance for items. Marion County has the lowest taxing rate of any county around. The MCPL is limited on how much fund-raising it can do to help support programs and that is where the FOL comes in.
Come join us and be a Friend of the Library. Stop by and pickup a membership brochure at the MCPL or contact me at mcplfriends@gmail.com and I'll get one to you, or just send a donation to Friends of the Library, 201 E. Main St., Lebanon, KY 40033.
Hope to see you at some event during 2012.
Editor's note: Molly McMasters is the president of the Marion County Friends of the Library.