Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Library and Friends clear the air

The Friends of Franklin Public Library meeting took my attention away from the Town Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday night. Yes, that is rare but in this case, especially worth it. Why? The book sale is a major fund raiser. The Friends contributed $20,000 last year to the Library. The bank account for the Friends is currently sitting at $29,516.

(The Town Council conducted their meeting in under 8 minutes. If you watch the recording, the first 1:20 is blank so hang in there it will appear (at least it did successfully when I watched it Weds evening). The liquor license for Ichigo Ichie Franklin, LLC (going into the former Piccadilly Pub) was approved. The July 4th committee presented their financial report to the Council. The snow and ice deficit is now about $400,000. “Pray for warm weather” is what Jeff Nutting asked for.)

The Friends meeting was indeed special. Felicia Oti, the Library Director and Cindy Dobryznski, Chair of the Library Board of Directors were both in attendance with the Board of the Friends and a couple of their members..

I won’t go into the recap of the events that transpired beginning with the December 2010 meeting. There is really no point in trying to reconstruct the incident. It has passed and both sides are willing to go forward. There may be some who don’t want to forget and that is okay. We all have choices to make and then we need to live with them.

It was acknowledged that there were mistakes made on both sides. It was acknowledged to let the past be put behind and go forward to support the Library.

There will be a book sale. It seems likely that it will be sponsored by the Friends of the Library for the benefit of the Library.

The book sale will be held at the DPW Garage like in recent years. The DPW will hold their “Touch a Truck” day to coincide with the book sale. All this will take place on the Saturday, May 21st.

The Library is still accepting books. The donation is technically to the Friends to benefit the Library. When the donation is to the Friends, the donor can receive a “Donation Acknowledgement and Tax Receipt”. If the donation is to the Library, it is accepted as a gift with no tax donation available. (An update from a loyal reader reveals that the statement above is incorrect, the gift to the Library still qualifies for a tax deduction.)


The sorting space that was a problem is still being used. Volunteers are still welcomed to help with the sorting. Felicia has heard from some volunteers who have stepped up to help conduct the book sale. The Friends book sale coordinator from last year had already determined not to do it this year (before the whole incident arose). Whether the Friends have another person to fill in remains open.

The permanent solution for space still remains to be determined.

Both the Friends and the Library Board of Directors have pledged to keep in better contact.

Felicia committed to come to the April meeting of the Friends.



Friends of the Franklin Library Mission Statement: We are a nonprofit organization, incorporated in 1991 and dedicated to supporting and promoting the Franklin Public Library. Ours is the first public, lending library in the USA, established with a donation of books from Benjamin Franklin. We are an all-volunteer community group that meets the first Wednesday of the month in the Library Community room at 7:00 pm from September thru June.



Franklin, MA

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