A Word From the President

ANNUAL LETTER TO F.N.P.L. MEMBERS

January 11, 2007

Dear Friends,

Greetings! Every new year is a powerful invitation to look forward, but I cannot resist first taking a moment to look back and honor a very special person who left us recently. Did you have a chance to know Agnes McQuarrie, a long time Pullman resident and a strong supporter of the Neill Public Library?

Agnes Mary McQuarrie was born in 1916. She attended Reed College, received a master's degree from the State College of Washington in 1941, and a doctoral degree from Indiana University in 1963. She later became a professor at Washington State University, working in the fields of public education and recreation. The Washington Recreation and Parks Association presented her its Honor Fellow Award in 1978. In September 2005, Mayor Glenn Johnson awarded a plaque to this outstanding citizen, commending her for "accomplishments and service to the community".

Agnes McQuarrie died last year at the age of 89. In her will, she named the Friends of Neill Public Library as recipients of a very substantial bequest. The probate proceedings are still ongoing, but I am proud to report that the day before Christmas we received partial distribution checks for more than twenty five thousand dollars. What a Christmas present to us all!

Agnes McQuarrie passed on, but she lives on through her generosity and commitment to the greater good, embodied by our beloved public library. Let her example be an inspiration for all of us. Please remember us, the Friends, in your estate planning. Your gift will ensure that the Neill Public Library will be nurtured and supported through the ups and downs of the municipal budget cycle. Truly, there are some things that only Friends can and will do.

How do you get an outstanding job candidate for a librarian position to fly in from upstate New York for a job interview in Pullman? During the time of limited budgets and strict spending regulations, it may turn out that even when there is a will, there is ... no way. Unless you have good Friends, that is! It is a fact of life that current regulations do not allow our library to budget for travel expenses of job candidates. At the same time, the open position of Community & Adult Services Librarian needed to be filled at NPL. One of the most promising and interested candidates for the job was living and working in the beautiful Catskill region out East. What do to?

Thanks to your generous financial contributions, the Friends of Neill Public Library could step up to the plate. We encouraged the library staff to fly in their top two candidates from wherever they may be (well, probably not from Australia) and give us the bill later. The rest is history. James Belcher got in safely from Fallsburg, NY, the first week of December, met with the hiring committee, met with community members, and liked what he saw. Importantly, the admiration was mutual, and a few short days later James accepted a job offer. We, the Friends, are proud to have sponsored his cross-country journey. Let it be a start of something wonderful in Pullman, for him as well as for us. As I mentioned, there are some things that only true Friends will do. We did it, because we could.

Sometimes a relatively small amount of funding can go a very long way. For the first time in 2006, the Friends of NPL started supporting the Whitman County Jail Mother/Child Bonding and Literacy Program. This innovative program allows incarcerated mothers to read stories into a tape recorder for their children "on the outside", and to make hand-made greeting cards for them. A dedicated library volunteer, Judith Lancefield, is spearheading this program. Judith purchases card-making materials at The Dollar Store, brings books for the jailed moms to read, and delivers tapes with stories to the children, so that they, too, can hear their mother's voice reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We are fortunate to have Judith among us, working very hard, donating her time so that all children develop a lasting relationship with books and reading.

In last year's letter, I asked you to consider increasing your pledge to the Friends in order to support the Summer Reading Program. It is clearly one of the most popular programs offered by our library. Almost four thousand people (children, parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends) attended at least one program last summer! Everyone was very delighted by our first-class performers from near and far.

How was this possible? It took not only the great organizational skills and hard work of our library staff. It also took money to pay for it all. It was your money, all six thousand dollars of it. Thanks to your generous contribution to the Friends, last year we were able to double our financial commitment to SRP, and in so doing bring in only the best of the best for our children. Supporting this program has traditionally been the "Friends' job", and we proudly own up to it. Everybody likes a winner, yes?

Please consider renewing your membership in the Friends' circle. There are gifts to give, goals to reach, and community programs to support that only true Friends are capable of.

Will you do your part? I knew we could count on you.

Thank you.

With my very best regards,

Petr Kuzmič
President, Friends of NPL Board