Our activities are not just limited to fundraisers. We recognize that the library plays a vital role in engaging everyone in our community, and we also strive to give back to the library and the Berryville community as a whole. As we see it, the library provides our community with a better future, and we are committed to ensuring a better future for our library.
At every business meeting, we receive a report from the library director. These reports include updates on what the library is doing and how it is doing, as well as requests for assistance. The library is on a tight budget and does not always have enough money for all of its needs. The Friends of the Library uses money that it has raised to pay for these requests so that the library doesn't have to cut into funding that is slated for new books or pre-existing programs.
To that end, we have purchased new seating for library patrons, new computers and tablets for programming, and sponsored a visit from Arkansas SkyDome, a mobile planetarium and science museum. We have also paid for extensive efforts to beautify the lobby, gardens, and exterior of the library.
In the summer of 2020, we sponsored a mural contest. The winning mural was installed on the exterior wall of the library, alongside a little free library and benches in memory of longtime library supporter Joyce McMullen. This installation is portable, and we will be able to take the mural, little free library, and benches with us when we move into a new library.
Photos of our mural, bench, and free library and the dedication ceremony
Friends of the Library Week
We've also started an annual tradition of celebrating the American Library Association's Friends of the Library Week in October. We usually tie this in with a membership drive in the lobby and draw attention to the library and the Friends through a local mayoral proclamation, letters to the editor, and other promotional material and events.
Friends board members with Mayor Tim McKinney after he signs the Friends of the Library Week proclamation, 2019
Carla Youngblood Community Spirit Award
We also award the Carla Youngblood Community Spirit Award on a quarterly basis. Named for a longtime library employee who retired in 2019, the Carla Award recognizes those who show community pride and spirit through simple, unheralded acts of kindness.
Award Winners:
Carla Youngblood, 2019
James Abbott and Randal Rust, 2019
Joe Scott, 2019
Joyce McMullen, 2019
Mary Lou Harp, 2020
David Stephens, 2020
Keith Rivera, 2020
James Abbott and Randal Rust receive the Carla Youngblood Community Spirit Award from Carla Youngblood and Friends president Ann Richardson for their work on the murals on the Berryville Square
Carla Award ceremony for James and Randal.
This picture has 4 of our Carla Award winners: Carla, James, Randal, and Joe Scott. :)
