Friends of Santa Cruz Public Libraries |
|
A message from
FSCPL Executive Director Bruce Cotter
|
|
Hello Friends,
It’s been a wild and wooly few months for many of us the term “atmospheric river” became a new part of our vocabularies. I hope you and yours have been able to hang in there safely through power outages, and rivers rising, and road closures.
We have been very busy, as the Friends have just wrapped up one of our most loved annual programs, Our Community Reads, a county-wide engagement with one book, in a variety of different contexts. This year’s book was Mary Coin, by Marisa Silver, a novel based on the iconic depression era photograph of a migrant mother by Dorothea Lange, and it was a phenomenally successful series of events. In the past, this program has always been led by our wonderful Friends of the Aptos Library, and once again, they took the lead this year, despite hot having a library building! This year we also had active participation by our equally amazing Friends groups in Capitola, La Selva Beach, Felton, and Scotts Valley who stepped up to provide space and resources.
For over a month, readers throughout the county engaged with this book on so many levels. There were book discussions, concerts of depression-era music, film presentations, art workshops, photographic workshops, including one led by our own Jim Bourne, and an opportunity to engage with the author directly. In all, there were more than 20 different events across the county, and hundreds of you took part.
This project is so important to me because it expresses what the Friends are all about. Just look at the words in its name, Our Community Reads. There is Reads, well of course, that’s what libraries and Friends groups are all about, supporting the idea of our being part of a reading society. Then there’s Community. The sense that Santa Cruz is a community of intelligent and literate people, who support their libraries, and the important work they do supporting literacy throughout the county. And finally, a small word, Our, but one that is near and dear to my heart.
It never ceases to amaze me how hard the members of the Friends work, putting in hours on end, to ensure the health of the library, to support the staff and their efforts, and to think up and bring to reality some really terrific programs. We’d love to have your support in those efforts. Financial support is always appreciated, and you can send a check to us at the address below, or go online to www.fscpl.org/donate in order to make your gift.
But even better, if you’d like to get involved with a truly remarkable group of people who are dedicated to this county and to its’ libraries, we’d love to have you take part. In addition to the core group here at the Friends Board, we have very active chapters in Aptos, Boulder Creek, Capitola, Felton, La Selva Beach, and Scotts Valley. Each of these groups has opportunities to volunteer to help your libraries. I promise you, you won’t find more satisfying work that you can do! You can find out more at our website, www.fscpl.org.
Stay safe, stay dry, and as always, thank you so much for your kind and generous support.
|
|
Bruce Cotter
Executive Director
603-337-5656
|
|
|
Women's History Month honors the contributions women have made to the United States and recognizes the achievements women have made over the course of American History in a variety of fields. Learn more at womenshistorymonth.gov.
|
|
|
|
Find storm recovery resources including emergency alerts, disaster preparedness, monitoring and reporting, and what to do during and after emergencies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
