Our 2017 Friends Annual Meeting

On Friday morning, March 17, the Jefferson County Library Foundation was proud to host a special breakfast edition of the Friends of the Library’s Annual Meeting. We welcomed nearly 30 of these Friends and their guests at the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center for a morning of good conversation, great new information and an inspiring presentation by suspense novelist and Colorado native, Samuel Marquis.

2.DSCN2351

Foundation Executive Director Jo Schantz and suspense author Samuel Marquis.

As many avid readers may already know, Sam is a bestselling and award-winning author whose books include The Slush Pile Brigade and Blind Thrust. This acclaimed writer works by day as a VP-Principal Hydrogeologist with an environmental firm in Boulder, Colorado, and by night as the spinner of the Nick Lassiter-Skyler International Espionage Series, and the Joe Higheagle Environmental Sleuth Series. As a result of their popularity, his books have climbed to #1 on The Denver Post bestseller list. Sam’s Denver-based political thriller The Coalition was just announced as an Award-Winning Finalist of the Colorado Book Awards in the Thriller category.

After Sam’s presentation, our Friends and guests were able to purchase his most recent novels and have the books personally autographed. We were delighted to welcome Sam and his wife, Christine, to our event!

Our breakfast guests also learned about some exciting new changes in our Friends membership structure. We called on Kay Rowland, Secretary of the Friends Council, to walk us through the new member categories and show us the new Friends membership cards that will be available after April 1. The morning’s agenda also included a special update by Cindy Jaye, Public Services Manager for the Library, who brought us up-to-speed on this year’s county-wide Summer Reading challenge. If you would like to request a copy of Cindy’s presentation, please contact us.

Above all, this meeting was a time to honor our Friends and all they do to help our Foundation and our Jefferson County Public Library. How do Friends assist us? By sponsoring (and volunteering at) our semi-annual Whale of a Used Book Sales, by staffing our Friends Gift & Book Shop at the Belmar Library, and — most of all — by being a part of the year-round membership group, the Friends of the Library.

Not a Friends member? Join today.  And…stay tuned for more information on upcoming Friends meetings and events!

/by
Friends of JCPL logo

Changes Coming to Friends

Laura Kepler, President Friends of JCPL

Laura Kepler, President of Friends of Jefferson County Public Library

As President of the Friends of Jefferson County Public Library (JCPL), I spent many hours thinking about our mission and how best to achieve it. One day, I ran across a quote from Baltasar Gracian that seemed to sum up what I had long been trying to articulate: Friendship multiplies the good in life. That is precisely what Friends of JCPL does. Through advocacy and support, we multiply the good of JCPL, helping it become stronger by building a vibrant community around it.

When I thought about our goals for this year (and beyond), I asked myself a simple question: How can we multiply the good by a greater factor? The Friends Council and I want to offer our Friends more. We want to offer our Library more as well. We will be implementing some changes that will accomplish both of these goals, including adding benefits to your Friends membership, like:

  • Discounts at Friends Holiday Sales
  • Discounts on Friends ticketed events
  • Invitations to Friends events

We’ll also be introducing a new Friends membership card. This card is made of a durable plastic that won’t only identify you as a Friend of JCPL, but will also get you all those great discounts at Friends book sales, including the Friends Gift & Book Shop at Belmar Library.

We will also be trying to cut costs by digitizing our Footnotes newsletter. It will still give you all the great updates you’re accustomed to, but in a digital format that will be emailed right to your home. This will allow us to give a higher percentage of Friends membership fees (which are tax-deductible donations) to support the programs we all love, like Summer Reading and Early Literacy programs for children.

Please take a moment to review some of the new benefits of Friendship. I certainly hope you will join us in multiplying the good and making Friends of JCPL stronger than ever.

2017 Friends of JCPL Membership Levels & Benefits

Effective April 2017

Individual                   $15-$24

  • Admission to Preview Night Spring Whale Sale
  • Admission to Preview Night Fall Whale Sale
  • 10% discount at Friends Gift Shop at Belmar year-round
  • Invites to Friends-only events
  • Friends e-newsletter
  • One Friends membership card

 

 Sponsor                       $100-$249

  • All the Supporter perks, and…
  • 10% discount at Friends Holiday Book Sales

 
Couple                         $25-$39

  • All the Individual perks, and…
  • One additional Friends membership card  (2 total)
 Patron                          $250-$499

  • All the Sponsor perks, and…
  • Free admission for two to a Friends ticketed event *
  • 10% discount at Friends Holiday Book Sales

 
Supporter                   $40-$99  

  • All of the Couple perks, and…
  • 10% discount on ticketed Friends events
  • 2 additional Friends membership cards (4 total)
 Conservator               $500+

  • All the Patron perks, and…
  • Free admission for two to two Friends ticketed events*
  • Special invitation to the President’s appreciation event

*This perk applies to the primary cardholder, not all individual cardholders within the membership.

/by