Demonstrate for Building 30! November 19, 2010

This Saturday (November 20) is the Friends of the Library Sale at Magnuson from 9am – 5pm. There is now a planned demonstration for Noon – 1pm-ish. Petitions will also be available for people to sign. We have been successful in getting this on the city decision-makers radar but we need to keep up the pressure. We need to keep the hangar open for events and redevelop the west wing of the building so we can generate revenue and keep this historic and community asset available!

Fly your airplanes, wear funny hats, sing songs, come in costume, carry signs, skateboard, read books in a circle — whatever visual representation you find appealing — please join us!

Holiday Book Sale Saturday! November 17, 2010

Friends of the Seattle Public Library

Holiday Sale!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

9 A.M. – 5 P.M.

Books, CDs, DVDs and Gift Items

Warren G. Magnuson Park

Workshop, Building 30

7400 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle

Proceeds go to benefit the Seattle Public Library

book.sale@spl.org

The Holiday Book Sale features many items that have been hand selected to make great gifts!  Come see us this Saturday!

Help Save the Friends Book Sale November 4, 2010

The Friends have been holding their twice-yearly Book Sales for thirteen years in Building 30 at Magnuson Park. Recently, the Parks Department was notified by the Department of Planning and Development and the Fire Marshall’s office that, since holding events in Building 30 has been a non-conforming use, the building requires updates to meet current code to become an event facility. Therefore, DPD will now seriously curtail the number of events permitted.

Although the Book Sale will be able to hold its spring 2011 and fall 2011 sales, there is no guarantee that we will be able to continue to do so in the future. The Friends have not been able to find a comparable, affordable, alternative space to building 30 at Magnuson Park.

The Mayor has proposed allocating funds to help get Building 30 at Magnuson Park up to code for community use on his Web site, along with reasons why it would even help the Parks department. You can help buy going to the Mayor’s site and posting a comment in support of the funds going towards Building 30.

We also urge you to contact the Seattle City Council ask them to support the allocation of funds to renovate Building 30 so that the Book Sale and other events that provide important contributions to the greater Seattle community can continue.

The Friends are in jeopardy of losing access to Building 30 at Magnuson Park, here are a few good reasons to help us try to save it:

• From Book Sale profits, the Friends have donated over $1 million in the last five years to The Seattle Public Library for programs and initiatives not covered by the city’s general fund for operating expenses.
• The Book Sale recycles back into the community hundreds of thousands of books each year.
• Local teachers are able to pick out books for free for their classrooms.
• Without this funding, more than 40 events, many hosted by other non-profit groups, would be out of an affordable, efficient, space.
• You, your family, friends, and neighbors can get rid of old books and buy scads of other books for $1 AND support the Library.
• Without this funding, the Book Sale is in jeopardy. The Book Sales not only provide a community service, not only is nationally recognized as one of the largest sales of its kind in existence, but is a valued tradition for the Seattle community and brings attention to raising funds and awareness for The Seattle Public Library.

How to help:
The Friends have not been able to find a comparable, affordable, alternative space to building/hangar 30 at Magnuson Park. Please contact the Seattle City Council and Mayor and urge them to find the funds to renovate Building 30 so that the Book Sale and other events that provide important contributions to the greater Seattle community can continue.

You can also post a comment on:
Mayor McGinn’s Web site…
The Stranger’s blog…

The Friends pair with Connecticut foundation to provide books for local classrooms

The Friends of the Seattle Public Library have paired with the Renee B. Fisher Foundation’s Books for Teachers program.  The Fisher Foundation provides the Friends with a grant to provide qualifying teachers with vouchers for books that they can spend at our Book Sales.  Each teacher can spend up to $100 on books for their classrooms!  To qualify, teachers must work at a school where the majority of students are in need.

So far, the program has been a huge success.  The Friends  have provided more than 10,000 books free of charge to Seattle public school teachers at the 2010 Book Sales. We hope to be able to continue working with the Renee B. Fisher Foundation to fill many more local classrooms with books!  Here is some feedback from happy teachers:

“I left with over 119 books!!!  WOW!!!…I came back to school and added them to the classroom library.”

“My students LOVED the books!  They cheered when Joan dropped off the vouchers, and cheered again when I showed them the pile of books on Monday morning.  They have been enjoying browsing and reading in their reading classes, their silent reading times, or even in their spare time.  I love that I was able to get all kinds of genres and all reading levels for my very diverse group of learners!”

“Thank you and thank you to the Friends of the Seattle Public Library.  I went on Saturday and spent a bit over four hours searching for picture books for my Kindergarteners.  Those four hours were the best hours of my weekend since I knew deep inside I was giving up my personal time to make a huge difference.  It was fun to meet my colleagues there and talk to them across isles when a title of a book crossed my mind.  What I’m tying to say is that we not only got a chance to increase our personal classroom library, but a school wide one.”

And here are some quotes for happy students:

“I love Books!  Like you do!  Reading is fun!  I read a lot!  So I can get smarter!”

“My favorite book is the itsy bitsy spider and the snarly hissopus…All of them are great…so nice, cool, Fabilicious.”

Thanks to the Renee B. Fisher Foundation and to Friends Board Members Joan and Omar for this wonderful program.