Good Morning Everyone,

You are all aware that I asked Barbara Nichols to postpone the informational meeting about the formation of a Friends group for the Winton Branch, but I thought I should fill you in on the reasons I asked for the postponement.

Some of you may be aware that a Friends of the Rochester Public Library organization already exists, and has existed for more than 50 years. The RPL Friends is led by Executive Director Linda Rock, and is responsible for such things as the annual Sokol High School Literary Awards, Books Sandwiched In at the Central Library, Friends to Friends grants that often benefit our branch libraries, and some children’s programming in the branches. The RPL Friends is chartered by the State Education Department and is a 501c3 registered charity.

Recently there has been a desire expressed by our branch leaders to develop smaller groups of “friends” who are committed to helping out their home branch. The first branch to do this was Arnett, which has a small but growing group of volunteers who are doing such things as presenting storytimes to neighborhood children, have painted the children’s room and foyer of the library, and produced a popular Halloween poetry project. What they have not done is engage in any extensive, organized fundraising, which was one of the things mentioned in Barb’s first email to all of you that led me to ask her to postpone the meeting. It became clear to me after reading that email that I and Linda Rock need to have a fuller discussion with our Branch leaders before more groups are formed so we don’t end up with multiple Friends of the RPL groups competing with each other. That is neither productive nor efficient.

I am very much in favor of developing Friends sub-groups throughout the City if the actions of the groups can benefit our libraries and the communities they serve. For a Friends group to be successful, there has to be a good and strong relationship between the Friends and the Library, with the Friends supporting projects and activities initiated by the library. Our patrons are our best and most valued supporters, and can make things happen in the libraries that might otherwise not be possible. Rest assured that there will be an informational meeting scheduled in the near future to discuss the formation of a Winton Friends of the Library group. I plan to attend that meeting, along with Linda Rock, and can share with you some of the issues facing libraries in the City today and talk with you about how you can help.

There will also be additional opportunities for our users to participate in library planning. The RPL Board of Trustees and I are in the process of developing a Neighborhood Branch Advisory Council that will draw participants from all areas of the City together quarterly to discuss and help find solutions for the challenges facing our libraries. Those of you who wrote letters to me during our budget crisis will receive a reply shortly that will ask you to consider attending the first Neighborhood Council meeting in the Fall.

The support of the Winton neighborhood for the library during our budget crisis was phenomenal and I and the RPL Board of Trustees as well as all our staff are supremely grateful to you for that action.

If you would like to talk with me personally, you can reach me via email at puttaro@libraryweb.org. I’m not in my office much, so email is always the better option. I am also on Facebook.

Thank you for your continued support….

Patty

Patricia Uttaro, Director

Rochester Public Library & Monroe County Library System

115 South Avenue

Rochester, New York 14604

585-428-8045 (phone)