You may have heard “The Friends” mentioned in relation to the library before, and are perhaps wondering what exactly is a “Friend” in this context? Popularized in the early 20th century through the Carnegie grants’ requirements for community involvement in establishing new libraries, Friends groups are particularly important in Vermont where there is no direct state level funding for public libraries. Friends not only fill the role of fundraising, they also are our best advocates, supporting events and generally raising awareness in the community.

Moretown Memorial Library was very fortunate to have a dedicated group of Friends raise funds for the reinforcement of our floor and new bookshelves, allowing us to display and build upon our collection. Throughout the years, they have also written grants and donated money for purchasing books to meet the needs of our reading community. It is our Friends that decorate our building with lights for the holiday season every year. In recognition of this past National Friends Week, we would like to celebrate and thank all of our Friends of the library!

In an effort to strengthen and build upon work done by current Friends, we are actively looking for new members to join the group. So if you would like learn more about becoming a Friend and supporting our library, please join us at our Trustee’s meeting on Thursday November 17th at 7pm.

A new popular book to our collection is Bruce Springsteen’s new autobiography “Born to Run”. Coming out just a few days after his 67th birthday, “Born to Run” began as a side project for The Boss back in 2009. Over the next seven years, he completed his story from growing up in New Jersey, to his days playing in Asbury Park and the formation of the E Street Band. As the author notes, “Writing about yourself is a funny business. But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.”

If getting your reading and audio books online is more your thing, we have a change coming to Listen Up Vermont, our free service that allows patrons access to a constantly growing and changing collection anytime. In order to make the process more secure and error free, you will be required to enter both your patron barcode and a password starting at the end of this month.

Finally, we hope you will join us at the Moretown School on Thursday, November 10th at 6:30pm as we welcome Maxine Gautier, founder of Out from Under Professional Organizing to highlight common problems and outline strategies for success in decluttering and letting go, and how to manage what’s left. Through a lively combination of lecture, laughter, and exercises you’ll be exposed to proven organizing techniques you can put to immediate use in your home or office, and leave prepared to tackle that daunting project head on.