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With the passing of each year, I come to appreciate even more what a good thing we have going here. It starts with our members and others in the community who donate used books and support library functions with unwavering commitment.
Then, there’s the library staff that appreciates us more than we could hope for and whose creativity and energy turn our contributions into impactful and far-reaching programs that benefit every age group in the community.
And, of course, there is the incomparable team of volunteers who simply don’t have an off button when it comes to sharing their time and talents in the pursuit of assisting the library in its mission to give patrons access to ideas and tools that will enrich their lives.
So, I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising to report that these three groups—community members, library staff and volunteers—accomplished some great things in 2023. Here are a few examples:
FINANCIAL RESULTS
While we saw some shifts in the amount of revenue that came from our various sources, the overall results continued to improve, reaching close to pre-pandemic levels:
PROGRAMS, IMPROVEMENTS AND SERVICES
When it comes to special programming for library patrons, the Cascade branch leads the way in quantity, quality and variety. And, funding from the Friends helps make it all possible. Whether it’s craft fairs, reindeer night, dinosaur events, touch-a-truck or any of numerous other activities, no one does it better than our library.
The pandemic caused the Friends to temporarily put the brakes on several programs, like Flix @ the Library, Booked for Lunch and Dining for Dough. But, it appears that the “temporary” status might now be “permanent” since the viability of those programs doesn’t seem to have survived the pandemic.
In 2023 the Friends introduced something called “Book-It,” a free service that offers to come to book donors’ homes to box and transport larger collections to the library. As it catches on in popularity, we expect that it will help reverse the recent trend in fewer book donations, which are essential to our bottom line.
And, finally, one of the biggest highlights of the year was the ground-breaking for what will become Friendship Park on the library grounds. There is a separate story in this issue to update you on its progress. So, I will only say here that we are thrilled to have played a pivotal role in its conception and development.
--Joe David
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