Celebrate Our Friends

October 21-27, 2012 is the sixth annual celebration of National Friends of Libraries (FOL) week making it a good time to publicly thank the Friends of the Beaufort County Library system who contribute so much of their time and expertise to significantly enhance our services.    Beaufort County Library has three FOL groups:  Friends of the Beaufort Library, Friends of Bluffton Branch Library; and the Friends of Hilton Head Library.  Learn more about each of the groups on the Friends page.  There you can read the latest newsletters, see who's on their respective boards, see how to join, volunteer your services for book sales, etc. or even listen to podcasts of past book review series.  As Margaret Mead said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  It is definitely true that the FOL groups have impacted how the Beaufort County Library serves our community. Here are just a few ways: Our Friends raise money that enables Beaufort County Library to provide additional programming, much needed equipment, support for children’s summer reading, and special events throughout the year. The work of our Friends highlights on an on-going basis the fact that Beaufort County Library is the cornerstone of the community providing opportunities for all to engage in the joy of life-long learning and connect with the thoughts and ideas of others from ages past to the present. Our Friends understand the critical importance of well funded libraries and advocate to ensure that Beaufort County Library competes for the resources it needs to provide a wide variety of services to all ages including access to print and electronic materials, along with expert assistance in research, readers’ advisory, and children’s services. The Friends’ gift of their time and commitment to the Beaufort County Library sets an example for all in how volunteerism leads to positive civic engagement and the betterment of our community. We urge everyone to join the Friends of the Library group of your choice: Beaufort, Bluffton or Hilton Head.  Please thank them for all they do to make Beaufort County Library system and our community so much better.