Happy 2025, Friends! We are very proud of our accomplishments last year and look forward to another very successful year.
Our December Book Sale was enthusiastically received by our reading community. So many happy faces when they saw that our fiction books were selling 2 for 1! It’s so nice when community members express their appreciation to our volunteers! We had gift quality books for sale that weekend and then again during two children’s events at the library. We’re so fortunate to receive books in such wonderful condition. As always, the logistics of getting hundreds of boxes of books from storage to the library is complicated. It takes a number of hardy volunteers to deliver them. Then the onsite volunteers place the books in the proper categories. After the sale is over, the remaining books are given to a company that redistributes them. We’ve had some challenges in the past with this part of the sale, but thanks in a large part to board member, Roger Caswell, this went off without a hitch in December! Thanks again, Roger!
In November, we held our annual meeting and election of officers. This year, one of our directors at large stepped down. Stephanie Dorward served the past two years and was an extremely productive member. Thankfully, she is continuing in her role as chairperson of the Book Store Committee. In this, she has been proactive in heading off problems and instituting new procedures as necessary. Thank you, Steph, for all your contributions to our organization. Our new director at large is Scott Morgan. Scott is a hardworking member of our eBay team. He also works a regular shift in our bookstore. Our Board looks forward to working with Scott!
Castro Valley Reads is right around the corner. This is a program that the library and Friends are very proud of. Kickoff is Sunday, February 2 from 2-3 pm. That’s when you can pick up your book and sign up for discussion groups. Chris Selig, Adult Services Librarian does a great job leading this program. (See page 2 of the newsletter for more information.)
The new year means that it is time to renew your membership! You may do so at our bookstore or on line. There is a form on page 3 of this newsletter. Your membership dues are the foundation of our annual budget and allow us to sponsor activities for both children and adults. Please renew soon!
We hope to see you soon at our BookStore. We have new materials on display on the outer shelf weekly. Check them out! You may find the perfect new book!