Friends of the Library

P.O. Box 669

Ocean Shores, WA 98569

Membership:

$10/year or $100/lifetime

Newsletter Staff:

Carole Bodey

Crystal Dingler

Andy Gruse

Marjorie Schnapp

Mary Walker

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Inside this Issue

An Amazing Bargain 3

Awards for Volunteer 2

Catwords 6

Did you know? 6

Jewelry and Crafts and

Things, Oh My! 5

Library Has Been Busy 2

New Books - April 5

Notes & Nuggets 2

Right Back Atcha' 4

Summer Schedule 7

Waldo's Window 5

FOL Officers:

Lee Miller, Pres.

Anneka van Doorninck, VP

Mary Walker, Sec.

Gene Swygard , Treas.

Your Library Has Been Busy!

BY JUDY STULL

Things are hopping at the Ocean Shores Library. During the first three months of this year we checked out 19234 items to 12145 patrons, and we issued 151 library cards (giving us a total of 9440 library card holders). Who knew there were any non-library card people left!

Internet usage has really taken off too. We recorded 2986 users through March this year. If that isn't enough statistics for you, how about this? During the same time, we also handled 2419 reference questions and 1095 phone calls!

All of this activity is handled by Michelle Olson (staff member since June 1992), Kelly Getty (June 2000), Stephanie Frank (May 2003), and me. I am the old-timer. This is my 28th year at the Library. How time goes by when you are having fun!

Notes and Nuggets

Betty Smith, OS Library Board Chair and FOL member, headed a committee to revise the FOL By-Laws. Committee members were Lee Miller, Linda Lewis, and Andy Gruse.

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Lee Miller invited OS Mayor Pro Tem, Nick Johnson, primary liaison between the Library Board and the City Council, to address the membership at the January meeting. For the March meeting, she invited Mayor Mike Patrick to speak. Both

discussed their views and visions on a number of pending Ocean Shores issues. These were lively, informative meetings.

Awards for

Library Volunteers

BY MARY WALKER

In honor of National Volunteers Month, President Lee Miller put together an FOL Appreciation Tea. As far as anyone can recall, this has never been done before, so the event is long overdue. Her idea was to give a "high-five" to all those who have worked above and beyond the call of duty for our library throughout the years of her service.

To celebrate extraordinary time and effort donated by many FOL members, book sale volunteers and other library helpers, Lee presented a tasty custard-filled cake, made by the IGA bakery, complete with a clever handclap graphic on top. She also arranged to give a lovely flower gift to each volunteer. Our local florist, Flowers By The Sea, prepared the gifts. A Certificate of Appreciation, designed and prepared by yours truly and Margie Schnapp was given to each recipient, along with a thank-you letter. In alphabetical order, the individuals honored were: Nicki Anderson, Chuck Bilow, June Bilow, Carole Bodey, Pat Braden, Sally Bruburn, Pat Cogswell, Anneka van Doorninck, Florence Feasley, Ann Frasz, Andy Gruse, Jackie Ingersoll, Shirley Johnson, Anita McKenzie, Lee Miller, Anne Minford, Ruby Roger, Marjorie Schnapp, Betty Smith, Margie Smith, Mary Spaeth, Judy Stull, Gene Swygard, and Mary Bachmann Walker.

their bike or vehicle. People from all over the state and beyond enter the tiny room, not much bigger than today's modern walk-in bedroom closet. It says "Book Sale" on the door under the stairs. Inside there are books everywhere. All the shelves are filled. There are boxes of books on the floor. There are so many books that sometimes the economic law of supply and demand takes over, and Romances have to be given away free and Children's Story books have to be sold for 10 cents each. Space is needed for more books.

Jackie Ingersoll and the other women who volunteer here are tough. They survive without heat or the new carpeting in the rest of the permit center city employees recently had installed. They deal with leaks, but get those quickly fixed. It is difficult to sell waterlogged books, even rare ones. They deal with stuffy air in the windowless book room by leaving the door open if it is not storming outside.

are so adaptable they must be the

descendants of the Oregon Trail Pioneers. They are the members of the Ocean Shores Friends of the Library and provide free volunteer labor hours each month to sort, price and sell donated books. Their goal is to expand the crowded, city library.

In this room treasure can be found. The first programmable calculator Japan ever marketed was sold here for a dollar. A set of leather bound Harvard Classics was sold for $100. There is a bookcase of rare books. Some books in high demand like recent hard cover best sellers or gardening books, don't get that 1950's era 35 cent price. They have a higher price of 1 to 5 dollars written inside the cover. $80 computer books have been found here with salient points outlined by working computer science engineers. This saves the reader from wading through a mass of technical detail to get at the relevant points of a computer problem. Would you believe this only costs 35 cents? This book sale is popular as source of books for booksellers. It is even listed on the internet.

Why is this book sale so rich in