Friends for the Public Library

Who are the Friends for the Public Library and what is their mission?  From their website:

"Established in 1969, the Friends for the Public Library is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization supporting the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System.Our mission is to maintain a charitable and educational organization to support the library, to increase the library's resources, to advocate for the public library, to recycle donated materials, to stimulate use of the library's resources, and to encourage and support educational and literacy programs through the library."

You could become a Friend!  The Friends are always looking for volunteers - they need the help of hundreds of volunteers each year for advocacy, outreach, to staff the monthly used book sales, and more! Pick up a volunteer application at your local branch library, or call Melissa Carlisle, Administrative Coordinator, at 505-768-5167 (TTY users call 800-659-8331).

The Friends primary fund-raising activity is  book sales, which raise approximately $150,000 annually. Your donations to the library of gently used books and more make up most of what is for sale by the Friends. The Friends maintain the Main Library Bookshop and run the monthly used book sales at Main Library - the 2013 schedule is featured below!  In addition, ten branches have a Fiction to Go display - check out your branch's website to see if they are one of the ten! 

2013
Saturday
Book Sales

January 12

February 9

March 9

April 13

May 11

June 8

July 13

August 10

September 14

October 12

November 9

December 14

Sunday
Clearance
Sales

May 12

November 10

If you wish to donate items to the library, please view the Friends' Donation Guidelines. Small donations (a couple bags or less) can be dropped off during regular hours at any branch library except Ernie Pyle, Special Collections, or Westgate. The Friends recommend that larger donations be delivered to Main Library, and suggest calling (505)768-5167 to make an appointment for donations of 10 or more boxes.  Don't forget to get an Acknowledgement of Donation at the time of drop-off - your donation is  tax-deductible, though library staff are are unable to assign a dollar value to your donation.  We thank you for donating!

For more information about the Friends, try:

Friends for the Public Library website 

About the Friends

Volunteer!

Book Sales info