LaGrange Friends Spring 2014 Newsletter

Beyond the Bookends
A Newsletter of the Friends of the LaGrange Memorial Library
April 2014
Georgia’s Poet Laureate to Deliver Keynote Speech
at Annual Friends Meeting, Tuesday 4/22/14
Award-winning poet and novelist, Judson Mitcham, will deliver the keynote speech at the Annual
Friends Meeting, Tuesday, April 22, 7:00 p.m., at LaGrange Memorial Library. Mr.Mitcham will speak
following a brief business meeting including an election of officers and new board members and a
state of the library report by Regional Director Keith Schuermann. The evening will conclude with a
reception and book signing in the Fackler Room.
Georgia’s tenth Poet Laureate, Mitcham was inducted into the Georgia Writer’s Hall of Fame on
November 11, 2013. During the induction ceremony, Karen Paty, Director of the Georgia Council for
the Arts, noted that Judson’s work “resonates deeply with the humanity, humor, respect and grace
that living through our past and into our future requires.”
Mitcham's poetry has been widely published, appearing in such journals as Chattahoochee Review,
Harper's, Georgia Review, Gettysburg Review, Hudson Review, Poetry, Southern Poetry Review, and
Southern Review. His first poetry collection, Somewhere in Ecclesiastes, earned him both the Devins
Award and recognition as Georgia Author of the Year, an honor stowed annually by the Georgia
Writers Association.
Besides his poetic accomplishments, Mitcham has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts
Fellowship in Creative Writing and has been the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. Mitcham is also the
first writer to win the Townsend Prize for Fiction twice – once for his first novel, The Sweet
Everlasting and then for his second, Sabbath Creek, making him the first writer to receive the award
twice. Both novels were published by the University of Georgia Press.
In both his novels and his poetry, Mitcham's elegiac voice looks backward with fondness and
discernment on a personal and regional past slipping rapidly beyond reach.
Library Director Schuermann urges you to share this information with organizations or individuals in
our community. “This level of programming is a testament to the outstanding work Dr. Thomas and
our Friends consistently give to the library, and to our community. Join us!”
Contents:
President’s Message
2
Programming Spotlight 3
Meet Your Friend
4
Beyond the Bookends
A Newsletter of the Friends of the LaGrange Memorial Library
April 2014
A Letter from your Friends President
I want to thank all of you who participated in the highly successful “Taste of Storytelling,” which we co-hosted in the library
with the Azalea Storytelling Festival and our 2nd Author Talk of the year featuring June Hall McCash. Both events were wellattended and enormously entertaining.
I also urge you to support our upcoming Annual Friends Meeting on April 22 at 7:00 p.m. This year we are particularly
honored to have as our keynote speaker, Judson Mitcham, Georgia’s tenth Poet Laureate. Prior to his address, we will
conduct a brief business meeting during which we will vote on new board members and officers for the coming year. Please
make plans to attend!
Our first two “1st Saturday” book sales were quite successful! Each month we gain new supporters of the library and its
Friends. Distinct from our December Mega Book Sale, the “1st Saturday” sales feature our Friends’ Book Shop located in the
corner of the library foyer.
If you have not visited the Friends’ Book Shop, you will be quite impressed with the collection of donated books we have
acquired. Some of the specialties include hundreds of hardback mystery and general fiction, trade fiction and nonfiction
paperbacks in mint condition, hardback biographies and memoirs, and an extensive collection of inspirational and self-help
titles. If you are interested in vintage books, we also have many titles of established 20 th century writers and writers of
children’s books.
All of these are in addition to our cookbooks, gardening and landscape books, reference books, and oversized
commemorative books on art, nature, history, and pop culture. Of course, we continue to accrue hundreds of mass-market
paperback that were sold this month at the bargain price of five for $1.
Because our shelves are overflowing with so many wonderful titles, we need your help to promote these sales so that we can
make space for continuing donations! Also, we need at least four volunteers each month to conduct the sale. If you are
interested in helping us set up the sale or volunteering to help with the sale, please contact Dan Baker at
[email protected] or Brenda Thomas at [email protected].
Tell all of your friends about our next sale that will take place on Saturday, May 3, from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00: p.m.
Your Library Friend,
Dr. Brenda Thomas, President
2014 Friends of LaGrange Memorial Library Board
Dr. Brenda Thomas, President
Jacque Hornsby, Vice President
Gerald Becham, Secretary
Dan Baker, Member
Judy Bledsoe, Member
Saundra Hall, Member
Sara Richards, Member
Lori Slay, Member
Kathryn Adams, LaGrange Manager
Keith Schuermann, Treasurer, Regional Library Director
Page 2
Beyond the Bookends
A Newsletter of the Friends of the LaGrange Memorial Library
April 2014
Spotlight on our Programming
June Hall McCash Uncovers the -story
in the History of Georgia’s Coastal Barrier Islands
in the Friends’ Second Author Talk
Following the highly successful Author Talk of Derek Hicks in the fall, historian and writer of
historical fiction, June Hall McCash, shared her passion for the Georgia Coastal Barrier Islands,
and insight into her process and craft, with a captive LaGrange audience of 50+ Friends,
LaGrange College students, and patrons.
A Taste of Storytelling Continues to Amaze and Entertain
For the second year, the Friends of LaGrange Memorial
Library co-sponsored “A Taste of Storytelling” with the Azalea
Storytelling Festival as a part of the February For the Love of
the Arts. This year’s event featured local actress, teacher,
and storyteller Carol Cain and well-known LaGrange artist
Annie Greene, who regaled the 100+ standing room only
audience with stories inspiring her yarn painting.
Page 3
Meet Your Friends….@the LaGrange Memorial Library!
Meet Leslie!!
Continuing a new feature to our newsletter: “Meet Your Friends at
the LaGrange Memorial Library.” We hope this will give you a unique
insight into the work and lives of those dedicated to serving our
community.
This summer Leslie Collier will celebrate her ninth year of work at
the LaGrange Library. As one of our valuable and dedicated Library
Assistants, Leslie’s job is to ensure our materials are able to sustain
the rigors of circulation, and will tend to the mending of the
occasional “fallen soldier” when necessary. And, she helps ensure
our materials are processed in a manner that will help you to find it.
With stickering, stamping, labeling, covering, taping, marking,
cutting, and just plain straightening so much of her day-to-day, it
should come as no surprise to learn she has an extraordinary talent
for crafts. She’s seen in action (right) admiring our Peace Tree, and
has planned to one day create a even larger tree for the front parking area, comprised of due date cards, golf pencils, and discarded
sticky notes (April Fool’s, Leslie).
When asked what she likes most about her job, she immediately
states “the public.” For everything she does to keep our collections
well so that all may enjoy, and for her support of the friends
activities, we thank her!
Leslie Collier
Library Assistant
CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!! SATURDAY BOOKSALES!!!
Leslie’s helped with this and so should you! Because of the steady donations we have been receiving
since our successful December Mega Book Sale, the Friends Board has decided to open our Friends Book
Shop the first Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
We need at least two volunteers each month. If you would be interested in helping us with this project,
please contact Dan Baker at [email protected] or Brenda Thomas at [email protected].
Page 4
Page 4
Friends of the LaGrange
Memorial Library
Membership Form
115 Alford Street, LaGrange, Georgia 30240
Telephone: 706-882-7784; Fax: 706-883-7342
The support of our Friends is vital to the success of the library. Through membership, gifts,
and contributions, the Friends provide the means for the provision of reading materials,
magazine subscriptions, programs, and equipment purchases.
Membership benefits include:






Free library logo tote bag and membership card
Advance notice of book sales and special events
Special early admittance at book sales during “members-only” hours
Free book of your choice at each book sale
Subscription to newsletter of the Friends of LaGrange Memorial Library
Annual election of Friends leadership
Some of the projects sponsored by the Friends include:
 Vacation Reading Club Program

books and prizes.

 Purchase of Spanish language
materials.

 Purchase of magazine subscriptions.

 Purchase of children's books.

 Purchase of adult bestsellers.

 Membership in the LaGrange

Chamber of Commerce.
----------------------------------------------------Name:
Author programs.
Children’s programs and
storytellers.
Book sales.
Trips to literary/historic sites.
A Taste of Storytelling
Prime Time Family Reading
LaGrange Art Museum Mini Art
Exhibit
-----------------------------------------------
________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________
Yearly
Annual
Expiration
Membership Dues
________________________________________
Friend
(Individual)
$15
12 months
Phone:
________________________________________
Family Friend
$25
12 months
E-Mail:
________________________________________
Loyal Friend
$50
12 months
Supportive
Friend
$100
12 months
Sustaining
Friend
$500+
12 months
Level of Membership: _____________________________
Thanks!! Please make check payable to:
Friends of the LaGrange Memorial Library
115 Alford Street
LaGrange, Georgia 30240