Timeline By Winnifred Olsen
1971 - The Margaret McKinney Children's Reading Room was dedicated. Lawrence O. Swenson bequeathed $50,000 to the city to acquire "a site and construct a new modern library for the City of Olympia."

1972 - Friends of the Olympia Public Library was chartered with a steering committee consisting of: Margaret (Peg) Coppinger (librarian), Peggy Burwell, Mary Wark, Miriam Mathes, Helen Vandenberg, and Lucretia Lupher.


NEW FRIENDS BOARD ELECTED
        Board members for the next two year period were elected at the April board meeting on April 9, 2002. Officers elected are President, Jean Finely; 1st Vice President for Membership, JoAnn Sterbis; 2nd Vice-Presidents and Co-Chairs for Book Sales, Wandra Hedrick and Nancy Motomatsu; Secretary, Mary Campbell; Treasurer, Beth Dubey.
        Board members will include B.J. Brown, Wilma Bullington, Jennifer Elden, Vicky Friend, Robert Harris, Eileen Keith, Georgia Munger, Winnie Olsen, Irene Osborn, Patti Trimm, Sally Winslow, and Harriet Yarowsky.
        Board members not returning are Larry Bauman, Mollianne Pickett, and Jackie Williamson. The new board will be installed at the next meeting, May 14, 2002.

VOLUNTEERS TO BE HONORED ON MAY 18
        Volunteers for book sales and other activities at the Olympia Library will receive invitations to a Volunteer Recognition Day.
        It will be held at the Olympia Timberland Library, Saturday, May 18, 7:00 -9:00 p.m. Music and refreshment swill be provided. The Olympia Storytelling Guild will entertain with ghost stories, fables and other stories. The planning committee includes JoAnn Sterbis, Jennifer Elden, Patti Trimm, and Cheryl Heywood.

BOOK SALES SUPPORT LIBRARY NEEDS
        The April book sale raised more than $1,900 for the Friends of the Olympia Timberland Library! (Volunteers are listed on the Events page.) Book sales are used to support needs and programs at the library that can't be met with regular revenues.
        The on-going sales at the Friends book shelves near the check-out counter brought in $4,400 during the last fiscal year April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002. The funds support special programs for children and general interest programs such as Inquiring Mind. They are also used to purchase needed equipment and furniture.
        The next book sale will be held October 4, 5, and 6, 2002.

BILL TO SAVE STATE LIBRARY PASSES
        The legislature passed a bill to continue the State Library under the auspices of the Secretary of State. It was sent to the Governor's Office.

Events

April 2002 Sale Volunteers

Volunteers for the April sale included: Mary Applen, Robert Arnold, Rosalie Ballew, Warren Ballew, Genne Beach, Dave Bellefeuille-Rice, John Boyle, Mark Brazas, Wilma Bullington, Bruce Campbell, Mary Campbell, Gus Christianson, Susan Coomes, Beth Dubey, Jennifer Elden, Kate Ensor, Jean Finely, Don Foran, Vicky Friend, Lenore Granger, Robert Harris, Wanda Hedrick, Joan Heilenday, Tod Heilenday, Cheryl Heywood, Billie Higgins, Karen Knudson, Jean Lawrence, Gene Little, Marijo Loftis, Nancy Motomatsu, Toshiko Motomatsu, Georgia Munger, Winnifred Olsen, Irene Osborn, Mollianne Pickett, Barbara Ryan, Leo Scarpelli, Becky Sisler, Darrell Slone, JoAnn Sterbis, Audrey Streeter, Peter Sweet, Becky Thompson, Patti Trimm, Sylvia Tytler, Mary Lou VonBargen, Evelyn Walseth, Kurt Walseth, Jackie Williamson, Nona Winiarski, Mike Winiarski, Sally Winslow, and Harriet Yarowsky. Becky Sisler's name was inadvertently left off the list of volunteers for the February sale. We thank TOP Foods for donating paper and plastic bags for the sale.

COMING EVENTS AT THE LIBRARY

Page Turners Meet May 3
         Page Turners is a book discussion group which meets on the first Friday of the month from 10 a.m. to noon. It is sponsored by the Friends of the Olympia Timberland Library. The book for discussion on May 1st is Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. Page Turners will meet on June 7 to select titles for next season.

Friends Board Meets May 14
        The Friends of the Olympia Timberland Library Board will meet to install new officers on May 14. This will be the last meeting until September. The meeting is open to anyone interested in the activities of the Friends. It meets at 10:00 a.m. in the Library meeting room.

Recognition Day on May 18
        Friends is planning a celebration of the many volunteers who assist the Library and work at activities sponsored by the organization. (See article on page 1).

Highlights of Board Meeting - April 9:

* * * * * *

Election of officers for 2002-2004. Winter Adult Reading Program had 265 participants. Art work commissioned by Friends for children's area has been completed. PA system purchased by Friends is operational. Inquiring Mind program about Harriet Tubman attracts over capacity attendance. Steps taken to reduce disruptions by homeless.

President's Corner
By Jean Finely

This last fiscal year brought many challenges and changes. Earthquake damage repair disrupted library services for weeks. In September we learned we couldn't use space at Aladdin Best Western and the Fall Book Sale would need to be condensed to fit in the Library meeting room. A make-up sale was held in February and then later the traditional Spring Book Sale was held in April. All three were successful thanks to the hard work of the volunteers.

New officers and board members for 2002 to 2004 were elected at the April meeting. The slate, for the first time in 20 years, did not include Mollianne Pickett and Jackie Williamson who asked to be retired from "active duty." We appreciate their years of dedicated service. They will be missed. Wilma Bullington, long-time Book Sale Co-chair, will step down from those duties but will remain on the Board.