Approval of April 2012 at FRIENDS Board Meeting:
Wish List of $25,000 for cultural programs and outreach, laptops,

e-books and new e-book loan service

1. Funding for Stories for Adults and Poetry Workshops: $5,000

$4,500 for two Stories for Adults programs

$500 for two poetry workshops (to be matched with grant money)

These monies would be used to continue the nationally recognized Stories for Adults programs at a minimal level by sponsoring two additional programs in 2012-13, giving Special Services Coordinator Jeanne McCombs time to book the best performers at the best possible rate. The Friends have already sponsored a Stories for Adults program in July 2012. An additional $500 would support two poetry workshops in 2012-13. Grant funding will also be sought to match the Friends donation. Friends sponsorship will allow all these programs to be presented free of charge. The Friends will be acknowledged in promotional materials and at the event.

2. Replace nine public laptop computers: $6,300

A Friends donation funded purchase of public laptop computers in 2006 and 2008.This service has been incredibly popular, and very important to those without computer access, with 8,986 checkouts between November 2010 and October 2011. We currently have three recently-purchased laptops and eight laptops that were put into service in October 2009. The older machines are showing signs of wear and tear, including broken latches, buttons, and keys, as well as declining performance.

3. OverDrive Advantage ebooks: $4,000

The last two years have seen what may be the biggest change in books and reading since the printing press: the growing popularity of ebooks. Sales more than doubled in both 2010 and 2011. The Library offers ebooks through the Northern California Digital Library, a group of libraries contracting with OverDrive, the largest library ebook vendor. Participating in a consortium allows us to offer far more titles than we could alone. However, ebooks are licensed so that they circulate like physical books: each copy is available to only one reader at a time. With 15 libraries participating, this leads to long hold lists for most titles.

OverDrive offers member libraries the opportunity to purchase "OverDrive Advantage" titles, which are available only to their own cardholders. Monterey Public Library and Pacific Grove Public Library have purchased over 650 Advantage titles over the past two years. This is currently our primary way of developing our ebook collection to meet local customer demand. Through the recent strategic planning process we heard of the need to both keep circulating print materials and expand electronic content. A $4,000 donation would allow us to continue purchases without reducing the print collection development budget.

4. Ebook Reader Loan Service: $7,500

$5,000 for 25 Nook ebook Readers

$2,500 for ebooks

Northern California Digital Library ebooks are available to customers who own ebook readers. But what about customers who cannot afford a reader or who wish to try out ebook reading before purchasing a new device? Core to the mission of a public library is to "level the playing field", to make resources available to those who may not have the means to purchase them.

Like Sacramento Public Library and many others, the Library has developed a plan to circulate ebook readers pre-loaded with popular content. After researching many alternatives, staff recommends participating in a Barnes and Noble program to loan Nook ebook readers. This approach provides readers which are easy to use for customers and easy to manage for staff, and eliminates possible legal complications because it is authorized by the device and content vendor. A $7,500 donation would fully fund what is almost certain to be an extremely popular new service. The Friends will be acknowledged in promotional material for the new service.

5. Community events and outreach: $2,200

In the recent strategic planning process we heard a great desire from the community for more community events inside the Library, and a greater presence outside the Library. The community also had many suggestions for specific events, as did the staff teams who worked on drafting activities. While none have yet been formally approved by the Board as part of the next year´s Strategic Plan work plan, it is likely that several will be.

These funds would be used to support up to two library-wide events inside the Library in the next Fiscal Year, such as the recent and very popular International Day or "Random Acts of Culture" event, and/or the Library and/or Bookmobile´s presence at several events out in the community. Funds would be expended on supplies, printing and promotional tools such as banners or handouts and a small amount of on-call staff time to augment regular staff time at these events. The Friends will be acknowledged as sponsor in promotional material for the new service, and will be encouraged to have a presence at these events and outreach.