For this post we are going to combine the highlights from both our February and March monthly meetings. It has been a busy couple of months, and we are excited to share FURL’s latest news.
Every two years, FURL votes for the board. During February’s annual meeting we voted to keep our current board in place. This includes:
President: Katherine Esposito
Vice President: Mary Lou Terselic
Treasurer: David Spaans
Secretary: Gretchen Kendall
We also added Susan Bozak as our official Local Author Spotlight Series Chair, and Amanda Evans as the Technology Chair.
We are very excited with the success of our Local Author Spotlight Series. We have featured four authors since December 2020. This has helped drive more than 500 visits, and 800 pageviews to the FURL website. Our latest author is Tiffany Youngblood. She is an Urbana native who has written two children’s chapter books. You can read more about her author journey on the Author Spotlight blog.
Financially FURL is doing well. Our Fall fundraiser was successful, and those funds are now going to support the Summer Reading Program and Library Workers day. We were also able to sell some of our boxed books (originally intended for the bi-annual book sales) to a book wholesaler. This frees up a lot of storage space for the library. Staff are now able to reorganize their much-needed storage room. (Before and after photos below.)
Fortunately, we were able to keep some boxes of books for when we are able to have another book sale in the future. The library is still in Phase 1 of re-opening. There is no word on when they will move into Phase 2 or beyond. We are all crossing our fingers the library will begin re-opening further.
FURL is also a proud community sponsor for the Southern Frederick PTA/PTSA Virtual Scavenger Hunt. Two elementary school winners will receive books from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The Scavenger Hunt includes nine area schools and will run from March 17-April 9. Registration information is available from each school’s PTA. Contact ptavirtualscavengerhunt@gmail.com with additional questions.
On Monday, March 22, County Executive Jan Gardner is presenting a preliminary budget. The library is asking for our help and support for budget allocations. To do this, you can submit a budget fund survey, write a letter, or leave a comment during the presentation’s live feed expressing your support for FCPL’s initiatives. The FCPL website has more information about how you can help the library get the budget appeals they are requesting.
One of the best announcements from Urbana’s branch administrator was the expansion of WiFi services. All nine FCPL libraries, including Urbana, have installed high speed WiFi extenders providing free internet access up to 200 ft from the building.
During our March meeting, local Girl Scout Daniella joined us. She is working on her Girl Scout Gold award and is looking for volunteers to read books on her website. She is especially looking for Young Adult readers, or those willing to read Young Adult books. She is also working on a service project building a Little Library for a local park. If you are interested in reading and recording a story for Daniella’s project send us a message at FURL@friendsurbana.com.
Finally, we are sad to announce the passing of our friend and former FURL President, Bob Anastasi. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family, especially his wife Wanda, and daughters Karen and Lisa. Bob was a kind and generous man. He will be greatly missed.
