JACKSON – There was a whole lot of appreciation going on recently at the township branch of the Ocean County Library. Members of the Friends of the Jackson Library provided some homemade gifts and some great snacks for the staff of the branch during a gathering held in the library’s meeting room.
In turn, the staff reciprocated with some food items of their own when the Friends held their monthly meeting, which served to commemorate National Library Appreciation Week.
Friends President Sue Milo said, “it is National Library week but we tend to celebrate it all month long and this is our meeting day so it all came together. We wanted the librarians to know how much we appreciate them so we made them folded paper crafts (made out of books with folded pages and plastic googly eyes) and we were surprised when we got here that they brought items for us.”
“We had a committee and we learned how to make them off the internet. We met two or three times and we learned how to fold and decorate and everyone brought their own stuff,” Milo said.
Reference Librarian Kaitlyn Midgett picked up one of the paper flower crafts off the table as her gift from the Friends. “We wanted to show we appreciate them and they appreciate us. We follow it up with our open board meeting where each of our committees’ report and we decide how we are spending our money and this month we are starting to plan for our annual book sale. We have a calendar of events that we update every month,” she added.
Milo said, “we have a donation day this month and we have a special day where Friends of the Library stand in the parking lot and people can drive up in their cars and we’ll help pick up the books in their trunks because a lot of people can’t carry the books into the library (for donation for the book sale). We advertise all around town.”
Friends of the Jackson Library President Sue Milo, left, presents a gift to Reference Librarian Kaitlyn Midgett. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
She added, “we will have our book sale which starts on June 24 until the following Saturday. In July we’ll have a vocal musician, a Jersey Shore sing along at our meeting. We try to make the meeting fun because not a whole lot of people like to come to a business meeting so we provide some food.”
The group helps provide special programs to the library such as speakers, concerts, re-enactor presentations and other activities.
Milo said, “our total members are about 110 and we have all our sponsors on a billboard here today. We have 19 and they contribute every year and in return we advertise on Facebook and put out this display at all our events and we put out some of their (food) items at our table.”
Milo noted that among the many treats provided, Kathleen Romeo made the delicious strawberry cake for the event “which is always very good. When I put the call out for hospitality and she calls me back I always get very excited.” The club’s former president Linda Lafer provided some home-made cookies which also won over her fellow members, library staff and visitors.
“We normally do a little socializing before we hold our monthly meeting,” Milo added.
Carol Andrew said, “From talking to teachers I know how great a library system we have. I worked with a teen librarian in Toms River and she was my go-to for everything. She would help me get books and she would help me get library cards for the kids she would come and do presentations and you don’t get that everywhere.”
Gift books with faces were a crafty item made by the Friends of the Jackson Library that served as a gift for staff during a recent special event. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
“Even as a patron I was here all the time,” she added. Her prior work as a recruiter for a university has come in handy with seeking out new members for the Friends of the Jackson Library. “I came down here 23 years ago with my husband to look for a home and I said ‘Where is the library?’ because I’m not moving to the middle of nowhere and so we drove around and we saw the old library by the high school which was an old stone building and we found the Justice Complex and we saw they had just built this library.”
“So, I said, okay, I can move here,” Andrew added. “We are trying to get a lot of active members.”
Milo noted, “there are certain people who will come to every meeting every month and we are trying to pull in some more people and who have different interests. We have members with such good ideas.”
She noted that next year is the Ocean County Library system’s 100th anniversary and the year after marks the Jackson Library building’s 25th anniversary “so we have a lot of celebrating to do.”
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