FRIENDS OF CANADIAN LIBRARIES

Friends Day at OLA  Feb. 1, 2003

Junior Friends @ your library
Speaker: Ingrid Keeper Dalton, Marketing and Community Development specialist, Mississauga Library System

Discover how Junior Friends can enhance your library's community. Mississauga Library System, the only library with a Junior Friends group boasting 586 children ranging in age from 3 years to 14 years, shares their expertise and delivers a how-to tool kit.
 

We learned how and why to motivate our libraries youngest users to become involved in their community's library. Our guest speaker was Speaker: Ingrid Keeper Dalton, Marketing and Community Development Specialist, Mississauga Library System

Mississauga's Junior Friends group nearly 1,000 strong, ranges in age from 3 years to 14 years. Reasons for the Junior Friends program include:

• Public Relations - working with library staff
• Fund raising - pennies and private sources
• Increased volunteerism - setting annual goals and creating a meaningful volunteer experience
• Community involvement
• Focus group - they are a stakeholder
• Promoting reading and reading development
  

Other notes -

• During the first year 550 children joined, and administration of the program was centralized.
• In the second year membership was sorted by postal code, and  local chapters formed at the library branch in their community.
• Membership this year (2003) is at nearly 1,000
• The most popular ages are 8-10.
• A teen group broke off to form their own group.
• Each member receives a backpack with their $2 membership fee.
• Junior Friends are totally separate from the adult Friends group. The adult Friends group subsidized the printing costs for the Junior Friends program, and the Junior Friends registration fee goes to the Friends of the Mississauga Library System
• Junior Friends have 45 minutes monthly meetings where they share book reviews and plan  bulletin board displays

Quote -  "Exercise the charity muscle by being a contributing member of the community"

Ingrid provided us with a toolkit. The contents have been reproduced with her permission.

Junior Friends - information for members. Link to pdf version of this document - junior-info.pdf	Junior Friends to-do list. Link to pdf version of this document - jf-todo.pdf
Junior Friends - how to join. Link to pdf version of this document - jf-join.pdf	Junior Friends membership certificate. Link to pdf version of this document - jf.pdf

    Ingrid also provided printouts of home pages of some Internet websites. These included:

 Junior Friends:

•  Mississauga Library System - For teachers  http://www.city.mississauga.on.ca/library/children/Teachers/main_teachers.htm
•  Mississauga Library System  - Junior Friends http://www.city.mississauga.on.ca/library/Programs/junior_friends.htm
•  Friends of the Shannon Library - Junior Friends - http://www.shannonlibrary.ab.ca/friends.htm
•  Kitchener Public Library - Junior Friends kids club - http://www.kpl.org/foundation/JUniorFriends.htm
•  Junior Friends of Buckley Public Library (the following link seems to be inactive at the moment)
   http://www.buckley.lib.ok.us/PROGRAMS.HTM
• Lawrenceville Branch Library - Pittsburg - Junior Friends Club - sorry the Junior Friends site is no longer online
   http://www.clpgh.org/locations/lawrenceville/friends.html
   

 Friends of Libraries - general

•  Southern Ontario Library Service - Friends Webography - http://www.library.on.ca/Friends/webography.htm
•  Ontario School Library Association Advocacy - Friends, Junior Friends and Teen Groups -
   http://www.tdsb.on.ca/instruction/cyberlinks/osla/advocacy/friends.htm
•  Friends of Libraries U.S.A.  Fact Sheets - How to Organize a Junior Friends Group - http://www.folusa.org/html/factsheets.html