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While funding for libraries depends on government money for basic operations, libraries depend on the support of individuals, corporations and foundations to help ensure that their services are free and current for the many who visit each year. In Hilton Head, 67 percent of the residents have a library card. Friends of the Hilton Head Library has 600 members who help support our library. With memberships, donations and book sales, we budget more than $67,000 each year to provide materials, supplies, and technology for the Hilton Head Library. Recently we have become advocates calling on the county to stop decreasing library budgets and to update the public computers. We also have written grants asking for additional funding for various needs at our library.
We believe that libraries are here to stay, although with updated services for the community. Although many don’t believe that there will be a place for libraries, they need to understand that there is a large segment of the population that cannot afford computers or the Internet, that there are also many who don’t have basic skills and cannot fill out a job application or understand where online to apply for a job. These are some of the services that our libraries now offer. Friends of the Library has purchased software for the libraries called Resume Writer, which takes the job seeker through steps to write a resume.
While the county builds a new library in St. Helena, we understand that a grant will give them 100 public computers. Unfortunately, Hilton Head residents will not have access to them, and our public computers were so antiquated that they could hardly be used, many often quitting for no reason. We are happy to report that after numerous discussions with the county, many have now been replaced. The county’s budgets are tight, and it is important that they hear from our libraries or they will not see the need to fund them.
Our library is also important to our visitors. For many, it is an early stop after finding their condos and gathering their groceries. Our bookstore offers a great variety of used books that we sell for $1, $2 and $3. As visitors leave, they donate the books back for resale. All of the proceeds go back into the library for book leases and technology, Playaway audio players or supplies that the library might need.
Libraries are an important resource, but to a visitor they are also an indication of the educational value for that community. Our library is a beautiful gem to visitors, and we cannot discount that programming offered by Friends of the Library in the winter months is often filled to capacity and more than half are snowbirds. Book Break is a noon-hour book review in which community leaders can discuss books from personal experience or expertise in their subjects. Our movie Czar seats a capacity crowd of 140 on a Thursday afternoon starting with a travel log followed by a movie that leads to a lively discussion afterward.
This February, we want to highlight the many programs and services that our library has to offer. Many who visit our bookstore tell us that our library and what the Friends do are well-kept secrets.
We would like to invite the community to “love your library.” Become a member and join us at the end of the month for a tour of our library that will highlight services and show exactly how important the Friends are to our library and our community.
Lynne Miller
Friends of the Library
