Nonprofits for library are exploring merger | Letter to the editor

Posted 12/7/22

We are honored to represent two organizations that support the Port Townsend Library by raising money for library programs, collections, equipment, and furnishings. 

These two nonprofit …

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Nonprofits for library are exploring merger | Letter to the editor

Posted

We are honored to represent two organizations that support the Port Townsend Library by raising money for library programs, collections, equipment, and furnishings. 

These two nonprofit organizations are Friends of the PT Library, organized in 1978, and PT Public Library Foundation, organized in 1994. 

The Friends’ and the Foundation’s missions are similar: to support the Port Townsend Public Library beyond its tax-generated revenue. Both organizations are financially healthy, with experienced and committed boards of directors.

Because of our overlapping missions, the Friends and the Foundation are currently exploring the potential benefits of a merger. Friends and Foundation are continuing business as usual while we initiate the process of due diligence. As we explore the potential benefits of a merger, Friends of the PT Library will hold an informational meeting for its members and seek their input.

Stewardship of contributions, donated funds, endowments, and any restricted-use funds will always be maintained by both nonprofits, per the express wishes of donors, regardless of whether the organizations merge. If the ultimate decision is not to merge, the Foundation and the Friends will continue as respectful partners, working energetically in tandem.

The community of Port Townsend loves its library, and donations to Friends and the Foundation have helped our library thrive. In September this year, the library welcomed an average of 244 visitors per day. There are more than 45,000 items in the library’s physical collection, plus a rich assortment of streaming services. Cardholders can borrow items for the home, the garage, the great outdoors. We can learn a new hobby or craft. 

If this weren’t enough, there are also programs to educate, to entertain and enlighten. 

Our library is a place with something for everyone and a friend to all. See you there.

Deb Vanderbilt
President of Friends of the PT Library
John Capps
President of PT Public Library Foundation
Port Townsend

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  • IfItsXorI

    Thank you for supporting a most vital need for our people.

    We are in great need of more funding for digital text ebooks.

    Library programs are increasingly being drawn away from text to audiobooks and streaming videos.

    Citizens in the United States -- and too many men -- are reading less and less.

    This can only impact our ability to communicate and connect within our own lives, and our potential to value and connect with others.

    Please consider supporting more funding for Port Townsend's Washington Anytime Library access to text ebooks, instead of so many additions which are only in audiobook format.

    Listening can be an enjoyable experience for many.

    However, in order to reach into the creative and cooperative potential of our lives, we need to support texts which enhance our contemplation and consideration of the value of words and meaning, instead of being carried along within some digital stream, which in effect, exerts substantial direction of the potential of our lives, channeling and narrowing our day-to-day experiences.

    I suggest that this aspect of funding is of critical importance.

    Barry McKenna

    Wednesday, December 7, 2022 Report this