By Kirk Boxleitner

The Friends of the Port Townsend Library invite the public to their first book and media sale of 2024 on Saturday, March 16, at the Uptown Community Center at the corner of Tyler and Lawrence streets. They also want to let the public know they’ve recently completed their merger with the Port Townsend Public Library Foundation.

Port Townsend Library Friends President Deb Vanderbilt and Vice President Cindy Johnson explained that the merger process began about a year and a half ago, and while the Friends and the Foundation had served two separate functions, Vanderbilt and Johnson acknowledged that the Foundation achieved less public recognition than the Friends.

“The Friends support programs hosted by the library, such as its author talks,” Vanderbilt said. “The Foundation took on capital projects for the library that the city doesn’t cover.”

To that end, the merged Friends and Foundation, which are still known as the Friends, are looking for a few new board members, so they can continue to serve the needs of the library that each separate organization had previously served.

“Obviously, we’re looking for folks who love libraries and enjoy serving the community,” Vanderbilt said. “But in addition, it would help if they had financial backgrounds or technology skills, such as website design. We need to be able to face the latest challenges.”

“But don’t worry,” Johnson said. “We’ll give you time to get up to speed in your responsibilities.”

Beyond the Friends’ two-hour monthly meetings, Vanderbilt anticipated that new board members should expect to volunteer “a few hours a week” to various endeavors, including the book sales at the community center, which have been reduced from three to two per year.

“We’re keeping the March and October sales, but dropping the June sale,” Vanderbilt said. “We’re also offering pop-up book sales at the farmers’ markets.”

In the meantime, the Friends’ bookshop is open at the library’s “Pink House” Learning Center from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Monday and Thursday, except for holidays, while their March 16 book and media sale is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the general public, and Friends members can shop at the sale starting at 9 a.m.

“It only takes a donation of $10 or more to become a member of the Friends,” Johnson said.

And from 1 to 3 p.m. that Saturday, the book sale includes a bag sale, which is $4 for Friends members and $5 for non-members, during which participants can load an entire bag with paperback and hardcover books.

Vanderbilt and Johnson pointed out that each book sale includes diverse selections of fiction and nonfiction alike, with plenty of practical application books such as cookbooks, gardening books and do-it-yourself books, plus a range of children’s and young adult books, with most adult books costing about $2 each, and most kids’ books running $1 apiece.

“CDs and DVDs are also plentiful,” Johnson said.

For more information on the Friends of the Port Townsend Library and their programs, visit friendsofptlibrary.org online, and to learn more about the Port Townsend Public Library, visit ptpubliclibrary.org online.