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Dan Kegley/At a Friends of the Chilhowie Library picnic in the town’s community park Thursday, librarian Linda Dean (in the white blouse) holds, with a little help from her Friends, the quilt she made for the children’s area of the library.

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Library’s supporters growing in number

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

They held an organizational meeting May 20, and now there are 50 of them. They hope to double in number by Christmas. After all, you can never have too many friends, especially when you’re a community library.
Friends of the Chilhowie Library have been working hard the last two months, and they took a break Thursday to hold a picnic just for fun, said Mary Ryan, president of the group.
The Friends group formed to support the mission and activities of the library, a growing branch of the Smyth-Bland Regional Library based in Marion. Their own mission included focusing public attention on the library and stimulating use of its resources and services, encouraging and receiving gifts, endowments and bequests to the library, developing services and facilities, and supporting the freedom to read.
Since forming, the group has planned a book sale at the library during the Chilhowie Community Apple Festival which is centered on the old high school community center that houses the library.
They will create treat bags with a book for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter.
Librarian Linda Dean plans to start a teen book club next month.
And, all that is in addition to the numerous programs already in place in the regional library system.
Joining Ryan as officers are Nancy Clear, vice president; Sue Tilson, recording secretary; Sherry Whitely, treasurer; and Laura Etta Wilkinson, corresponding secretary.
Ryan said the officers will serve one-year terms.
The friends could celebrate not only their own numbers but some figures generated by the Chilhowie library itself. The library is growing in collections as well as programs and patronage statistics that track growth.
In July 2007, the daily count of people using the library averaged to 58. Last month, that figure was 101 with 20 new members registered during July. Fifteen got their library cards in July 2007.
For the two Julys, adults and children attending children’s programs rose from 243 to 309. Internet use jumped from 83 people to 107. Books circulated went from 825 to 1,264; for children’s books, 476 to 642; for adult books, 349 to 622.
Membership in Friends of the Chilhowie Library is open and encouraged, and applications are available at the library or from Ryan who can be reached at 646-5792.
“We hope to have a hundred members by Christmas,” said Ryan’s husband, Dick Ryan, who sits on the regional library’s board of directors and grilled hamburgers for the picnic he could offer as tempting incentives to join.