Friends board meetings are held MONTHLY on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 5:30pm.  These meetings are open to all. 

Please mark your calendars and join us!  We look forward to your active participation.

Friends Board Meetings for 2012/2013 in Library's meeting room, City Hall:

August 8, 2012 

September 12, 2012 

October 10, 2012 

November 14, 2012 

December 12, 2012 

January 9, 2013 

February 13, 2013

March 13, 2013

April 10, 2013

May 8, 2013

June 12, 2013  Annual Meeting  

New ornament for December 2012:  The beautiful ornament, our first one in COLOR, is based on one of the historic stained glass windows in City Hall. On sale for $18, it measures 3 inches tall by 1.5 inches and comes in a gift box with a historic notes inside about the 1876 window it depicts.

Author talks & book signings-  We sponsor occasional book talks, bringing in local authors or authors who have connections here.  For example, Mount Holyoke professor Gail Hornstein spoke in 2009 about her book Agnes’s Jacket: A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness. On Oct 22, 2012, author Gail Rubin spoke about her book, A Good Goodbye:Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die. See VIDEO of her 40-min presentation to the Friends. 
 On May 18, 2013, 1pm, long-term Library Trustee Thomas Schwab will share “Stories from My Cousins,” a first -hand account of one family’s remembrances of surviving the Holocaust during the German Occupation of France between 1940 and 1944.  Free and open to teh pubilc; come to the Library in City Hall.

Book Club, informal discussion group   -   Come talk about your reactions to each month's book, and help select the book for next month.    Come join us!  All welcome.  [Suspended for summer 2011. Could be re-started by a new volunteer.]

Cocktail Party or GALA -  

The 2012 party was a very special one, in a new location (City Hall Auditorium, the temporary home of the Library), at a different time of year (September 22)  and with a theme:  "Come dressed as YOUR FAVORITE LITERARY CHARACTER or AUTHOR."  What fun we had!  We look forward to another great party in fall 2013. 

For photos of our 2011 party (a Holiday Gala in conjunction with Homework House), see our Blog entry "What a Party!!" and  also the MassLive gallery"Seen@Holyoke Library's Gala and Silent Auction".  

Future Begins Here - First Sunday in May at the Holyoke Mall, 6:30-9pm.  The Friends of the Holyoke Public Library participates in this annual community fundraiser for children's services in the Pioneer Valley. It includes  gourmet food, auctions, and live music at the Holyoke Mall.  
 

Outreach at community events -- e.g., Great Holyoke Block Party; Education Fair; Discover Holyoke Day.  Other ideas for events?   Contact Christine Alger 413-627-3015, or come to any Board Meeting  (schedule above).