December 13, 1994
Mei Ng, a junior liberal arts student loves to go to the booksale room to look for a good book. She said that last week she found and bought some old issues of National Geographic magazine that she could use for her class project.
Charlotte Burkhart, found the book, "The Division of Labor in Society" by Emile Durkheim.
"There's a wider selection here than in a regular bookstore," the junior sociology major said. "The books are also inexpensive and the place is very convenient."
Ng and Burkhart are among the customers of the booksale room whose book purchases help the Friends of the J. Paul Leonard Library raise money to assist the library in providing expanded services to students.
So far this year, the Friends' fund raising operation has collected $58,086 from membership fees, booksales, gifts and money from special events.
"Our biggest source of fund is the membership fee," said Suzanne Taylor, the only part time employee of the Friends who coordinates donations and volunteers for the booksale room.
"We have about 1,100 members and our latest financial statement shows we collected $28,350 from them this year. That's why we encourage alumni and faculty members to join us and we even ask students just before they graduate to apply for membership so that they pay only the special (lower) rate," she said.
They also do a lot of membership campaigning by calling potential members and circulating flyers in the area and plan to set up a booth at the Stonestown Galleria shopping center where to sell donated books and records, Taylor said.
The program was organized in 1980 by Classics Professor Raoul Bertrand and Librarians Eric Solomon and Ann Paterson. In 14 years the Friends has grown beyond their expectations. With a room made available to them by the library they now sell books four days a week.
"This year alone, the Friends has helped us fund various projects worth $35,000," Dobb said. "We got funding for our CD-ROM work station, ready reference terminals, stools, portable instruction unit and professional training for our librarians."
In addition to regular booksale, Taylor said the Friends also sponsors events to honor campus authors. On Nov. 16 the Friends hosted Art Historian Whitney Chadwick who wrote a book on surrealism. In previous events, Ben Fong-Torres came to talk about his days as editor of the Golden Gater and his new book and Michael Krasny came to speak of his experience in interviewing celebrities at KQED radio.
Memberships range from $10 to $35 and entitle members to book checkout and renewal privileges with less restrictions than a normal library card entitles students to.
Dobb who considers the Friends a very special club within the library said, "We are grateful to the members because they make it possible for us to provide more library services to our students and the community."
For membership, donations and volunteer service to the Friends of J.Paul Leonard Library, call 338-2408.