Who Are the Friends of the WMRLS?

ADVOCATE!

Western Massachusetts Library Advocacy Survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZZBHJKZ

• Email Addresses of FY2010 Leadership and Western MA Legislators
• Email Addresses of Western MA Legislators
• Communicating the Message to Legislators and the Governor
• 2009 Statistics to Share with Legislators and the Governor
• Friends of WMRLS Facebook Page
  

Western Massachusetts residents are heading to their libraries in record- breaking numbers. The libraries, in turn, look to the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS), a state- supported collaborative, for assistance in meeting the public’s needs.

Five days a week WMRLS delivery trucks transport thousands of books and other library materials to patrons at over 300 public, academic, school and special libraries in the four counties of Western Massachusetts. WMRLS’s other contributions to libraries are less well known but equally important, among them, assisting with library summer reading programs serving thousands of children, teens, and adults each year; giving professional guidance to libraries; sponsoring professional training for library staff; and obtaining cooperative discounts for libraries, saving them thousands of dollars.

Formed in response to a devastating cut in our Regional Library funding, the Friends of the WMRLS joined in November 2003 to advocate for support of WMRLS and to raise funds for essential services and programs.

Each year, the Friends of WMRLS will identify one or more areas of Regional service to support through membership dues and fundraising events, supplementing state funding in good times and maintaining basic programs in times of economic stress.