As published in the Red Rock News

It’s spring, a time of transformation and celebration. At Sedona Public Library, we’re making some exciting changes, and we hope you’ll help us celebrate by supporting us for Library Giving Day, April 7. Library Giving Day is one of the most important days for libraries across the country to showcase their vital role in communities. Your nonprofit library in Sedona takes this opportunity to do the same. Why should you support us by making a gift for Library Giving Day? Read on.
 
The Library is under new leadership, and we have five additional new staff members in key positions ready to help your Library grow and improve. Be sure to meet and greet our new Youth Services Librarian, Facilities Maintenance Manager, Volunteer Coordinator, Program and Marketing Coordinator, Assistant Library Director, and our new Library Director. We’re busy building team and developing plans to make your library even better, and thus make your community even stronger. We hope you’ll join us for Library Giving Day, when you can support our efforts and double your donations through a matching gift made by a local philanthropist!
 
We’ve already been busy this spring, and we’re excited to show you all we’ve accomplished. When you stop in, you’re going to see changes galore and improved accessibility. Much of the evolving transformation has been inspired by the challenge of providing services during the pandemic, and we’ve worked to find ways to make seating safely distanced, to provide more quiet spaces, and to improve the lighting wherever you land.
 
Speaking of accessibility, we’ve enhanced our signage, way-finding, and pathways. Getting around has been made easier and more welcoming. And as we all do in the spring, we’re sorting, rearranging, and reviewing our collection. Watch for fresh titles and authors from near and far. Come on in and see all we’ve done to improve your library experience. We’re here if you have questions, and we’re happy to talk about Library Giving Day and accept your gifts.
 
In keeping with the spring themes of transformation and celebration, we’ve been considering how important getting outdoors is to all of us during this gorgeous weather. But it’s often hard to find the quiet and beauty we cherish in Sedona with the crowded trails and streets. Sedona Public Library has solved this problem, and soon you will be able to enjoy the beauty of Sedona’s outdoors right here at your library.
 
We’re working with a landscape architect to design an accessible, beautiful, convenient, and safe patio connecting the Library with the Friends’ Book Store. We can’t wait to showcase this lovely addition to the library you love. This will be a comfy space for meeting a friend, reading, quiet study, stargazing, crafting, writing, or just using our excellent Wi-Fi. All outdoors, all the time, all for free. We love helping Sedona solve problems, and we know it makes us worth the investment.
 
Which leads right back to our hope that as you celebrate spring, you will also celebrate your library by supporting us for Library Giving Day. We provide important community services, and your gift is a wise investment in your hometown. But in fact, you don’t need to wait for Library Giving Day to show how much you love your library: starting on the first day of spring, all gifts are matched, dollar for dollar, up to $20,000. That’s a whole lot of reasons to show us a whole lotta love.
 
Thank you, Sedona, for being a community we love to invest in, every day. Let’s keep that lovin’ reciprocity going. Support your Library today. Make a gift at Sedonalibrary.org/donate, or drop by, we’d love to see you. We’re at 3250 White Bear Rd, Sedona, AZ, 86336, where you can mail a gift, too. Thanks.

​Sedona Public Library
Column for March 26, 2021
Written by Anne Marie Mackler, Development Director

As published in the Red Rock News

Sedona Public Library is seeking new members for our Board of Trustees. As you know, the Library is under new leadership, and the Board of Trustees views this as a perfect opportunity to bring new energy and voices to the table. They are ready for a team that will ask big questions, launch big ideas, and help us guide our 63-year-old library into the future.
 
Nonprofit organizations, unlike humans, have the luxury of defying the effects of age and gravity. In fact, with the right leadership, foresight, and strategic planning, organizations—and the facilities that house them—can be revitalized and make themselves new again. Our Board of Trustees is committed to doing just that, and they’re looking for fresh perspectives.
 
What can Sedona Public Library do better? How can we attract and accommodate new users? How can we meet the evolving needs of our patrons? Can we make our communication more effective by better using available technology? How can we improve our building, our services, and our programs for the future needs of the community? The current pandemic has taught us much about the services we offer and how we offer them. We continue to grow, and we want to do even more.
 
The Library Board is looking for new leaders who will ask, contemplate, and answer these and many more questions. We need a team of assertive and available community members. We need people who are unafraid of suggesting and implementing change, perceptive enough to determine when it might be time to let go of some time-honored traditions, and full of passion and awareness for all things community. We’re ready to guide this institution toward becoming a modern community library—would you like to join us?
 
Familiarity with libraries, dedication to the larger Sedona community, and an understanding of the challenges and benefits of advocating for a vital nonprofit organization all make for a tremendous candidate. Sedona Public Library is not just any nonprofit 501(c)(3)—we are easily the most impactful nonprofit organization to residents of Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek because we reach so broadly across the community to all ages, lifestyles, education levels, and interests.
 
We do much more than check out books, tell stories to children, file tax returns, or set up chairs for the next program. We have recently strengthened our status as a 24/7 library meeting a variety of needs for, literally, thousands of people who come through our doors or log on to our website. Our services are as diverse as our collection is broad; our expertise is as reliable as the building trusses are strong.
 
Results of a recent Community Needs Assessment lead us to believe that the community is ready for Sedona Public Library to be the community connector—connecting people, neighborhoods, organizations, information, and technology.
 
For years, you’ve highly praised the Library, but you have also encouraged better communication, upgraded and modernized space, and confident adaption to the new century. We’ve listened, we’ve got our marching orders, and we are moving forward.
 
In fact, we have just launched a new project and we will be building a multi-use patio that will join our main library with the Friends of the Sedona Library Book Store. We will soon begin a long-awaited renovation of the Library’s internal space to provide more private meeting spaces, better lighting, and an overall more welcoming community-centric atmosphere.
 
With all of this, we need a diverse board, a team that represents all the different walks of life in our community. If you are someone who personally knows and loves a library, you are especially encouraged to consider this opportunity.
 
We’d like to see candidates who are familiar with fundraising, financials, budgets, and policy, as well as setting and implementing strategic plans. One of a trustee’s most important jobs is to serve as a steward of our assets, reputation, and mission. The most important job is to be a leader and an advocate for the Library’s role in building community.

 Beyond that, a candidate must be willing to work hard, listen carefully, and share honestly. Regular attendance at monthly and committee meetings is expected, and with the right team, the work can be a whole lot of fun. We put our heart and soul into our work, and we’re looking for others with a passion for this community to do the same.

 If you’d like to apply, please visit sedonalibrary.org, scroll down to the bottom of our home page, and click on “Board Application,” and you’ll find everything you need. We can’t wait to hear from you. 

Sedona Public Library
Column for March 12, 2021
Written by Judy Poe, Library Director

As published in the Red Rock News

Library Giving Day is on April 7, and we’re excited to again participate in this national event celebrating libraries. This day gives us the opportunity to spread the word about what we’re doing to build community, and it gives you the opportunity to invest in your library while doubling your gift. Like last year, your gifts made on Library Giving Day will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $20,000!
 
For Sedona Public Library, building community begins with our youngest readers, someone like our young patron Faith, who is the face of this year’s Library Giving Day campaign. Faith began coming to the Library when she was a baby, and according to her mom, Heidi, “She practically grew up at the Library.”
 
Faith worked her way through story time for babies, then toddlers, and then family story times. She has read her way through board books, picture books, and then early chapter books. Now she is reading chapter books, and she just received her first library card. Faith and her mom are thrilled. “Faith was raised on reading,” Heidi said. “I read to her from infancy, and now the tables are turned and she reads to me.”
 
Growing readers and supporting families are some of the many things we do that make your investment in Sedona Public Library a wise one. In fact, we’re also growing our space for reading and meeting, for programs, and more. You’ve told us for years that we need additional quiet areas and gathering spaces, and the COVID pandemic showed us the importance of making those spaces available outdoors. In response, we’re pleased to announce the launch of our new Library Patio project!
 
We’ve just kicked off this new initiative, and we’re in the very early stages. We’re busy imagining the space that will bring our services out into Arizona’s year-round sunshine and Sedona’s high desert climate. Imagine reading by a fire in the winter, watching a movie on a spring evening, celebrating a birthday on a summer morning, or hosting an autumn wedding  . . .  all at your library! The possibilities are endless, and if you notice library staff with a skip in their step these days, it’s because the winds of change have taken hold, and we’re thrilled.
 
Additionally, the Library Patio will set in stone, literally, the long-standing relationship between Sedona Public Library and the Friends of the Sedona Library. Soon the patio will connect our buildings on White Bear Road: the Library and the Friends’ Used Book Store. What a way to honor decades of partnership and support, by sealing it with a beautiful space to celebrate all things library, literacy, and community. We simply wouldn’t be the vital nonprofit organization that we are if it wasn’t for the Friends’ contributions for years. We also look to you for your reliable support.
 
We love celebrating your library on Library Giving Day, the same day that hundreds of communities across the U.S. are celebrating their libraries. We especially love that we can offer you the opportunity to double your gift on this important day. Your gifts will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $20,000 thanks to our generous donor Gordon Reiter. He loved how his matching gift last year inspired so many of you. So he’s done it again. Thanks, Gordon! Last year, two additional stellar donors stepped up to increase the match as donations grew, ultimately to the tune of more than $54,000!
 
When you support your library, you guarantee the broad array of services and resources that we make available, for free. You secure the breadth of our collection, currently at over 84,000 items. And you support the cost to provide access to 1.2 million items within the Yavapai Library Network. Most recently, you give your vote of confidence to all of the adjustments and improvements we have made to our schedule, technology, programs, and services in order to protect you and yours during the current pandemic. And now you partner with us as we move forward in taking our services outdoors.
 
And, you support young readers like Faith. Faith feels at home at the Library. She said, “It makes me feel safe, welcomed and happy when I am here.” She loves the movies, the crafts, especially the yarn monsters, the books, and the people. When I asked which she liked the most, she said without blinking, “The books.” Thanks, Faith, for bringing us your enthusiastic, creative, book-loving energy.
 
On April 7, please consider making a gift to Sedona Public Library for Library Giving Day. It’s as easy as visiting sedonalibrary.org/donate. Or drop a check in the mail or give it to a staff member at our curbside holds service. Or, better yet, drop by—we’d love for you to visit. We’ll be here on April 7, 2021, Library Giving Day. Can’t wait to see you.

 Sedona Public Library
Column for March 5, 2021
Written by Anne Marie Mackler, Development Director