United for Libraries’ May 25 Learning Live session to focus on Friends of the Library & the Future of Booksales

For Immediate Release
Tue, 05/11/2021

Contact:

Trish McFadden

Program Coordinator

United for Libraries

2157789742

tmcfadden@ala.org

EXTON, Pennsylvania — United for Libraries’ monthly virtual series, Learning Live, will continue with “Friends of the Library & the Future of Booksales: Chapter 2” on Tuesday, May 25th at 2 p.m. Eastern. The Learning Live program is presented free to United for Libraries group and Statewide members.

Featured presenters will include Terry Plumb, president of the Friends of York County (S.C.) Library; Karen Jacowitz, president of the Friends of the Moorhead (Minn.) Library; Gail Youngblood, membership chair and co-manager of Friends of the Marina (CA) Library Community Bookstore; and Terri Wheeler, co-manager of Friends of the Marina (CA) Library Community Bookstore.

Friends group leaders will speak to how each of their Friends groups have adapted their booksales models during the past year, including obstacles they’ve overcome and strategies and ideas they recommend – from online to in-person sales. Each presenter will offer insight and answer questions from attendees.

Terry Plumb is in his second year as president of the Friends of York County (S.C.) Library. A native of Florida, Plumb retired in 2007 after a 40-year career as a journalist, including serving as editor of three daily papers, most recently The Herald of Rock Hill, S.C. (1987-2007). He is a certified Master Gardener, past president of the Master Gardeners of York County and past chair of the Summer Reading Coalition, a joint effort by the York County Library and the Rock Hill School District to promote summer-time reading by elementary school children. Terry is the proud steward of the first Little Free Library to be registered in York County, S.C. There are now upwards of 60 in the county.

Karen Jacowitz is president of the Friends of the Moorhead Library in northwest Minnesota. The Moorhead Public Library, which serves approximately 48,000 residents, is the largest branch in Minnesota's Lake Agassiz Regional Library system. For more than a decade, Karen has been co-director of the organization's book sales, including coordinating the efforts of volunteers for each sale. Prior to being elected president of the Friends of the Moorhead Library, Karen served as vice president. She has a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a master's and doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.

Gail Youngblood joined the Friends of the Marina Library shortly after retiring from government service in 2013. She's worked on booksales, served as membership chair, and helped out as the bookstore was established, in 2017. Youngblood has been on the board since 2014, and co-manager (with Terri Wheeler) of the bookstore since mid-2019. From the early 1990s until 2013, I was the environmental coordinator for the cleanup and transfer of Fort Ord, a closed Army installation in central coastal California.

Terri Wheeler began volunteering for the Friends of the Marina Library in mid-2016, shortly after retiring from teaching at California State University, Monterey Bay. From 1997 to 2015, she taught courses in Liberal Studies, Education, Human Communication, Service Learning, Interdisciplinary Studies, and First-Year Seminar. She has been bookstore manager (with Gail Youngblood) for the last year and a half, assisting with collecting and processing donations, inventory and stocking, creating displays, training volunteers, maintaining the bookstore's Facebook page, and even helping design the layout of the store.

To register for “Friends of the Library & the Future of Booksales: Chapter 2,” click here.

United for Libraries Learning Live sessions take place on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Each month’s session will cover a hot topic of interest to Trustees, Friends and/or Foundations, followed by a Q&A and/or discussions. Sessions are open to all personal and group members of United for Libraries.