Mark your Calendars – SPRING BOOK SALE May 2, 3 and 4!
More details later in the newsletter.
Library News
Bittersweet News: Branch Librarian Drew Birden accepts New Supervisory Position with the Free Library of Philadelphia (FLP)
Please join the Board of the Friends, the members of the Friends and me in thanking Drew Birden for his 7 1/2 years with the Falls of Schuylkill Library, and congratulating him on his new supervisory position in the Free Library system.
Drew has been our Branch Librarian since the early fall of 2016. Prior to being at the Falls Branch, he had been at the Wadsworth Free Library branch.
There were many events Drew had to handle during his time as Branch Librarian. Numerous failures of the HVAC system had occurred over the years, and the FLP decided to have a new boiler installed. Friends Vice President and Advocacy Chair, Neha Pancholi, worked with Drew and Ms. Meredith, the Children’s Librarian, and with those of you who wrote, phoned and reached out to our representatives to bring that new boiler to fruition sooner versus later.
Drew also had to master what happened during the pandemic as the FLP closed down along with businesses and schools. He, Meredith and the Falls Staff worked at home and floated among other branches in the Northwest Cluster Libraries. Drew was responsible for making sure our branch building was safe and that his staff stayed safe and healthy.
After the pandemic, Drew worked on bringing programs back into the library, and then worked with our newest committee, Community Outreach and Engagement, and with its Chair, Jenna Musket, to expand the library’s reach into the East Falls community by offering author events, game nights, films and special workshops.
You may see Drew in the future in our Falls Branch as he helps to finish projects he’s been working on with me and the Board.
Drew has been promoted to a supervisory position with the Free Library of Philadelphia leadership team, coaching and mentoring staff in the neighborhood libraries, so we will get to see him in his new role as well.
Thank you, Drew, for your time with us. Your hard work and dedication have enabled both the Falls Library and the Friends to thrive and grow during your tenure as our Branch Librarian. We appreciate you, and we are grateful for our work with you.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Fuller for the Board
This is advocacy. And we need YOU!
When you think of the Friends of the Falls of Schuylkill Library (FFSL), you probably envision our annual Christmas tree sale or our book sales. Yes, a big part of our role is organizing these events that are so important to our East Falls community.
But, behind the scenes, we do a lot more to support our local library and the Free Library of Philadelphia system at large.
Do you remember in 2021 when our library’s broken boiler—and excruciatingly long replacement—kept the library closed for months on end, just as it was preparing to reopen to the public after the pandemic closures?
It was the FFSL’s rallying cry to the East Falls community—and your incredible response in contacting our local representatives—that ultimately got the process moving.
📢This is advocacy.
Did you know that every year, when city council and the Mayor formulate a new budget, library advocates across the city—including members of the FFSL—meet with local representatives, attend rallies, write letters, and participate in social media campaigns? All to make our leaders understand what we already know—that libraries are important.
📢This is advocacy.
And just last month, when the city issued a policy requiring all library communications, down to social media posts, to be approved by the Mayor’s office, it was once again the outcry from advocates that led to the prompt reversal/clarification of this policy—freeing our libraries to communicate, in real time, important updates about hours and programming.
📢This is advocacy. And it is critical to the survival of libraries.
This is why we, the FFSL, are looking to form an Advocacy Committee to expand our efforts on this front. Because these one-off issues are becoming more common. And because ongoing city-wide issues—namely the lack of library funding—impact us here in East Falls, too.
We are looking for volunteers to join the Advocacy Committee to:
keep the community updated on library issues and how to contact local representatives,
advocate for increased library funding during budget season,
attend regular meetings with the city-wide Friends of the Free Library, and
foster relationships with other libraries’ Friends groups.
If you are interested in joining these efforts, or just want to learn more, please reach out to us at advocacyffsl@gmail.com. No prior experience is needed to join the Advocacy Committee—only an appreciation for libraries.
Neha Pancholi is the Advocacy Chair and Vice President of the Friends of the Falls of Schuylkill Library.
🌟Membership Update🌟
Our Membership Chair, Jenn Northington, is happy to report that, thanks to renewals sent in over the holidays, we’ve just surpassed the 2022-2023 member total! We’re up to 183, over 173. There’s still time to get us up to 200 (just 17 more people!), which would get us back to an all-time high. So, if you haven’t already renewed your membership, now is a great time. You can do that via the website, right here: https://www.eastfallslibraryfriends.org/join-us/
Message from the President
by Martha Fuller, President of the Friends of Falls of Schuylkill Library
Here are the tools you can use to find up-to-date information on what is going on in the Falls Library and with the Friends of Falls Library:
In the library itself, you can pick up flyers that highlight upcoming events.
On Instagram, you can follow the Falls library at fallsfreelibrary.
*From the Free Library website at www.freelibrary.org, go to the “location” area to find the Falls Branch. There you will find info about upcoming programs. You also will see sections that list the hours of operation, upcoming holidays when the library will be closed, the days when Staff training is scheduled, and other important branch activities.
Head to our web site at www.eastfallslibraryfriends.orgfor a list of upcoming Friends events. Our IT coordinator, Roger Marsh, does an excellent job of listing the upcoming events, and news about the library and the Friends.
The calendaron the website also shows upcoming programs by groups other than the Friends that are happening at the Falls library.
Also on the website, read about volunteer opportunities, new programs, past events, the bylaws of the Friends, and much more.
Read East Falls NOW, and check the calendar for the month – you’ll likely to see Friends programs and events listed there.
We’d love to know what you think, about the Falls of Schuylkill Library, or our Friends organization. Email us at friendsofthefallslibrary@gmail.com.
Thank you for your support.
📖Book review📖
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
Reviewed by Roslyn Thomas
I’ve discovered a new author. The time period is the beginning of the Ming Dynasty and the story centers around Lady Tan, a high-born Chinese woman, who is subject to the social mores of the time. She is fortunate to have relatives who allow her to be more than her station requires, namely, to use her mind to learn medicine and to be helpful to those around her.
The story changes when she marries and begins the life that she was born to live, and how her will and need to be and do more, prevail.
What’s noteworthy, first of all, is the language. It’s lyrical and also straightforward in its depiction of the circumstances and stations into which women were born. Second is the nature of the relationships between the women and the men, which alternate between interesting and disturbing. I don’t want to spoil anything for the next reader, but this is one of the most interesting books I’ve read this year. I’ve always been curious about the lives of women in other cultures. I read Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy and the speaker at one point castigates the women for being the perpetrators of female genital mutilation, saying that they let the men brainwash them into mutilating each other. I was intrigued when I saw the similarities in Lisa See’s books, set forth so matter-of-factly.
I think we read to get glimpses into other lives and worlds, so that we can become intimate with each other, and to develop better relationships. This is why I will be reading more Lisa See’s books.
Join us for this event where author K.E. Karl will read an excerpt from his most recent book, The Red Door and other stories, a quirky, eclectic collection of short fiction. He will also share his writer’s journey of what shaped and influenced the writing of his first novel, Our Man in Mbabanebased on his experiences supporting the African National Congress in the 1970s and early ’80s.
E. Karl’s fiction has appeared in the Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Lowestoft Chronicle, the Evening Street Review, and online at Reedsy. He has lived and worked in Oregon, London, Mbabane, Philadelphia, Maputo, Bangkok, New York, and Zurich. Karl currently resides in Philadelphia.
Author Event/Haiku Workshop:
Marshall James Kavanaugh
Tuesday, April 9,
5:30-7:00 PM
Come on out to celebrate National Poetry Month with local author Marshall James Kavanaugh who will share excerpts from his book, Travel by Haiku: Vol. 6-10, Far Out on the Road with Friendswhich has been described as “a modern ode to the community found on the road, written by six navigators of its far reaches over the course of three separate road trips” through the American southwest, a jaunt up the Pacific Coast, and trek into the Rockies ending in Glacier National Park in Montana.
Kavanaugh is a dream laborer of words and various art forms used to create poetic dream spaces for his readership to explore. He has performed his poetry at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Contemporary, and Philadelphia International Airport. He has published two collections of short stories, several small chapbooks of travel fiction, and a previous collection of haikus with the small press, A Freedom Books.
This event is part author talk, part Q & A, part haiku workshop, and attendees will be invited to get hands-on in writing their own poem story.
Author Event: Stephanie Feldman
Monday, May 13
5:30-6:30 PM
Join Stephanie for a reading and Q & A about her most recent novel, Saturnalia, a fantasy-thriller set in a near-future Philadelphia.
Stephanie Feldman is the author of the novels Saturnaliaand the award-winning The Angel of Losses. She teaches fiction writing at Arcadia University and the University of Pennsylvania. Feldman is also co-editor of the multi-genre anthology Who Will Speak for America?. She lives outside Philadelphia with her family.
Community Game Nights
New Day New Time!
Game nights meet once a month 5:30-7:00 PM.
March – Monday March 18
April – Monday April 15
May – Tuesday May 21
Enjoy board games? Looking to socialize? Meet up with neighbors? Have fun? The LIbrary has many games on hand such as Scrabble and Chess, but feel free to bring your favorite board game – Taboo, Pictionary, Ticket to Ride – or card game – and get set to have some fun! Penny Scott is your Game Night co-hostess. Some snacks provided-feel free to bring your own.
Interested in Majiang (Mah Jongg)? Don’t know how to play? No problem! La Sripanawongsa, a seasoned player, and middle school teacher is willing to teach the game (Chinese style).
Community Game Night is a program of the Community Outreach and Engagement Committee of the Friends of Falls of Schuylkill Library,
Hope to see you there!
Fiber Arts Group
Meets EVERY Tuesday 2-4 PM
Upstairs Main Room of Falls of Schuylkill Library
Want to connect, socially, with other creatives working on portable crafts projects? Looking to share your crafts project or project ideas with other creatives? Stop by the Library – bring a portable craft project (knitting, crocheting, hand-sewing, embroidery, jewelry, etc) that you are working on. Don’t know how, but want to learn to hand-craft from others who are passionate about their projects? Stop in and watch and learn some basics.
Falls Book Club
Monday, March 25
5:30 PM
The Falls Book Group is one of the Free Library’s longest running programs and is open to all.
The book selection for March will be The Lost City of Zby David Grann.
One Book, One Philadelphia 2024
Monday, April 29
5:30 PM
The book selection for April will be True Biz by Sara Novic.
Falls Book Club
Monday, May 20
5:30 PM
The book selection for May will be West with Giraffes by Lynda Ritledge.
📚Falls Library Spring Book Sale 📚
Donate books to the Falls Library’s Spring Sale! by Wendy Moody
Yes! We will be having our popular Spring Sale, featuring thousands of books! This year’s sale will be three days long:
May 2 (11 – 4pm)
May 3 (11 – 4pm)
May 4 (10 – 4pm)
Hardbacks are priced at $1 each, paperbacks 2/$1. Our sales always boast high-quality, eclectic, unique books for both gift-giving and personal reading.
We need your book donations – please bring your hardbacks, paperbacks, CDs, DVDs, jigsaw puzzles, and children’s books to the library’s Midvale entrance during these hours only:
April 23: 12 noon – 6:45pm
April 24, 25, 26: 10am – 4:30pm
April 29: 11am – 6:45pm
Preview Sale (for dealers and Friends members) – Tues. April 30 (1pm –3pm). Refreshments. $3 an item. You can join the Friends ($10) at the preview. A Public Preview will be held later that day, from 4:30pm –6:30pm. $2 an item. All invited!
The Spring Sale is sponsored by the Friends of the Falls of Schuylkill Library with profits benefiting library projects.
The Spring Bake Sale will be held on Saturday May 4 beginning at 10am until Sold Out
By Marie Filipponi and Mary Jean Cunningham
With Spring around the corner, if you believe the famous groundhog, the Hospitality Team of the FFSL would like to give a heads up to the bakers who always come through for us for Friends’ events.
A Bake Sale on Saturday May 4th will accompany the Spring Book Sale. The Hospitality Team will be sending out a letter calling for bakers closer to the event. Please consider volunteering!
📖 Book Cart Sales 📖
Yes, we sell used books!
While we all look forward to the Friends’ used book sales, did you realize that
whenever the library is open you can buy gently used books and support the
Friends?
When you enter the library through the Warden Drive doors, look to your right
and you can see the 1st shelf section that contains these “for sale” books that the
Friends are selling. The books that are being sold have been donated for the Friends to sell.
You’ll find books from many genres, and the books are in sections:
mystery books
classic fiction, and other fiction
cookbooks and nutrition books
Fiber Arts books and more.
The price list is posted next to the bookshelves, and you’ll see a wooden box
where you can pay. Prices are reasonable and your money goes to the
Friends of the Falls.
Friends of the Falls of Schuylkill Library
Officers
Martha Fuller, President
Neha Pancholi, Vice President
Terry Cunningham, Treasurer
Mary Jean Cunningham, Recording Secretary
Drew Birden, Branch Librarian, ex-officio
Join the friends!
Ensure the library remains a vital center of lifelong learning for all the members of our East Falls community.
