Bega Valley Friends of the Libraries Inc.

Membership

New members are always welcome!

Now that we are an incorporated group, the Friends have updated the membership list. We have established that the date for all memberships begins on July 1 of the year and ends on June 30 of the following.  Those who join at various times of the year will pay a pro-rata fee the first year and the full membership for all following years.  Letters have gone out to all our members so everyone knows we have settled these details.

If you are looking at this page and wondering whether to join us, you need to know that our members fill several roles. 

One role is simply to be a Friend of Libraries – to have your name and address on our list so we have members in all parts of the Bega Valley Shire.  Please note, we also accept applications from people living nearby, such as just over the border in Victoria or other shires in NSW.  When we write a letter to the Shire Council, to our MLA or MP, or to a level of government, we write on your behalf and make our views at Library Friends known.  That way, you can have a say about important matters that impact upon our library system.  Copies of these letters are kept by our Secretary.

Another role is as a fundraiser.  We Friends help the library augment its collections where possible, so we look for grants and offers that can be applied to book/materials acquisitions or technologies that the library wants.  We sell used books discarded by the library from time to time.  Our last used-books stall was at the Bermagui Seaside Fair in March 2009 and was a great success. 

Another role is to help raise awareness of the importance of reading to all ages because research shows we all need to keep our brains working on a number of different levels.  People can lose that sense of curiosity about what’s in a book.  We help them regain their interest by holding events that present authors, publishers, illustrators and booksellers to the general public and making their products accessible in book fairs and book signings.

We also have looked at the research that says reading to youngsters is a good way to help them become interested in books.  When children are very young, the rhymes and repetitions help them establish the use of words to convey meaning.  They also get great pleasure from looking at illustrations and talking about their meaning.  After this stage, young children begin to look at words and understand that meaning comes from those little marks on the page.  Reading to children can lead to children picking out the words that they recognize, often long before they go to school.  We Friends try to encourage reading to children and look for books to give the library to enhance the children’s collection in every branch.

Interested in what we do?

Join us soon!

MEMBERSHIP:

Please use the 'Contact Us' page for further information.

Thank you.