ICYMI: MALF member organizations have until Friday, July 25 to submit one of their own for the 2025 cohort of Standout Friends in Minnesota. Click here for full details, including eligibility requirements and the application form. Recipient perks include a gift package with a thematic tie to MALF’s fall programming; a matted and frameable certificate; commendation letter to the mayor and county commissioner in each recipient’s hometown; and a written featurette in an upcoming MALF e-newsletter. 

Labor Day is already fast approaching, and with fall comes the traditional “busy season” for Friends book sales and marquee programs! If your group is holding a fundraiser or other special event, MALF wants to hear about it. We maintain a statewide, crowdsourced Friends calendar for just this purpose.

MALF is excited to announce the return of our popular Friends of the Library "mini-conference" for 2025. Save the date for Saturday, October 11, when MALF will convene Friends from across Minnesota online for our fifth annual SATURDAY SPLASH (10:00 a.m. – approx. 12:00 p.m.).

As a support organization for the whole of Minnesota, MALF is privileged to regularly hear stories about volunteers across the state who go above and beyond in service to their local Friends of the Library. Most of these “Standout Friends” remain unsung heroes. In 2016, we created the Stand Up for Standout Friends program as a chance to spotlight and celebrate volunteers who go above and beyond...

MALF invites you to put your name forward for our own Board of Directors. Our all-volunteer Board hail from all around the state and represent many walks of life. Without them, our programming, grant work, and advocacy efforts would not be possible.

While Friends, staff and trustees all advance their library's overarching mission, each does so from their own "lane." MALF’s next webinar will overview those lanes, as well as best practices to help ensure a healthy and sustainable working relationship. Please join us over the lunch hour (12-1 p.m. Central) on Wednesday, July 23 for Different Roles, Shared Goals.

Lynne Young’s commitment to Northfield Public Library is unmatched – and unlikely ever to be so. In total, she helmed the well-reputed Rice County library as its director for more than 27 years. Over this period of growth for the community (and marked development in library service), Young oversaw several watershed achievements. These include the establishment of bookmobile service, kickstarting a campaign to reinvest and expand NPL’s historic building, and creation of a Foundation to augment and amplify the hard work of the local Friends of the Library.

Discover some of the Twin Cities’ hidden library treasures (and other public and private buildings of note) during Doors Open Minneapolis on May 17 & 18. As the name suggests, Doors Open Minneapolis is a grassroots initiative to “explore the buildings that tell the city’s story.”

Unable to make the trek to Saint Paul? Don’t worry: You can watch the pronouncements and celebrate Minnesota’s rich literary tradition via a FREE livestream option, made available courtesy of program steward The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library.

Congratulations to the Friends of the Blue Earth Community Library, Friends of the Pelican Rapids Library, and Friends of the Upsala Public Library. These three Minnesota groups are among the 50 recipients selected for a financial or in-kind gift through the inaugural United for Libraries & Random House Grants for Rural and Small Libraries program.

Is your Friends group hungry to “level up” its fundraising, but unsure where to start (or how to bankroll this kind of investment in your organization)? GiveMN is currently accepting applicants for the 2025 cohort of its popular annual RaiseMN Campaign Institute.  

World-famous writer and physician Benjamin Spock often opined: “You know more than you think you do.” We think the sentiment holds true for Friends of the Library. Even if your local work on behalf of the library does not feel out of the ordinary to you, others may find your activities remarkable and worth replicating. If you have a replicable program, new initiative, or ‘issue and resolution’ case study that could be of interest to fellow Friends, consider submitting a presentation proposal for United for Libraries Virtual (July 29-31, 2025).