Thank you for your interest and involvement with MALF in calendar/membership year 2024. We hope you will renew today for calendar/membership year 2025. (If you’d like a refresher, please see our website for a detailed run-down of membership benefits and opportunities which MALF membership unlocks.)

In our decades of work with Friends, MALF’s board has picked up on an interesting disconnect. Most volunteer-run groups are fortunate to boast at least a few “standout” members – movers and shakers whose dedication, creativity and boundless energy help the organization overcome obstacles and adapt to meet new needs. What is lacking, in contrast, are good opportunities to acknowledge these outstanding contributors.

Recent studies calculate the nationwide, averaged value of volunteer time at an eye-popping $31.80 – per hour. Let’s use that as the basis of a thought experiment. By our most cautious count, our member network here at the Minnesota Association of Library Friends boasts a collective reach of more than 19,000 library-lovers across our great state. If each of these Friends of the Library volunteered just one hour of time to their group in 2023, that would ladder up to an instant $604,200 investment in our libraries!

Odds are good that over the next several months, your local Friends of the Library are hosting a book sale, author talk, marquee fundraiser – or some other program open to the public. MALF is here to help you promote! All member organizations are invited to submit their programs for promotion on MALF’s statewide Friends calendar.

Over the past 7 years, we have officially recognized no fewer than 90 honorees through video montages, conference presentations, letters to local elected officials, and other coordinated efforts. Stand Up for Standout Friends is officially back for 2023. It’s likely to hold distinction as the year we celebrate our 100th award winner, and we want YOU to help add to the class.