What’s up for the Minnesota Association of Library Friends in the New Year? In part, that’s up to you! MALF’s educational programming is always geared towards fellow Friends of the Library and this audience’s unique needs. In many cases, our webinar and workshop topics draw directly from feedback and ideas supplied by MALF’s member base.

United for Libraries (the Friends and trustees arm of the American Library Association) is partnering with Penguin Random House for a second year of Grants to U.S. Rural and Small Libraries. (In its inaugural year, the partners awarded monetary grants and in-kind gifts worth $25,000!)

ICYMI: Last month, MALF presented our annual "Warm Reads For Cold Nights: Minnesota Authors Recommend" webinar. If you missed the live event but still need help with your holiday gift list (or want recommendations for your own holiday break reading list), the archived program is available for replay here.

As the year draws to a close, MALF must bid a fond farewell to a leader. Sheila DeChantal of Brainerd is rotating off after 3 years on our board of directors. DeChantal’s name is one well known to Friends across Minnesota due to her talent for launching groundbreaking Friends programs that are successful, sustainable, and scalable.

Barb Brylinke leads book sales for the Friends of the Heritage Library in Lakeville. According to her colleagues, Barb understands that the most important words at a sale are not those found in the books available to shoppers – they are those used in the promotional materials and wayfinding signage needed to make residents aware of and excited for the opportunity.

Congratulations to Friends of the Moorhead Public Library, winners of the 2025 Evy Nordley Award for ‘Best Project by Friends of the Library.’ They won top prize earlier this month for Bookmarked! A Celebration of the Arts. Bookmarked! was a fundraiser – but also so much more. It evolved from separate, Friends-led conversations with Zoltar (a tattoo parlor) and Swing Barrel (a craft brew staple in downtown Moorhead).

Thanks to the many Friends who joined MALF last weekend for Saturday Splash 2025. We matched that tremendous turnout with an equally tremendous slate of speakers. Missed out? You can now replay the full morning of programming on our YouTube channel...

For our final webinar of 2025, MALF is excited to announce the return of a fan favorite event. MALF’s programming team first piloted Warm Reads For Cold Nights back in 2022. It’s returned each year since to coincide with the holiday shopping season.

On Tuesday, September 30, the Friends of the Princeton Library piloted "Friends Meet Friends," a regional networking initiative. Organizers brought together a room full of Friends volunteers from across the Great River Regional Library and East Central Regional Library systems (which between them encompass 12 counties).

Did you know? Library staff, trustees, and Friends of the Library across Minnesota enjoy free access to a host of online resources and (always timely) live virtual programming through United for Libraries. State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Dept. of Education, recently purchased statewide access to this portfolio of assets maintained by the arm of the American Library Association most closely aligned to Friends of the Library work. Upcoming opportunities include:

Moorhead will soon be home to Minnesota’s newest library. While still under construction, this 48,000-square-foot architectural gem is already a prominent, permanent fixture in the downtown district. In April, supporters had the unique opportunity to support this generational project by getting something “prominent and permanent” of their own: a library-inspired tattoo!

One Book | One Minnesota is back for Fall 2025. This statewide book club, coordinated through The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library in that organization’s capacity as the Library of Congress- designated Minnesota Center for the Book, invites Minnesotans from all backgrounds to read a common title and come together virtually to reflect and discuss.