This e-newsletter doubles as our last chance to remind and encourage you to apply for the 2024 Evy Nordley Award. Applications must be received over email or postmarked by this Friday, July 5. While we can’t tell you what your odds of winning are, we can say with some certainly: better than you think.

MALF’s next webinar will offer a beginner’s primer on how Minnesota’s more than 350 public libraries function. Please join us over the lunch hour (12:00-1:00 p.m. Central) on Wednesday, August 14 for a webinar we are calling “The Full Story: A Friend’s Guide to Minnesota Library Basics.” Our guest speakers will be Richmond Kinney, MLIS and David Katz, MLIS from Library Strategies Consulting Group (LSCG).

Registration is now open for the 2024 conference of the Minnesota Library Association. Join library staff, trustees and supporters at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester on October 24-25 for dozens of panels, keynote talks and networking opportunities. Special guests will include “celebrity librarian” and TikTok phenom Mychal Threets, well-known in the library world and beyond for his powerful message of library joy.

Memorial Day heralds summer, and with it comes several grant and award deadlines for MALF member groups. Coming up first: Friday, July 5 is the cutoff to submit for the annual Evy Nordley Award for Best Project. Common project types entered into this contest include special events, successful fundraisers, membership drives, and advocacy campaigns – but the sky is the limit! Don't think your Friends conducted any activities on the scale of an Evy Nordley prize contender over the past year? Consider contributing to our inclusive and ongoing Stand Up for Standout Friends project instead!

MALF is pleased to announce that our popular Friends of the Library “mini-conference” is returning for 2024. Mark your calendars Saturday, October 5 for MALF’s fifth annual SATURDAY SPLASH. Why do we call this event Saturday Splash (aside from the obvious fact that it’s always held on a Saturday)? It’s because our half-day itinerary will include a splash of this, and a splash of that! As the connecting thread, every program module will celebrate Friends' work or offer value learning opportunities to further that work.

Congratulations to this year’s Minnesota Book Award winners! If you missed the celebration back on May 7, you can read up on the 2024 honorees via the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press. Better yet: You can watch the archived simulcast of the live event on the YouTube channel of the host organization, The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library.

We asked – you answered! Over the past year, MALF has polled our members and webinar attendees with a simple question: What should MALF’s programming focus on next? Several issues rose to the fore, but topping that list is interest in a webinar or workshop centered around a truly classic fundraising strategy: Friends of the Library auctions. Our programming committee is now hard at work coordinating such a program...

The American Library Association is scheduled to hold its annual conference in sunny San Diego from June 27 – July 2. Every summer, this library mega-conference draws thousands of library staff, trustees, school media specialists, and fans of library work to the host city for a week chock-full of educational opportunities and a star-studded line up of keynote speakers...

If giving campaigns are something you’ve struggled with in the past – or not even begun to explore – take a look at Library Giving Day. Brainchild of the Seattle Public Library Foundation, this one-day giving “holiday” is devoted solely to library causes and coincides with National Library Week. Last year, more than 500 organizations from across the country took part!

Next month (April 3-5), thousands of library staff and leaders will congregate in Columbus, Ohio for the biennial Public Library Association (PLA) conference. PLA is often hailed as the pre-eminent professional development opportunity for the field of public librarianship. While the conference is open to supporters like Friends, in-person participation is cost prohibitive for most volunteers. Fortunately for us, virtual tickets are also on offer!

April brings with it one of the best opportunities all year round to celebrate and promote our public libraries. National Library Week, coordinated by the American Library Association, runs April 7-13, 2024. Each year brings a distinct thematic focus. For this, the 66th iteration of National Library Week, that theme is "Ready, Set, Library." Highlights within National Library Week include National Library Workers Day (April 9) and Take Action for Libraries Day (April 11).

Last year, Friends of the Library elsewhere in the country coordinated programs running a wide gamut: from readathons and spelling bees, to cooking demos and fashion shows, and even charity 5ks and relay races! We know for a fact that Friends here in Minnesota have not been idle, either. Our annual Evy Nordley Award for Best Project is the perfect way to learn about and share your group highlights from 2023.