Great Stories Club’s “raison d'être” is to give underserved youth the opportunity to read, reflect, and share ideas on topics that resonate with them. Courtesy of funding support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the popular program has reached more than 700 libraries – and more than 30,000 young adults – to date.

The Minnesota Association of Library Friends is moving offices, effective February 6! Please save our new address: 332 Minnesota Street, Suite W1420, Saint Paul, MN, 55101.

Last year, MALF’s programming reached more people than ever before. We’re eager to keep pace in 2023, but can only do so with YOUR help!

Friends of the Library are resilient, versatile, and endlessly creative. Sometimes, we don’t give ourselves enough credit! That’s one of the reasons that MALF proudly hosts the annual Evy Nordley Award for Best Project by Friends of the Library – the longest-running state-level prize of this kind.

The Peggy Barber Tribute Grant awards $2,500 to three libraries to support their programming efforts. Competitiveness is determined in large part by a candidate’s ability to demonstrate an acute financial need (and, as a result, a general track record of under-funded programming).

Thanks to everyone who joined MALF last week for our last webinar of the year – and most experimental webinar ever. Special gratitude goes to our guest speakers, Alison Aten and Riley Jo Davis (Minnesota Historical Press) and Ill Nippashi (Graywolf Press), for leading us off with a sneak peek at their impressive winter/spring catalogs.

Happy #GivingTuesday! If your Friends of the Library are running a campaign in conjunction with the nation’s unofficial “giving holiday,” we wish you well. But if you missed out on November’s prime giving holidays (Giving…

As the days grow shorter and colder, many of us indulge in the simple whim to hole up at home with a good book. MALF wants to make sure your “TBR” pile is well stocked with great Minnesota reads this winter. Please join us December 14 (12:00-1:00 p.m.) for our last webinar of 2022: Warm Books for Cold Days: Minnesota Authors Recommend. This free webinar will comprise three separate sections...

In case you missed it: United for Libraries hosted the Friends of the Austin (Minn.) Public Library last month for a fundraising webinar held in celebration of National Friends of Libraries Week. Board president Bethie Carlton profiled Flockin’ Flamingoes Fundraiser, a colorful and memorable project that won Austin MALF’s 2021 Evy Nordley Award.

We have an exciting announcement to share – and National Friends of Libraries Week seems like the perfect time to do it. After a months-long research and design process, MALF has just launched a brand new website! Check it out for yourself at mnlibraryfriends.org.

Have you heard of the "I Love My Librarian Award"? This annual, national honor is intended to honor “librarians who have made a difference in your life or gone above and beyond to serve your community.” Each year, up to 10 librarians will be honored with a $5,000 cash prize and special ceremony held in their honor.

What, you might be asking, is a “Saturday Splash”? In short, it is MALF’s annual mini-conference – a morning of content curated by, for and about Friends of the Library. Itinerary will include a splash of this, and a splash of that (thus the name); but as connective tissue, every program module will celebrate Friends work or offer learning opportunities to further that work.