This week (Oct. 15-21) is National Friends of The Libraries Week [1]! To celebrate the efforts of our Friends at the Metro, we will share the stories of some of our Friends volunteers and what the experience means to them.

Be sure to check out the Friends Membership Drive thermometer [2] to track how many new Friends we have signed up since the start of the campaign!

FOL Week

Friends Volunteer Story: Jan Rowland 

The Friends of the library volunteers are a group of eclectic tastes, home library sizes, and personalities, but they all have two things in common - their belief in the library’s mission and their sense of community.

Friends Board Member, Jan Rowland, said she did not grow up with a lot of books around. After 24 years as a Friend’s volunteer, Rowland has since put together a library collection so large that she had to expand her home.

“My husband added a room onto our house that has a library, and I have got way too many books. And then my son built in a spare bedroom office and I have two walls that are covered in bookcases,” Rowland said.

A retired medical assistant, Rowland said she has sifted through her fair share of reference materials, but her newfound passion is working in the children’s book section.

“I love getting books into the hands of kids,” she said.

She reminisces about the times when her grandchildren were little, and her daughter built reading time into their nightly routine.

“Now I have got a grandson who is 21 and one who is 18 and they still love to read,” She said.

All of Jan’s kids volunteer at the book sale each year. She said it’s the Friends community and her love of sharing books with the children in her community that keep her passionate about volunteering with the Friends.