Wow! These are great ideas! Thank You! Anyone else wish to contribute ideas? I am all ears! Thank you again!

Looking for some *creative* fund-raising ideas/activities that a Friends of the Library group can do to financially help libraries. The requisite book sale is a given. What I'd like to know is what your library does. What kind of speakers/programs/activities draw a paying audience? What pay-for *services* do you offer? What are some unique ways you've raised funds for the public library? Thanks in advance! :-)

I never responded to this thread last week as I sadly didn't finish any books. This week, however, I managed to squish in two to their conclusions: #32 - If Morning Ever Comes, by Anne Tyler. #33 - How to Interpret Dreams and Visions: Understanding God's Warnings and Guidance, by Perry Stone. I am currently in the midst of five different books - two nonfiction and three fiction. This is rare for me! Things are stressful enough that time is at a premium, making it hard these days to finish one book in a week, much less five. As for Robin's question re satisfaction with where we are in books read so far this year . . . With all that is going on, I guess my answer is *pleased* and *surprised* that I've made it this far! I did a quick check of how many books I had read by this general time frame (June 16-23) and the totals for the whole year, over the past five years that this book thread has blessedly existed. 2009 = 34 books; 65 total 2010 = 33 books; 69 total 2011 = 46 books; 80 total 2012 = 31 books; 73 total 2013 = 33 books I guess I'm about average. :)

Finished one book: #31 - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce. This is the author's first novel and it is quite good. There is a simplistic beauty in her writing. The novel itself evokes just about every emotion at some point. I couldn't put it down and in fact ended up reading a good bit of it by flashlight under the covers into the wee hours of the morning!

Oddly enough, THIS post posted to My Contents, as did the other thread I responded to this evening. No other threads I've posted on in over a week are there. Glad to know it's not just my computer!

Mine still isn't. Frustrating when you want to check what you've posted to, and are in a hurry. So is it just me and my computer? Or is this site-wide?

Wonderful news! Congratulations! :hurray: :party:

Bill, you and your family have my deepest sympathy. How blessed you are to have such a fine father, as your tribute so lovingly portrays him, and how blessed your dad to have you as his son. Remembering you in prayer . . .

It's not showing up in my Contents, either. Also, I posted responses in a couple other threads yesterday and those are not showing up in Contents, either . . .

Incredible! Thanks for posting!

My bread machine makes an overly large loaf and leaves a hole in the bottom where the kneader is. So, I generally take the dough out after the next-to-last rising, form TWO loaves by hand, let sit in loaf pans for the final rising, then bake in the oven. I get two loaves instead of one and the loaves are a *better* size. I used to make all my bread by hand, then received a breadmaker as a gift one year. It's been a time-saver through some tough times.

Here's two. What's Next will possibly satisfy items 1, 3 and 4 on your list. http://ww2.kdl.org/l...t/whatsnext.asp Fantastic Fiction may satisfy numbers 1 and 3. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ Hope this helps!

Finished only one book this week: #30 - Wonderland Creek, by Lynn Austin. Thoroughly enjoyed this Christian fiction novel. This is the first book by this author that I've read and I was not disappointed. Takes place during the Depression and involves the Packhorse Library Project where [mainly] women were employed to take reading material by horseback or mule to the families and schools in outlying rural and remote areas of eastern Kentucky. Various schemes and intrigue encapsulate the main character, a naive young girl from Illinois who, up until now, has lived her life through the novels she reads, when she decides to personally deliver the books she has collected to the library in a remote mining village in the mountains of Kentucky.

All of the bolded part. Also, not as a mantra, but I do repeat certain things to myself (key words = to myself) most days. I've been through some very rough times and have learned through them that this really helps in the *going through* times as well as afterwards. Sometimes it is what gets me through a day, knowing that I've not only affirmed certain things, but, importantly that those affirmations line up with scripture. Sometimes the affirmation is quoted scripture. But again, this is something I do quietly - it may be totally quiet within my thoughts, or in a whisper when I'm alone, or even out loud when I'm alone. It's not something anyone else in my household does and it's certainly not something I would expect. The bolded parts. Sometimes I need my own pep talks that I can do this! The bolded part. Very important.

:grouphug:

Thank you, everyone! Good ideas here that I hadn't thought of! It just makes me groan inside to think of perfectly good books being recycled - as in destroyed . . . when someone can possibly use them . . .

This is pretty much what dh says. I wasn't asking for me - I am definitely not a science person! Dh is. He is SO smart and has an MS degree and tons of real life experience but I'd love to see him get the PhD to improve his employability. Right now we are struggling so much and the changes that O-care is mandating have negatively impacted his job so right now we are facing even more serious difficulties. When I see how much the young whippersnappers DON'T know and have NEVER worked in the real world (from K to grade school to HS to college to MS to PhD to teaching) but because they hold a PhD their jobs are secure and their salaries much better, it's frustrating. Dh has to tell them about their own fields because they just.don't.know the material, the equipment, even basic stuff. Thanks to O-care, however, he won't be there to answer their questions anymore . . . I'm feeling kinda down this morning and will probably regret posting this later on and might just delete it. I don't know . . .

Is it possible to earn a doctorate degree online through a reputable university in some area of science and, not have to matriculate on campus for any portion of it? Dh keeps telling me no . . . Though I'd ask the Hive . . .

What do you DO with them??? Dh has several VERY nice college level textbooks that have Not for Resale on the covers. Short of donating them to the thrift store, is there anything else you can do with them? Is there any place that buys these? Dumb question, I know . . . but I simply have to ask before we donate them. They don't really sell at the thrift store so they will eventually end up recycling them. The library doesn't accept textbooks for their sales for the same reason - textbooks don't sell. Someone mentioned an online site that buys these, but I haven't been able to locate any such site. Any ideas? Thanks!

Finished two books this week: #28 - The Church Ladies, by Lisa E. Samson. Thought this would be Christian brain candy. It wasn't quite that sweet . . . Too many times it gave me pause - for thought, for reconsideration of previous held ideas, for needing a salve for an *ouch* . . . I didn't think certain aspects of the actual story were all that unique or even unpredictable; rather, it was the author's way of stating some things . . . #29 - My Life and Lesser Catastrophes: A Memoir: An Unflinchingly Honest Journey of Faith, by Christina Schofield. Just what the subtitle says - unflinchingly honest - journey of faith. The author and her husband were going along quite nicely in life when tragedy struck, leaving her husband a quadriplegic. Her struggles are achingly raw and real, her humor a welcome break. I'd like to say this was *deep*. It wasn't. It was simply her honest struggle. The reading moved quickly; it ended rather abruptly. Not sure what's up next . . .

Amazing. I'm in tears...

Wow! You all are doing heavy reading! So here's the *reading-lite* entry! :D This week I finished: #27 - Tish, by Mary Roberts Rinehart. I always thought this author was strictly a mystery writer, but not so. This book is about the (mis)adventures of three *older* (for that time in history) single women who are close friends. Delightful! Funny! Entertaining! And yes, somewhat predictable. Tish, the acknowledged and fearless leader, can be exasperating at times since she is always *right*, but Aggie and Lizzie provide charming balance. Published in 1916, common thought and vocabulary of that day are to be expected; it's definitely not politically correct! Currently reading: #28 - The Church Ladies, by Lisa E. Samson. Christian fiction. If the opening four lines are any indication, this should be realistically funny with a few *ouches* tossed in! Here's the opening: "Many mornings I awaken thinking how much easier the men have it. Their Monday through Friday rolls by on well-worn ruts in a convoy of monosyllabic tasks. Wake, eat, work, eat, work, eat, sleep. Saturdays pass much the same with an extra 'sleep' included in the afternoon."

Municipal entity - that means the employees were employed and paid by the local government - right? Do you know a quick *legal* reference to support the employees of the library not doing the selling? I'm apparently googling it wrong . . . Thanks! Gotta run but will check back later today!

Re selling used library books online FOR a library - is there any concern needed regarding taxes, etc., since the library is non-profit? Is it better to sell through a Friends of the Library group, or directly through the library itself? Did your library establish a PayPal account for doing postage/mailing labels even though selling, for example, on Amazon, who doesn't use PayPal? As I pull my ideas together for the requested pros and cons *proposal* so the library can decide whether to pursue this, I have family members tossing out ideas that I hadn't thought of . . . so, as the deadline approaches, I'm coming to the experts for help! Thank You! p.s. If you think there is something I need to consider, PLEASE tell me - I would so greatly appreciate any input! Thank you!

Thought I'd check once more if anyone else would like to weigh-in on this before I start drafting the pros-and-cons *proposal*. I really appreciate the ideas that have been expressed! Thank you!