People showed their love of Western Counties Regional Library by adopting 977 books during the 2022 Adopt-A-Book campaign.
The Adopt-A-Book campaign, which ran from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30, crushed its goal of having 750 new books adopted by the public to put on library shelves.
“The support people give this campaign is heartening,” says Library Executive Director Erin Comeau. “It shows their love of reading and the library.”
“It also is a ‘thank-you’ to our staff for their hard work and the service they provide,” she says.
The fundraiser allows people to adopt (purchase for the library) books to put on their public library’s shelves. All 10 branches had books on display that were available to adopt and borrow right away.
The dollar value of the donations to adopt the books was $28,965, coming at a critical time for the library.
“Our funding is frozen for the next three years. With rising inflation and related-costs of operation, we have to cut back on the number of new books and other library material we buy,” Comeau said at the start of the campaign.
Community support came from all parts of the Tri-Counties and beyond, says Ian White, public relations manager and campaign organizer.
“People knew about the campaign and its importance because our sponsor Radio CJLS was airing campaign advertisements and doing live updates throughout the two-month period,” says White. “Financial institutions, community organizations, schools and library Friends groups provided some very large donations in the hundreds and thousands of dollars.”
“Individuals are huge contributors,” says White. “For some, just having the ability to see and hold the book they are adopting and being able to borrow it makes the campaign easy to support.”
The Adopt-A-Book campaign is carried out every two years with the next one coming in 2024. The 14 campaigns have raised $399,698, putting 17,751 new books on library shelves.
