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Friends’ Dedicated Leadership

On behalf of the James Blackstone Memorial Library, I want to thank the Friends of the Library (FOL) and all of the generous volunteers, donors, and businesses who helped to make this year’s book sale a success. The FOL annual sale is a culmination of a massive effort throughout the year that requires transporting donations from collection bins to a warehouse every day, plus daily sorting, organizing and packing of the books for transfer to the Town Green. The entire team also meets regularly to plan throughout the year.

All of this would not be possible without the dedicated leadership provided by Joe Genua and Barbara Barrett. In addition to the annual sale, they also manage an online book sale operation in order to ensure that the library receives the most value from donated books. Throughout the pandemic, Joe and Barbara organized smaller sales in the warehouse. They have even traveled around the state to share their expertise with other library groups.

The entire community benefits from this good work, which helps the library to provide access to enriching programs and resources including streaming films from Kanopy plus ebooks, audiobooks, music and movies from HOOPLA, and a large collection of museum passes that provide free and discounted admission to local museums. All of these materials are provided free of charge to Branford residents.

Karen Jensen, Director

James Blackstone Memorial Library