KINGSLEY FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY AWARDED WITH STATE HONOR

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 6, 2013 (Kingsley, Mich;) The Traverse Area District Library (TADL) is pleased and excited to announce the Friends of Michigan Libraries (FOML) Membership and Public Relations Committee has selected the Kingsley Friends of the Library (KFOL) as the 2012 Outstanding Michigan Friends of the Library for libraries serving a population less than 12,000. 

 

A distinct and well deserved honor for the KFOL recognizing their 2012 inaugural Adams Fly Festival, a fundraising and community event that raised more than $13,000 for the Kingsley Branch of the Traverse Area District Library. Aside from the Friend’s 2009 fundraising efforts which resulted in the building of a beautiful library, the Adams Fly Festival was, by far, the largest single fundraising event KFOL has organized.  Plans are currently in the works for the Second Annual Adams Fly Festival which will take place on Saturday, June 1 from noon-5 p.m. on the grounds of the Kingsley Branch Library located at 213 S. Brownson in Kingsley, Michigan.

 

“The committee was impressed with the successful activities that your Friends carried out over the year,” said Charles D. Hanson, president of the Friends of Michigan Libraries (FMOL).

 

Gay Travis, president of the KFOL and Mary Fraquelli, manager for the Kingsley Branch Library will accept the award at the April 18 FOML annual membership meeting at the Fremont Area District Library. 

 

“Our congratulations and thanks for their very hard work go out to Gay Travis, president of the Kingsley Friends and her hard working Friends group as well as to Mary Fraquelli and her staff whose excellent programs and service are so greatly enhanced by the ministrations of the Kingsley Friends,” said Metta T. Lansdale, Jr., director, TADL.

 

In 2009, the KFOL received a donation of an Adams trout fishing fly. After investigating the history of the Adams fly and realizing they were in possession of an original prototype of the most widely used fishing fly on earth, the KFOL decided to permanently house the donation in the Kingsley Branch Library. The KFOL quickly realized from the initial reaction to the Adams Fly that there was potential to bring more awareness to not only this tiny but historical fly and the library but also the community as a whole.  As with every library event, the KFOL collaborated with local businesses and organizations, and community leaders to leverage awareness and create value for the shared resources available to the community. These community wide partnerships have made the library the “hub” of the Village and ensure future success and vitality.

 

The KFOL, in existence long before the Kingsley Library became a Branch of the Traverse Area District Library, have a long history of community involvement. The key indicator of their success has been the physical library building, which was paid for through their efforts.  A unique collaboration between the library and the village, the building project missed getting the “2010 Michigan Municipal League Community Excellence Award” by a single vote.  

 

With 62 active paying members and more than 150 volunteers, the KFOL regularly contribute funding and support for all Kingsley Branch Library programs, totalling more than $11,800 in 2012. In 2012, the KFOL reached an outstanding goal of more than $30,000 in their Library Endowment fund. Many local residents bestow donations to the KFOL in the memory of loved ones. 

 

“We are so thankful to our Friends and all of their support for the Kingsley Branch Library and our community,” said Fraquelli. “This honor is well deserved.” 

 

Library service in Kingsley, Michigan, began in 1914 with the local Women’s Civic Club. Nearly 100 years later, the Kingsley Branch Library serves more than 6,000 patrons annually and is part of a network of five other community libraries serving Grand Traverse County through the Traverse Area District Library. The KFOL have played an integral role in that growth and range of service. From private fundraising efforts that built the current and ecologically friendly 6,400 square foot building to their latest community celebration and fundraising event, the Annual Adams Fly Festival, as well as launching the TADL Local History Collection, a digital collection of historic photographs dating back to the late 1800’s, the Floyd Milton Webster Prize for History, part of Kingsley Heritage Days, and the Annual Holiday Open House and regular daily programming, the KFOL go above and beyond when it comes to supporting the library and its services.

 

The Traverse Area District Library (TADL) is a network of community libraries serving Grand Traverse County through the following libraries; Main (Woodmere) Branch, East Bay, and Kingsley Branches, Fife Lake Public Library, Interlochen Public Library, Peninsula Community Library and online at www.tadl.org.