RAE’S READS

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This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books. Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish. This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”

OCTOBER 20-26th, FRIENDS OF LIBRARIES WEEK

REGARDLESS OF THE DATE YOU OBSERVE, RECOGNIZING YOUR LOCAL FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY GROUP IS A GOOD IDEA.

Friends of the Library organizations go all the way back in the UK to Elizabethan times. These are non-profit, charitable organizations, most often manned by volunteers who offer financial support to the libraries they serve. The group works closely with library management to provide items needed by the library which are not budgeted, or which have been cut from library funding in some cases. Just having such a group established helps a library in applying for grants and special financing. Many countries now have Friends of Libraries and a few colleges have “satellite” groups who assist their local library.

For ways in which the AlvinLibrary League assists the Alvin Public Library, here in my hometown, and ways they raise funds, search “Friends of the Library”on this blog for the 2019 posting. Until this year, our Library League held an annual membership luncheon in October and a “Breakfast With Santa” event, but of course, such events have been cancelled due to Covid. We still pay our dues, which are extremely reasonable, and have memorial funds invested and earning interest for us annually. We also sell used books which are donated, and currently, this sale continues. It is a wonderful source of books for my Little Free Library.

Most importantly, join (or start) a local group of Friends. The dues are low and the benefits excellent.

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One response to “OCTOBER 20-26th, FRIENDS OF LIBRARIES WEEK”

  1. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz Avatar
    Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

    Our library has been amazing during the pandemic. I am so thankful to the library.

    Liked by 1 person

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