It all started in a Woodland Hills living room. Twelve women gathered in January 1975 to discuss the forming of a Friends group for the Woodland Hills Library.
Six months later, the ladies, all addressed as “Mrs.,” held their first book sale. In order to get used books, they started a “Books by the Barrel” campaign with patrons dropping their donated books into a barrel. That sale was held, outside, under the shade of the iconic trees, with a profit of $ 400 – enough to provide the library with a much-needed cassette recorder.
“Carrying out the legacy of these 12 forward thinking ladies remains foremost on the minds of the Board of Directors of the Friends of Woodland Hills Branch Library,” says Mary C. Schaffer, President of the Board.
While technology has changed, the Friends continue to hold four book sales each year to raise money for programming at the library.
“Marge Driscoll, Jane Leisure, and Karen Brown were forces on the board in the 2010’s,” said former board member and Woodland Hills resident Barbara Hogan. “Marge Driscoll was responsible for the book sales. She made popcorn balls and wrapped them in a specific way for the December book sales. She recruited David Folkman to create the book sale posters,” Hogan added. Folkman has now created nearly 40 posters, all of which will be on view at the October 11 celebration of the anniversary of the Friends.
In the first seven years of its existence, the Friends provided more than $25,000 for books and improvements at the library, including children’s library furniture and a microfiche reader.
In the first three decades, the Friends campaigned to save the parking lot trees during reconstruction in 2001, donated $13,500 for a book security system, and helped pay for the installation of a drinking fountain.
Today, the Friends boasts a Board that is 16 members strong – both women and men – and over 60 volunteers.
Profits from the book sales are used for children’s and adult library programming.
Felice Goodman moved from New York to Woodland Hills in 2013 and was looking to join a book club. When she discovered that the library, at that time, only had a short story book club, she asked what else she could participate in.
“The library directed me upstairs to where the Friends were meeting and the rest is history,” she says. “If you want to be a part of a community that is always reaching out, a community that is constantly learning, reading and understanding the neighborhood that we live in, the Friends is the best place to do that,” she says.
A celebration of the Friends, including adult and children’s activities, will be held at the Woodland Hills Library, 22200 Ventura Boulevard between Topanga Canyon Blvd. and Shoup Avenue on Saturday, October 11, from 1 to 4 pm with the formal program beginning at 2 pm.
