About Us

Our Mission

“The Friends of the Sonoma Valley Library is a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to enhancing the presence of the library in the community and supporting its efforts to bring the pleasure of reading, listening, and viewing to our population through traditional media, technological innovations, and diverse programs.”
View our By-Laws.
The Friends of the Sonoma Valley Library is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. EIN# 94-2370298.
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Large, decorative, capital letter L in brownish-yellow.

Our Library

The Sonoma Valley Regional Library, located at 755 West Napa Street, serves the communities of Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Agua Caliente, Boyes Hot Springs, and El Verano. The library building is owned by the City of Sonoma, and is leased to Sonoma County which operates all libraries in the County. A local Library Advisory Board provides information and make recommendations to the County Library Commission and the Library Director on matters affecting library service based on input from the Sonoma Valley service area.

The Friends of the Sonoma Valley Library currently has about 600 members.  Here’s a brief overview with some examples of how we support our local library:

  • We fund varied library programs, such as Saturday afternoon music programs, occasional craft programs, sometimes a magic program. There is a summer reading program, book clubs – we sponsor two, a Mystery Book Group and a Classical Reflections Book Club.
  • We sponsor, support and subsidize a coffee, tea and hot chocolate service inside the library. We suggest a one dollar donation (not mandatory) for the beverage.
  • We purchase books in Spanish. We purchase additional copies of popular books. We purchase periodicals that the County does not subscribe to.
  • We funded (and partnered with the Library) for the El Dia de los Muertos festival, which was a huge success.
  • We purchased special furniture for a dedicated Teen Room.
  • We added outdoor tables with umbrellas so that the 24/7 wireless Internet can be used when the library is closed. This is a popular use.

Our Books To Schools program has helped get 30,000 books into local school libraries and classrooms over the past five years. Learn more here.

The approximately $50,000 a year that we fund comes primarily from periodic book sales of books donated to the SVFOL.

Interested in supporting our efforts? Considering joining the Friends of the Library and contributing books, funds, or most importantly – your time!

 

SVFOL Board

President: Cathy Coleman (2023-2024)
Vice President: Penny Eardley (2023-2024)
Secretary: Barbara Sitkin (2024-2025)
Treasurer: Janette Tschann (2024-2025)
Membership Manager: Janice Engle (2024-2025)
Member-at-Large (publicity): Karen Sanders (2023-2024)
Member-at-Large (newsletter): Robyn Makaruk (2024-2025)
     Other Roles:
Library Commissioner: Tom Haeuser
Library Branch Manager: Sabine Salek

Come to a Board Meeting

The Board of Directors for the Friends of the Sonoma Valley Library meets on the second Thursday of each month at 3 PM in the Forum Room of the library.  The one-hour meeting is open to all.  Please join us to see the Friends in action. The Agenda is posted here one day before the Board meeting. 

Meeting Agendas

Meeting Agenda for August 11, 2022 Prior Meetings:
  • Meeting Agenda for July 14, 2022
  • Meeting Agenda for June 9, 2022
  • Meeting Agenda for May 12, 2022
  • Meeting Agenda for April 14, 2022
  • Meeting Agenda and Minutes for March 10, 2022 (held via Zoom), and Minutes for follow-up meeting of March 11
  • Meeting Agenda for February 10, 2022 (held via Zoom)
  • Meeting Agenda and Minutes for January 13, 2022 (held via Zoom)

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