Oct. 11, 2001 – The board of the Friends of the St. Thomas Public Libraries will meet on Saturday from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the Enid M. Baa Library, and Friends members and guests are invited to be present.
The organization, which initiated a volunteer-staffed Saturday Children's reading program at the Baa Library last spring and hosted an open house there in June to show off new display space for historic Virgin Islands materials in the Von Scholten Collection, has a new president, Kip Knowlton.
The former chief executive of the Educational Research Institute in Memphis, Tenn., and president of the business consulting firm Knowlton Associates, Knowlton now works with the New Image Foundation in training and program development.
He has "considerable experience in grant writing, and we look forward to what can be accomplished with his leadership and expertise," a release from the Friends organization said. He succeeds Tom Bolt as president of the group.
Two new initiatives the Friends group is undertaking are to design a creative reading program to take place both in and outside of the Baa Library and to plan a "community empowerment conference" for next spring.
The Friends group is looking for "supported after-school programs that would service the children who come to the library," the release stated. And the group is seeking volunteers both to institute a "books for infants" program at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and to help with the children's reading program at Baa from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Finally, the release said, "We also desperately need donations for books, tapes and computer software."
The release noted that Diane Moody is the new librarian at Baa. On the job since early September, she came to the position after four years as the upper school librarian at Antilles School. She also has been serving as vice president and program chair of the Friends.
For more information about becoming a member of the Friends organization or supporting its efforts, contact secretary Carol Lotz at 777-3579.
