Friends History

In 1949, the library director, Lucille Gottry, wanted to increase funding for the library and to start a bookmobile service for Olmsted County.  She was looking for a group to help her achieve those goals.  The Friends of the Rochester Public Library was established on September 26, 1949, with 24 interested potential members in attendance.  The stated purpose of the new Friends group was “to plan a campaign rallying additional support for a city charter amendment to boost the library levy, the budgeted amount the City Council allocated to run the library.”

At that time, the library was housed in the Crawford Building on 2nd St SW.  Today that building is the Mitchell Student Center / Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine.

The minutes from the first meeting identify four projects that the Friends hoped to fund: Lights for Reading Room & Children’s room, refinishing of furniture in workroom and redecorating of building.  The needs of the library were identified as a projector and screen, a slide scope, a record collection, exhibit cases, and a bookmobile.

In 1950, the Friends purchased newspaper and radio ads to promote changing the city charter to increase the library allocation within the city budget from 2 mills to 3 mills {Each “mill” is some percentage of the total city budget}. The charter change passed by 365 votes which increased the library’s budget to $52,000. By comparison, the library budget in 2023 was over $9 million. 

The first gift from the Friends was given in 1953:  an outside book drop, or book return, which cost $265.  It looked like a mail collection box, and was located on the corner of 2nd Street SW and 3rd Ave SW down the street from the Children’s entrance.

The Friends continued to advocate for bookmobile service throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. The first bookmobile finally started its rounds in October of 1966. Various Friends members were involved in designing the daily bookmobile routes.

As the library was preparing to move out of the Crawford Library building into the renovated JC Penney building, the Library Board gave the Friends permission to sell culled library books. The Friends’ first book sale was held on June 5th, 1971, in the Fireside Room in the Crawford library and made $765.00.

The Pied Piper scene from that fireplace mantel is mounted in the current library above the mural by the bookstore.

The library opened in the JC Penney building on November 7^th, 1972. The Friends continued their volunteer efforts throughout the library, also continuing to donate items to the library as requested.  Due to the ever-increasing volunteer efforts, the Friends began meeting monthly. While there was an Extension Services Librarian to coordinate volunteers, Friends Board members served as chair persons of the major volunteer groups, training volunteers and coordinating schedules. Volunteers were involved in book mending, children’s programs, microfilming, and delivering books to homebound, nursing homes and jails. They also would regularly read to nursing home residents.

The book sale that started at the Crawford Library continued as an annual event at the JC Penney building.  A second annual book sale was added September 22, 1979. Prices started out at 5-10 cents for children’s books to a couple of dollars for reference materials, but eventually went up to 25-50 cents for kids’ books and 25-75 cents for paperbacks and hardcovers.  Only 50 persons at a time were allowed on the sales floor in the auditorium due to weight restrictions. The building was not originally built to hold the weight of so many books and people. People lined up early before the sale opened to take numbers and be among the first to get in.

In the 1980s, the Friends became more involved in fundraising and helped to run the library’s annual fund drives. During this time, the Friends gave the library $42,000 over an eight-year period. Today, they are able to give 3x that amount in just one year!

The Friends incorporated as a nonprofit on June 7th, 1982.

In 1986, the Friends started publishing their own newsletter. It was printed and mailed 4-5 times a year. It contained news about Friends activities, volunteer needs, library activities, and individual volunteer spotlights or feature stories.  In 2015, the Friends, Foundation and Library merged their three newsletters into one publication called “Library Connections”.

A big project that Friends worked on in the 1980s and early 1990s was the Large Print Catalog.  Friends managed the inventory and kept the typewritten catalog up-to-date. This was before computers, so each time it had to be retyped from scratch! 

In 1989, the Friends began Book Bags for Babies and so started a years-long commitment to promoting literacy in the community. The mother of each baby born in Rochester at Methodist and Olmsted Hospitals is presented with a baby book and information about the Rochester Public Library. In 2006, Book Bags for Babies was combined with the United Way of Olmsted County and the Dolly Parton Foundation Imagination Library to continue giving one book per month to each child until their 5th birthday.

They have also funded books for HeadStart in the past.  They continue to support Rochester Reading Champions, and also donate used books to various schools and organizations.

Barbara Bush visited the library for the first time, on November 28, 1989. She read her favorite book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, to forty preschoolers. Friends members remember that after Mrs. Bush toured the library, she declined refreshments, which turned out to be a blessing.  The cupcakes had dark icing to minimize the visibility of any stains on the dark carpet.  However, the icing did stain people’s gums and teeth, which was a sight to behold! They also remember how gracious she was. The staff and volunteers stood awkwardly in a half-circle around her not knowing what to say. Mrs. Bush stepped forward, shook hands with the nearest person and said, “Hi, I am Barbara Bush. Tell me about your job here at the library”. All went smoothly after that, and they avoided sending her back to the clinic with a mouth stained by dark icing.

Besides the opening of the new library building, 1995 also happened to be the 100th birthday of Rochester Public Library as a formal public library. Friends gave the Library Centennial Committee $1500 for the Centennial and Grand Opening celebrations.

Space for a new Friends Bookstore was included in the design of the new library building. It had sales of $7300 from its opening in October 1995 through the end of that year. The new bookstore was thought to replace the need for having any occasional large book sales. That lasted less than two years.

The first large book sale in the new library building was held in June 1997 in conjunction with Rochesterfest to get rid of excess inventory.  It was held in the Bookmobile garage and started out as only being one day. Books were not priced; sales were by donation.  The goal at the time was to simply move excess inventory without throwing books away.  Making money was only a nice side-benefit.

In 2001, an annual Silent Auction was started to sell rare and collectible, aka unusual and special, or higher value books. This project was one of five finalists for the Minnesota Library Association’s “Best Project by Friends” award in 2002.

In 2003, the Rochesterfest sale expanded to two days because there was more inventory than would fit in the garage at one time.  At night, part of the sale had to be torn down to make room for the Bookmobile to park in the garage overnight.  The Rochesterfest sale was in the garage for eleven years until 2008, occasionally dealing with rain or excessive heat.

The first Holiday Book and Bake Sale was held in the auditorium in 2003 and raised $800. This sale used to include live music and hot chocolate.  The February Midwinter Book Sale was added in 2005 as a third annual sale, raising $645.  Two more sales were added in 2006, a spring and autumn sale.  So much for the Bookstore being able to replace large sales!  They went from two large sales per year at the JC Penney building to five sales in the new building!

The Friends began selling books online in 2004. The impetus for this idea came from a book dealer who purchased a book for 50 cents in the Friends Bookstore and then told the cashier it was worth hundreds of dollars online. The Friends decided that they should investigate this approach as well.

In 2009, a quilt was designed and constructed by the Friends from 54 community-made blocks highlighting Rochester’s diversity.  This project was in conjunction with the "RACE" exhibit that the Mayo Clinic was bringing to the library from May-September 2010. This quilt captured the needlework skills of different cultures and served as a timepiece or historical record of Rochester’s diversity and unity. During the exhibition it was viewed by over 40 thousand people.  Friends of RPL won the 2011 Evy Nordley Award from the Minnesota Association of Library Friends for this project.

A store mannequin, affectionately named Paige Turner, was acquired in 2010.  Bookstore staff often dressed her up to help advertise the store or the 2nd Saturday lobby sales.  Friends members also enjoyed dressing up in costumes throughout the early 2000s for sales, annual meetings, annual coffees and appreciation events.  Photos can be found in newsletters from that time.

A Murder Mystery Tea, “Murder at the Earl of Grey’s Hound Manor,” was held in 2011 as a fundraiser.

In 2013, two Friends members organized a bus tour of four bookstores in the Twin Cities and lunch with William Kent Krueger.

From 2012 to 2016, Friends hosted annual Celebration of Area Authors events.  At first, these were at the Plummer House in the day time followed by a bigger fundraising event in the evening (with dinner and drinks!). It eventually moved to a daytime event at the library.  It was an opportunity for area authors from any and all genres to meet and greet the public, showcase their works, and to sell and sign copies of their works. Panel discussions were held on various topics such as the publishing process and illustrating books.

During this decade, Friends were also busy with changes to their business operations.  A new entrance to the bookstore was added from inside the library, sixteen years after the store was first opened.  The store was more visible to patrons and customers appreciated the easier access.  All of the auditorium sales changed from sales by donation to having set prices.  The Friends realized that they have a lucrative business model to leverage donated books into real money for the library.  The sorting room moved from what is now the first-floor meeting room to what had been a maintenance storage room adjacent to the auditorium.  When the library first started accepting book donations in the 1970s, the Library Staff reviewed them first for consideration to add to the collection, and then they were passed to the Friends. The Library Staff are appreciative that Friends now processes all donations, and only pass to them those donations that are worthy of the collection.

From 2014 to 2018, the Friends helped with book drives to supply mini libraries that were beginning to spread throughout various neighborhoods.

In 2019, the Friends helped to raise $25,230 to be matched by the Valley of Rochester Scottish Rite Children’s Foundation up to $22,500 for Rochester Reading Champions. That same year the Friends also started a $1000 scholarship for a library page or staff member to pursue educational studies.

2019-2021 were challenging years at the library and in the community.  

Ongoing street construction projects around the library interfered with access to the library.

In 2019, the library experienced a water softener leak, which caused major water damage throughout the back half of the library, across both floors, including the auditorium sale inventory in the closet and 2,700 Read with Me books. 

In March 2020, the library closed for the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bookstore was also closed, and they were not able to hold auditorium sales. Friends had to stop accepting donations because they did not have a way to sell the inventory.  Donations came in anyway and accumulated in the sorting room.

In March 2021, there was another water leak which this time affected the bookstore. Luckily it didn’t cause as much damage as the first water leak.  Hopefully the roof repairs and window resealing completed in 2022 and 2023 mean that there won’t be any more water problems.

The library gradually opened for limited hours starting in March 2021, but it took some time for Friends to feel comfortable and safe in a public-facing environment.

In the summer of 2021, outdoor sidewalk sales were held to address the backlogged inventory and to start making money again.

The bookstore reopened in October 2021 with limited hours. On-site auditorium sales also resumed at the same time.

In August 2023, they held their first {and LAST!} “Curiosity Emporium in the Auditorium.”  They don’t want to be in the thrift store business.  They want to focus on their core business of books and other library-related products.

At their January 31, 2024 Annual Meeting, the Friends celebrated their 75^th anniversary with a photo slideshow, a PowerPoint celebration, decorated cupcakes and books published in 1949.  They recognized eight attending Friends Presidents dating back to 1971.

Friends has always been a unique all-volunteer organization.  No one has been paid. All the monies raised, and the monies are considerable, have gone to make the library the awesome place it is for everyone in the community, the surrounding area and the millions of visitors to the community every year.

Even though they have had a few challenges over the years, they have come out of them with a strong business model, and continue to raise record amounts for the library, as can be seen in their annual financial reports. On average, between the value of volunteer hours, the money value of books given to the library that are put back on the library shelves, the monies given to the library from the Friends Bookstore and money given to the library by the Friends, they have helped to grow their impact to the library to over a half million dollars each year over the past decade. Friends are proud of their efforts!