Special Letter

November 2009

Dear Patrons and Neighbors,

The Jones, Munson, and North Amherst Libraries more than ever need your financial support to maintain free public access to our libraries. Each year our Annual Fund Drive pays for books and materials that are available to anyone who enters the doors of the library.

Our Amherst libraries depend on private funding more than most of the 370 public libraries in Massachusetts. 70% of our annual operating budget comes from the Town of Amherst, and this amount has been repeatedly cut. Less than $0.03 of every Amherst property tax dollar goes to the libraries.

Working together we can keep the libraries open for our community.

Over the last few years the Town's funding of the libraries has not covered increases in operational costs. We have had to raise private funds to keep the libraries open.

The libraries do not have a paid fundraiser. Instead, dedicated volunteers continue to organize fund-raising events. Applications for grant funds, large and small, continue to be submitted to help fund the libraries.

But these sources alone will not allow us to keep the libraries open. We need your help.

Amherst Town Libraries had more money to spend on new titles in 1998 than they do today. Town tax support, endowment investments, and Massachusetts aid to libraries have all been cut back.

Please consider making a gift to the Jones Library to help us maintain a library system that area patrons can continue to use for generations. Gifts of any size are greatly appreciated. The Library Board is seeking to raise $85,000 through this fund-raising effort.

The Jones Library has stayed open for almost ninety years and survived the Great Depression of the 1930s through cash and book donations. Today's hard economic times have been compared to the 1930s and require us to seek more donations than before. The generosity, vision, and dedication of our benefactors have allowed so many to have free access to a great community library. We thank you in advance for your generosity.

Let us continue this legacy for our libraries-our own gift to future generations of this great community.

Sincerely,

Patricia Holland
President of the Jones Library Board of Trustees

Carol Gray Louis Greenbaum
Chris Hoffmann
Sarah McKee
Kathleen Wang