Friends And Foundation Of The Northfield Public Library

Children's programs. This is a core area of support in the friends' mission (early literacy). The friends supported two programs. First, the library hosts a summer reading program that regularily enrolls hundreds of northfield young people. They commit to a reading program, their progress is celebrated with small prizes, and age group activites over the course of the summer. Second, the friends support a long-standing library program that brings northfield first-graders to the public library and introduces them to its collections and equips them with their first library card. The friends defray the cost of bus transport for area elementary schools.

The friends have a scholarship program that awards modest scholarships to seniors at area high schools (or who have been homeschooled) who have shown particular dedication to the public library through their involvement as a volunteer, teen advisory board member, page, or program assistant. The friends work with both northfield high school and library staff to administer these scholarships, which are usually used to pay for textbooks. This year, the friends provided scholarships totaling 3,000, which were distributed among three students.