Board of Directors
OFFICERS
Elnora Williams
President
Suzanne Freeman
Past-President
Marye Rose
Treasurer
Glenn Walter
Secretary
Vicki Creed
Board Development Chair
DIRECTORS
Bill Alley
Director
Mary Pom Claiborne
Chief Library Liaison
Larry Frank
Executive VP/Library Director
Gay Hurst
Director
Tim Irwin
Ex-Officio
Gururas Khalsa
Director
Robert H. Kirk
Director
Jerry Ledbetter
Director
Lillian Mashburn
Director
Mary Ann Merrell
Director
Brian Pittman
Director
Abby Wintker
FOL Coordinator
Committee Chairs
Bonny Naugher
Membership
Vicki Creed
Board Development
Janet Oakes
Head Start Program
Gay Hurst
Communications
Maggie Carini and Jean Idell
Book Sale
Ginna Mashburn
Dave Patterson
Library Foundation Board
Lillian T Mashburn
Advocacy
Dottie Stamper
Shoebox Libraries
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Leading the Way for Friends of the Knox Co. Public Library
Among those at the helm of the Friends of Knox County Public Library are the following volunteers who have assumed leadership roles...
Presidents Past, Present, and Future: (L-R) Maggie Carini, Past-President (05-06;) Bonny Naugher, Past-President (08-09;) Suzanne Freeman, Past President (09-10;) Elnora Williams, Acting President (10-12.)
Class of 2012 Mary Ann Merrell, Gay Hurst, Marye Rose, Gururas Khalsa
Committee Chairs Gay Hurst, Communications; Dave Patterson, Library Foundation; Maggie Carini, Booksale; Bonny Naugher, Membership.
Jerry Ledbetter, Director; Clyde Letsinger, Past Treasurer; Bill Alley, Director; Flossie McNabb, Past Secretary
Vicki Creed, Board Development Committee Chair
Abby Wintker, Coordinator
our history
The Friends of the Knox County Public Library was founded on September 29, 1970, with the mission "to foster a love of libraries, books and reading in the Knox County area through community outreach, advocacy and support of the Knox County Public Library System and staff." One of the first ways we showed this support was leading a guided tour of the soon-to-be-completed Lawson-McGhee library at the corner of Walnut and Church. Over the following 39 years, the Friends have grown to our current membership of over 900.
Our primary function is raising funds that are used to promote the Library through public activities and to purchase items that are unavailable through public funding. Since 1980, the Friends have donated over $600,000 to KCPL. Initially the Friends' only income was through membership dues and gifts. This steadily increased after 1973 when the Friends participated in the West Town Charity Fair with its first used book sale. By the 1980's this annual event was earning several thousand dollars, and the book sale has moved from Lawson-McGhee Library, to the Candy Factory, to the current location at the Knoxville Convention Center. Revenues now top $68,000 annually, and the Friends’ Used Book Sale is recognized as one of the best in the southeast. New projects and collaborations with other community organizations abound. The Friends remain a low-key, grass-roots organization of members who love, use and support the Knox County Public Library.
