Board of Directors
OFFICERS
Elnora Williams
President
Suzanne Freeman
Past-President
Glenn Walter
President-Elect
Marye Rose
Treasurer
Brian Pittman
Secretary
Vicki Creed
Board Development Chair
DIRECTORS
Bill Alley
Peggy Bridges
Gururas Khalsa
Robert H. Kirk
Jerry Ledbetter
Lillian Mashburn
Mary Ann Merrell
Myretta Black
Interim Library Director/ FOL Executive VP
Mary Pom Claiborne
Chief Library Liaison
Abby Wintker
FOL Coordinator
Committee Chairs
Peggy Bridges
Flossie McNabb
Membership
Vicki Creed
Bonny Naugher
Board Development
Janet Oakes
Head Start Program
Maggie Carini
Communications
Mary Ann Merrell, Suzanne Freeman, and Jean Idell
Book Sale
Dave Patterson
Library Foundation Liaison
Lillian T Mashburn
Advocacy
Dottie Stamper
Shoebox Libraries
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Officers (L-R) Marye Rose, Vicki Creed, and Glenn Walter
Directors Peggy Bridges, Lillian Mashburn, and Dr. Robert Kirk.
Leading the Way for Friends of the Knox County 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, President (10-12.)
Class of 2012 Mary Ann Merrell, Gay Hurst, Marye Rose, Gururas Khalsa
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 40 years, the Friends have grown to our current membership of over 950.
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 & Exhibition Center. Revenues now top $50,000 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, grassroots organization of members who love, use and support the Knox County Public Library.
