OLD LYME — On Saturday, June 11, the Friends of Connecticut Libraries (FOCL) honored the Friends of the Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Library (OL-PGN.)
The award, which was designated for municipalities with a population under 15,000, recognized the OL-PGN for their outreach to the community during the pandemic when the Library was closed.
The Co-Chairs of the OL-PGN’s BookCellar, Claudia Condon and Joan Overfield, went up to Avon, Conn., to accept the award at FOCL’s Annual Meeting.
The citation for the award acknowledged that Phoebe’s BookCellar has been in continuous operation for more than 25 years. During that time, volunteers have worked to create opportunities to expand the library’s outreach along with awareness of the BookCellar and its support of the Old Lyme library. (One hundred percent of the income generated by the BookCellar is donated to the library to support its programs.)
The citation continues, “While the library and BookCellar were closed for an extended period during the pandemic, volunteers continued to find avenues to provide outreach to the community, as follows:
Book Bundles for Children
Volunteers assembled age-appropriate bundles of 3-5 books and distributed them to 116 children served by the Shoreline Food Pantries.
Little Free Libraries
BookCellar volunteers initiated support for two Little Free Libraries by filling them with over-stock.
Phoebie’s Freebies
This cart is located outside the library main entrance and offers patrons a choice of the BookCellar’s overstock of books and media. It is extremely popular and available to all.
Outreach to Region 18 Teachers and Staff
Friends of the Library provided every teacher and staff member with a gift certificate to the BookCellar for the 2020-2021 school year.
Outside book sales
Several pop-up sales were created outside the library during the pandemic. They were expanded to include refreshments and entertainment by local bands.”