Torresdale Library gets
a little help from its Friends

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

The Torresdale branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia recently experienced a very lonely period in its history.
With no Friends group to funnel funds or bait bookworms to the institution, the library has been plodding down an uncertain road, one that became especially bumpy when citywide library budgets cuts threatened to reduce staff at Torresdale in 2005.
Friends groups at other libraries loudly protested the reductions. Bereft of a unified front, Torresdale chipped in with its resistance and narrowly avoided the chopping block after library staff and hours were reinstated in summer 2005.
Still, after the close call, branch manager Ann Hornbach, who arrived at Torresdale in 2006, made forming a strong Friends group part of the library’s short-term goals.
"Friends groups are important because they are advocates for the library," Hornbach said. "Without a Friends group here, it weakens us."
This year, the goal is being realized through a core of a dozen volunteers already armed with enough ideas to fill a book. The new Friends of Torresdale Library plan to bring involvement and income to the branch at 3901 Holme Ave.
Friends groups typically run fund-raisers and sponsor events to generate support for community involvement in the library. Hornbach believes that a Friends group hasn’t operated at Torresdale in at least five years.
Library volunteer Karen Raffaele is one of the new Friends. She’s received guidance from the Friends group at Holmesburg Library in forming the Torresdale operation.
The Torresdale group plans to hold book and bake sales, auctions and social activities to raise money for library programming.
"There are only certain funds that they can use from the city," Raffaele said.
The group is off to a good start. Members organized a summer chess club that will begin this Friday and runs through Aug. 17. An open house and costume party for children is planned for Oct. 27. The group also wants to see a computer program and support group for widows and widowers implemented at the branch.
The Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia serves as the umbrella organization for establishing the branch groups. The individual groups address specific needs in the community, said Amy Dougherty, executive director of the organization.
"They bring a neighborhood connectivity to their branch," she said.
More than 40 groups currently operate at the 53 libraries throughout the city. In its five-year strategic plan, the organization outlined strategies to help form and maintain a Friends group at every library branch by 2010.
Hornbach already knows that the Friends group will be an asset at Torresdale and wants more library patrons to get involved.
"We’re looking for more people to be a part of it because it’s invaluable help for the library," she said. "It’s raising community awareness, and it helps with the fund-raising." ••
For more information on how you can be a Friend at the Torresdale Library, contact the branch at 215-685-0494. The group will hold its next general meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 6:30 p.m., in the library meeting room.
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com