The Lakewood Ranch Library has some great friends for support

Now that the Lakewood Ranch Library is open and the shelves are stocked, what do the Friends of the Lakewood Ranch Library volunteers do? 

A little bit of everything. 

Some of the more obvious things are that the volunteers run the bookstore inside the library and raise donations to cover supplies and programs. 

But members also helped Librarian Tiffany Mautino move from Bayshore Gardens to Lakewood Ranch in May. Mautino is from Missouri, so she has no family in the area. 

The Friends arrived on moving day with helping hands and four vans. 

“We had about one good knee between us,” said Janet Allen, a Friends of the Lakewood Ranch Library board member and mover for the day. 

Mautino’s former apartment was on the second floor, so Mautino and Friends formed an assembly line to pass the boxes down the stairs and into the vans. 

That willingness to chip in wherever they can sums up the group. Whatever Mautino needs, the members deliver, even when they can’t simply buy it. 

“I had a 15-year career in libraries, but it wasn’t a lot of what I’m dealing with here,” Mautino said. “Learning the community and engaging with them, things like that, the Friends opened that door and made it an easy transition for me.”

That being said, the Friends of the Lakewood Ranch Library is a financially generous group. The nonprofit has donated over $450,000 to the library so far. 

The Friends doubled the library’s budgeted inventory from 23,000 items to 46,000 items before the library opened its doors. Items include books, audiobooks and DVDs. The rest of the money went toward items on Mautino’s wishlist, which included sewing machines, engraving pens and 3D printers.  

“That’s why we started seven years ago, before building the library, so we would have the money to be able to sponsor whatever the needs were,” President Sue Ann Miller said.    

Youth Librarian Sabrina Hornyak thought it would be fun to host a pizza taste test for the library’s teenage patrons. Not only did the Friends cover the tab for pizza, drinks and decorations, Miller delivered two of the pizzas herself.  

Photo by Liz Ramos

Commissioner George Kruse said Manatee County pays for what’s necessary, but the Friends pay for the amenities that go above and beyond. 

“There’s only so many tax dollars,” Kruse said. “We have a millage for the library that gets spread around (between all Manatee County libraries), and we can only go so far with it.” 

On Aug. 14, the Friends of the Lakewood Ranch Library hosted a dedication event at the library to celebrate a book collection donated by the Robinson Family Foundation. 

In honor of Myron F. Robinson, the foundation donated about 600 books that feature prominent African American authors. The collection includes adult and children’s literature, large-print books and bilingual editions. 

Friends volunteers placed stickers on the inside of each book to credit the Robinsons and provided refreshments for the dedication ceremony. 

Anytime food is in the library, chances are good that the Friends provided it. The group supplies the book club with snacks, too. 

The Friends group has a lot of friends to consider. In the first six months of opening, over 50,000 guests checked out over 120,000 items. Over 7,000 of those guests have attended or signed up for programs offered by the library, many provided by the Friends' fund. 

The nonprofit covered the cost of summer supplies, so 763 children could participate in activities from a Fancy Nancy Teaparty to a Virtual Reality Oculus Quest. The group picks up the tab for Rooftop Yoga, Drop-in Art and Sew and Knit for adult patrons. 

The Friends group provides the podcasting booth, too. The sound studio is stocked with an iMac, keyboard, acoustic panels, iPads, a boom arm and microphones. 

The Friends group has 406 active members and its very own place within the library — the Book Nook. Located in the lobby, the bookstore is manned by 96 Friends volunteers. 

The Book Nook opens and closes with the library.  Sales go straight back to supporting the library. While the books are used, the Friends volunteers inspect each one before they hit the shelves. The Book Nook also sells audiobooks, DVDs and handmade cards.  

Annual memberships start at $10 for students, $20 for individuals, and go up to $100 for businesses, which include up to eight members.