Resources by Topic
What Is FOTL?
About FOTL
- Board of Directors
- Beginnings
- FOTL and Imagination Library
- FOTL Stands Up for Literacy
- FOTL Promotes Legislative Days
- FOTL Advocates for Libraries in Washington
- FOTL and the Tennessee Library Association
Annual Meeting Presentations
- Make a Date with Your Friends (2024)
- Our Libraries Light Up Our Lives (2023)
- Libraries Are Better With Friends! (2022)
- Navigating the New Normal: How to Prepare Friends for the Future (2021)
- After 2020: The Future of Friends (2020)
Organizing a Friends Group
STARTING A NEW GROUP
A Comparison of Responsibilities (rev. 2017; Local Library Board of Trustees, Local Library Director, Regional Library, and Friends of the Library)
The Ethical Dozen for Friends of the Library (adopted September 2015)
Friends 101 (updated August 2026)
Getting Started: How One Friends’ Group Came into Being
How friends can become Friends
Ideas Kit for Developing & Revitalizing a Friends of the Library Group
Organizing a Friends Group: A Basic To-Do List
Sample Bylaws of Tennessee Friends Groups
Should You Join the Board of a Nonprofit?
Tool Kit for Building a Library Friends Group
REVITALIZING AN EXISTING GROUP
How Seymour Friends Revitalized Their Group
Ideas Kit for Developing & Revitalizing a Friends of the Library Group
Top Ten (+1) Ways to Attract New Friends of the Library Members
Finances and Fundraising
Annual Meeting presentations on fundraising:
- The New Face of Fundraising (October 2020)
- Beyond Book Sales: Creative Ways to Support Your Library (October 2021)
- Exploding Your Online Book Sales (October 2022)
- Sharing Successes: Friends of Tellico Village Library (October 2023)
- Making It Work: eBay & Amazon Sales (October 2023)
- Tailoring Fundraising to Your Community (October 2024)
- SOLD! Using Online Auctions to Maximize Profit (October 2024)
A Brief Guide to Government Forms
Tips for Writing Grant Proposals (2021)
What Every Board Member Should Know: A Guidebook for Tennessee Nonprofits (rev. 2016)
About Public Libraries
Ag Literacy Programs in the Library (Blount County Public Library)
A Comparison of Responsibilities (rev. 2017; Local Library Board of Trustees, Local Library Director, Regional Library, and Friends of the Library)
Library Bill of Rights (ALA)
Professional Ethics (ALA)
The Public Library: Democracy’s Resource
Public Library Laws of Tennessee (rev. 2018)
Public Library Trustee Ethics Statement (United for Libraries)
Tennessee Standards for Public Libraries in the Regional Library System (rev. 2018)
Value & Vision: Public Libraries Must Create Public Value Through Renewal and Reinvention
Advocating for Libraries
Advocacy & Action: Supporting Libraries and Driving Change (presentation from 2022 Annual Meeting)
Citizens-Save-Libraries Power Guide (United for Libraries)
How Public Libraries Help Build Healthy Communities
Rethinking Advocacy as Year-Round Mission
The Small But Powerful Guide to Building Support for Your Rural Library
Ten Top Tips for Occasional Lobbyists
Tennessee Friends of Libraries Week — An Ideas Tool Kit (2016)
Engaging Your Members
2016 FOTL Annual Meeting Presentations
How Friends Add Value to Their Libraries (Tennessee Libraries, Vol. 60, No. 2, 2010)
Ideas Kit for Developing & Revitalizing a Friends of the Library Group
Tennessee Friends of Libraries Week — An Ideas Toolkit (2016)
Top Ten (+1) Ways to Attract New Friends of the Library Members
What Friends Do (compiled September 2019)
Why Don’t Board Members Do What They’re Supposed to Do?
Working With Volunteers
A Comparison of Responsibilities (rev. 2017; Local Library Board of Trustees, Local Library Director, Regional Library, and Friends of the Library)
The Ethical Dozen for Friends of the Library
Should You Join the Board of a Nonprofit?
Volunteer Management (resources from the Mid-Hudson, NY, Library System)
Why Don’t Board Members Do What They’re Supposed to Do?
Communicating With Friends
Annual Reports
Friends on Facebook (selected pages)
- Cheatham County Friends of the Library
- Friends of Tennessee Libraries
- Friends of the Knox County Public Library
- Friends of the Seymour Branch Library – FOSL
- Friends of Smyrna Library
- Friends of the Williamson County Public Library
- Memphis Friends of the Library
Websites (selected sites)
- Friends of the Memphis Public Library
- Friends of the Art Circle Public Library
- Friends of the Williamson County Public Library
- Friends of the Brentwood Public Library
Supporting Imagination Library
Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation
Help for Parents
TSLA Videos on YouTube
- How to Keep Kids Engaged During Story Time: Training
- How to Keep Kids Engaged During Story Time (shorter version for parents)
Tennessee State Library and Archives
Tennessee Public Library Trustee Resources
