Friends of the Albany Public Library
In 1941, the Friends of the Albany Public Library was established to provide funds for programs and equipment not covered by the City budget. As the services offered by the Library continue to increase, the support of the Friends becomes ever more important. For more information contact us at folalbanyor@gmail.com
Make a donation to the Friends or pay your membership dues.
Help us keep your collection fresh, relevant, and popular. This year your donations will pay for 100% of all items added to the collection. This includes the titles you really want; maintaining our eBooks, eAudiobooks, and much more.
Continue to support the best Summer Reading Program in the state! In 2024, we gave out reading prizes and more than 13,000 new books to children in our community. Next summer, our goal is to give 15,000 new books to children in our community, plus fantastic prizes from local businesses.
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Friends of the Library Book Store Hours at the Main Library
The Friend’s Book Store is open!
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
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Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
The Friends of the Albany Public Library serves a vast range of individuals with unique experiences and characteristics. We affirm that the Friends of the Library serves everyone in our community. We encourage an inclusive environment that promotes freedom of speech in conjunction with policies that protect patrons, volunteers and library staff of all gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, race, sexual orientation, disability, income level, age and all other personal, social, cultural and economic perspectives.
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Programs at Noon
Oct. 10 Speaker Bill Maddy, Albany Regional Museum docent and historian, and former ARMuseum Executive Director will present a program about his favorite humorous, unique and wild stories relating to the history of Albany.
Dec. 12 Albany actors Diane and August Slamp present Truman Capote’s, A Christmas Memory, a dramatization of an autobiographical short story that has become a Christmas classic. “The evocative narrative focuses on country life, friendship, and the joy of giving during the Christmas season, and it also gently yet poignantly touches on loneliness and loss.”
Jan. 9 Speakers Karen Caswell, event coordinator, and Emma Eaton, local historian, will detail the past, present and future of Albany’s saved, relocated and restored Cumberland Church. Their talk will be, “Preserving an 1892 Treasure and Repurposing it for the Future.”
Feb. 13 Regional author Lana Holden Catalyntje Trico: A Life in New Amsterdam. This history offers us a vivid re-creation of life in New Amsterdam and New Netherland in the 17th Century. The narration follows the true-life story of a woman whose life span encompassed 40 years in the earliest development of New Amsterdam until the moment the British assumed control. Dutch cookies provided!
March 13 Local author, Angelyn Voss Stand a Little Out of My Sun. An award winning “riveting story that captures the dramatic crosscurrents of life within folds of a Greek American family in Chicago’s Industrial SE Side during the 50s.” Greek snacks provided!
April 10 Corvallis author John Larison, Whiskey When We’re Dry and The Ancients. Whiskey When We’re Dry is told in young female protagonist “Jess’s wholly original and unforgettable voice. (The book) is a stunning achievement, an epic as expansive as America itself—and a reckoning with the myths that are entwined with our history.” The Ancients is, in turn, “a richly imagined, sweeping novel set in the climate-changed world of our own descendants.
May 8 Speaker Marcia Morse brings us “Tales of the Santiam Wagon Road.” The history of the wagon road, she says, starting with the pioneers, encapsulates a little slice of our area’s history. As a longtime amateur anthropologist volunteering with the Sweet Home Ranger Station, Marcia brings her long association with and love of this near-by historic forest road to life.
All programs begin at noon in the library meeting room. Coffee/Tea and cookies will be served.
Become a Friend of Albany Public Library
April is membership month
- To join the Friends, please stop by the Bookstore, or pick up a brochure at either Library. Please make checks payable to: FRIENDS OF THE ALBANY PUBLIC LIBRARY. Mail to 2450 14th Ave. SE, Albany, OR, 97322-6880
- For a downloadable membership form here.
- Pay online at https://givebutter.com/FOLmembershipdues
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Fundraiser March 7, 2026
Library Uncorked benefits Children’s Literacy programming and materials. YOU can help keep Albany’s Public Library the best in the state! With your help, the library has given away nearly 20,000 new books to kids in our community over the past two years. Your donations help keep kids engaged and reading all summer!
- Drop off a donation in person to the Main or the Carnegie Library
- Donate online
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Activities Sponsored
- Noon programs the second Friday of each month, September-May
- Summer Reading Programs for children, young adults and adults, June-August
- Annual Used Book Sale in November
- Library Uncorked
- Author’s Day in April
- Adult art classes at the Library
- Bookpage, monthly newsletter available at the Library.
Fund-Raising Activities
- Used books for sale at both Library branches. All types of books welcome, including CD’s and DVD’s
- Book donations can be made at the Friends Book Store at the Main Library
- Library Uncorked, wine/beer tasting and silent auction to support children’s literacy
Find out how to double your donation and receive a tax credit by donating to the Friends of the Albany Public Library and Oregon Cultural Trust! culturaltrust.org