Friends of the Milpitas Library

The Friends of the Milpitas Library (FOML) is an active non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Milpitas Community Library. The Friends is a membership organization of over 200 community members and library patrons. FOML receives donations of used books and and resells the books through a variety of channels: Amazon.com, the Book Nook at the library, occasional mini-sales, and three major sales per year. Proceeds from the sales go directly to the library to support purchases and programs that fall outside of the library's budget. An active group of volunteers meet regularly in the Friends room at the library to sort and box donations, manage the online sales through Amazon, and restock the Book Nook. Three times a year, a larger group, including many student volunteers, comes together to stage the major sales. Each major sale takes almost a week of effort: books are moved from the Friend room to the auditorium on Wednesday, unpacked, and arranged on tables, all before the sale opens on Friday evening. Following the close of the sale on Sunday afternoon, the remaining books are packed out of the auditorium. On Monday morning, work begins again in the Friends room to prepare for the next sale in four months time. FOML is enormously grateful to its crew of dedicated volunteers who work 52 weeks a year to support the ongoing sales.