Monthly Meetings
The Friends of Ashe County Public Library normally meets at 11 a.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month, February through October. Meetings last about an hour and take place in the auditorium of the library at 148 Library Drive, West Jefferson. Most meetings feature a scheduled speaker, often a writer or a photographer with ties to the Appalachian Region. After the meeting, Friends members gather at Boondocks, a local restaurant, for lunch with the speaker.
In May, the Friends holds it annual pot luck luncheon meeting; it's a great time to socialize with other members, learn about the group's accomplishments for the year, and recognize members who have made major contributions during the year with the President's Award and the Volunteer of the Year Award.
The September meeting hosts an author from the Literary Festival; it is typically scheduled on a Wednesday during the festival's schedule. In October, Suzanne Moore, the County Librarian, presents the State of the Library; this meeting is especially important to those who want to learn about the library's accomplishments for the year as well as its objectives for the new year.
The Friends do not meet in January, November, or December.
A viewable copy of the 2018 list of speakers follows. To download a printable copy of the list, click on the link below the copy.
List of Speakers for 2019
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May 22 - Annual Meeting (No Speaker)
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October 23 - Suzanne Moore
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July 24 - Charlie Lovett is a New York Times bestselling novelist and playwright whose plays for children have been seen in over 4,500 productions worldwide. He hosts the podcast 
Aug. 28 - Clint Johnson, a history writer in Ashe, will show a PowerPoint on TIN CANS & GREYHOUNDS: Destroyers That Won Two World Wars. 
Sept. 18 - ( One week early). Naval veteran P.T. Deutermann opens On The Same Page Literary Festival telling exciting stories from his 21 novels that range from WW II naval action to present day spying.
Friends Corner
The Friends Corner is a major source of fundraising for the Friends of Ashe County Public Library. It is managed by volunteers and located on the main floor of the library, to the left of the Circulation Desk. The Friends Corner offers books, magazines, audiovisual materials, games, puzzles, gift baskets and more for purchase. When you purchase these items, you help the Friends provide funds to support the many programs offered by the Ashe Library.
Several times throughout the year, the Friends Corner holds special book sales, at which time items can be purchased at lower prices than usual. For details, see the Calendar of Events below; for a printable copy of the calendar, click the link below. Also, there are always books for sale "On The Cart."
The materials used in the Friends Corner sales are all donated by the community. For information on donating materials, check out the How You Can Help section of this guide. Note that donations are tax-deductible.
Gift Baskets
A significant part of Friends Corner sales are the lovely gift baskets that people purchase as gifts for birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and sometimes, just because they catch the patron's eye! The baskets are usually created with a particular theme in mind. For example, a basket about tea time might contain a teapot, a sampler of teas, and a book of recipes appropriate for high tea. Another might be a collection of books by a favorite author, another a basket with books about dogs, along with chew toys and treats!
Many of the baskets are for adults, but there are also baskets specifically designed for 
children or young readers. If you buy a basket or receive one as a gift, please consider recycling the basket,the plastic wrap, the ribbon, and the tissue for re-use. Re-using these materials helps the Friends to keep the cost of the baskets at a reasonable level.
Gift Certificates and Bags
Gift certificates are now available for $5, $10, and $15; they can be 
redeemed for any items offered in the Friends Corner. Cloth bags with our beautiful quilt square and fortieth anniversary banner imprinted on them are also available for purchase, at $10 a bag. Buy a certificate or bag as a gift for someone or buy a bag for yourself and fill it with items from the Friends Corner! Certificates and bags may be purchased at the Circulation Desk.
Got Change
The Friends introduced their Got Change? fundraiser in 2016, as an easy way for patrons to donate. It's simple - just pick up a container at the Circulation Desk,take it home, and fill it with your loose change. When the container is full, or whenever you are ready 
to return it, drop it off at the Circulation Desk and ask the staff to put it in the Friends workroom.
Other Fundraisers
Coffee at the Library
Thanks to the Friends, you can now relax with a hot beverage as you read the newspaper or the latest issue of your favorite magazine. The Friends have set up a beverage station, just across from the Circulation Desk, where they sell coffee, hot tea, cider, and hot chocolate for $1.25 per cup. Proceeds from the sales help to support library programming.
Other Events and Activities
The Friends of Ashe Library are involved in various activities throughout the year that directly assist the library in its goals or that indirectly lend support to those goals. It also serves as a public relations representative by promoting various cultural and educational events at the library and in the community.
Volunteer Support
Friends members provide direct support to the library by volunteering for 
various tasks, including tax assistance during the tax season, coordination of the annual Alyce Nadeau Poetry contest in the county's elementary schools, and moderation of book clubs established by the library. Other members help with the daily shelving of books and audiovisuals. And others help to maintain the Little Free Libraries, also known as Twig Libraries, located at various sites throughout the county - regularly checking on the condition of the Twig and re-stocking it with books and other materials from the library if needed.
Information on volunteering directly with the library and on the Twig Libraries can be found at the links listed below.
http://www.arlibrary.org/support-the-library/ashe-volunteer
http://arlibrary.libguides.com/ARL-LittleFreeLibraries
Book Clubs
Friends volunteers have fostered the love of reading by establishing and managing book clubs for the library, such as the Home Grown eBooks Book Club and the Read Around the Clock Book Club. Home Grown eBooks is an online book club brought to you by NC Live! Featured are fiction and nonfiction titles from North Carolina publishers. Check it out at: The Home Grown eBooks Book Club
In 2015, the Friends commissioned local residents to craft a book clock for the library, with each hour on the clock displaying a book cover with the number for that hour in the book title. Then, the Friends introduced the Read Around the Clock Book Club, which also evolved around books with numbers in the title that matched the hour on the clock as well as the month of the year. The book club met the entire year of 2016. For more information on the Read Around the Clock Book Club, check out: http://arlibrary.libguides.com/readaroundtheclock
On The Same Page Literary Festival
On the Same Page is a literary festival that is held each year in the county to celebrate reading and writing; to introduce county residents to a variety of writers, many with ties to the Appalachian Region; and to provide local writers with a chance to practice the craft they love. The Friends provides financial support to the festival and also promotes it by working on planning committees, serving as ushers at author presentations, and hosting an author from the festival as a guest speaker for the September monthly meeting. The Festival is jointly coordinated by the Ashe County Arts Center and the Ashe County Public Library. The 2018 festival will be held September 11-15; for more information, click on the link: http://www.onthesamepagefestival.org/
Calendar
Friends Corner Calendar
2018
January
1 Library Closed - New Year’s Day
2-20 Biographies, Autobiographies, Memoirs on the cart - 50 cents each
15 Library Closed – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
February (Library Lovers Month)
10 Friends Blood Drive, 10 am-2:30 pm
12-17 Romance on the cart
22 Friends Monthly Meeting, Library Auditorium, 11 am – The Love of Baseball contributors
March
1-17 On-the-Cart Sales: Gardening Books and Home Project Books, 50 cents each
11 Daylight Savings Time begins - Spring Forward!
20 First day of Spring
28 Friends Monthly Meeting, Library Auditorium, 11 am – Susan Stafford Kelly, Our State writer
30-31 Library Closed - Easter
April (National Poetry Month)
1 Easter
9-28 Fat Books (450+ pp) on the Cart (at $1.00 each)
8-14 National Library Week
21 Friends Blood Drive, 10 am-2:30 pm
25 Friends Monthly Meeting, Library Auditorium, 11 am – Lynn Guitar, writer of children's books
28 Reception for Alyce P. Nadeau Poetry Contest Winners, Library Auditorium, 1- 2 pm
May (Annual Inventory Reduction Sale)
14-31 Fiction: Complete Your Author Sets on the Cart (50 cents each)
14-19 Fifth Annual Inventory Reduction Sale
23 Friends Annual Meeting, Library Auditorium, 11 am – End of fiscal year, luncheon
28 Library Closed – Memorial Day
June
1 Start of 2018-2019 fiscal year - have you paid your dues?!
4-9 Romance on the cart
11-23 Cooking on the cart
21 First day of Summer
23 Friends Blood Drive, 10 am-2:30 pm
25-July 7 Nature, Science, Pets, Antiques, Art, Photography on the cart
27 Friends Monthly Meeting, 11 am – Connie Tobias on pioneering woman pilot Harriet Quimby
July
4 Library Closed – Independence Day
7 Library Closed - Christmas in July
9-28 General Non-Fiction on the cart
25 Friends Monthly Meeting, Library Auditorium, 11 am – Chris Arvidson & Henry Doss, archeological dig in Jerusalem
July 30 - Aug. 18 Youth Soft/Hard Cover on the cart
August
22 Friends Monthly Meeting, Library Auditorium, 11 am – Dr. Karl Campbell on Thomas Walter Bickett, NC's WWI governor
25 Friends Blood Drive, 10 am-2:30 pm
September (Library Card Sign-Up Month)
3 Library Closed – Labor Day
11-15 On The Same Page Literary Festival
12 Friends Monthly Meeting, Library Auditorium, 11 am – Phillip Lewis, author of The Barrowfields
23 First Day of Autumn
October
1-6 Romance on the cart
21-27 National Friends of Libraries Week
24 Friends Monthly Meeting, Library Auditorium, 11 am - Suzanne Moore, State of the Library, lunch
27 Friends Blood Drive, 10 am-2:30 pm
November
4 Daylight Savings Time Ends - Fall Back!
12 Library Closed – Veteran’s Day
22-24 Library Closed – Thanksgiving
December (Month-Long Winter Sale)
1 Book Tree and Fireplace Scene - Guess how many books are used!
21 First Day of Winter
24-26 Library Closed – Christmas