Projects
Our projects received funding from The Mass Board of Library Commissioners, the City of Framingham, and the generosity of individual and corporate donors.
Branch Library
The foundation’s initial project was to help pay for the new Branch Library. The Mass Board of Library Commissioners provided $4.8 million, and the Town of Framingham provided $4.2 million to build the new branch. The foundation contributed more than $700,000 towards the construction cost of the new McAuliffe Branch Library, thanks to the generosity of individual and corporate donors.
The foundation sponsored a number of fund raising projects and events, including concerts, and beer tastings. We also sold over 800 personally engraved bricks to library supporters. The bricks now line the Water Street walkways at the new Branch Library.
Broadcasting Equipment
Through an annual appeal in 2016, the foundation raised funds to help pay for a major upgrade to the broadcasting equipment in the Costin Room of the Main Library. With a combination of funds from a grant and the city, and $23,000 from the foundation, the Costin Room will soon have state-of-the art audio-visual and broadcasting capabilities.
Bookmobile
With the help of generous donors in 2017, the FPLF was able to raise $156,000 to purchase, outfit, and operate a bookmobile that will bring library resources and programs to people with limited access to the library. We met this goal by August, 2018.
With the bookmobile the library will be able to bring its many resources to after-school programs, homebound individuals, senior citizen centers, low-income neighborhoods, English language learners, and social service agencies.
Adults and children will be able to sign up for library cards on the bookmobile. Young children will enjoy story times in the bookmobile just as dozens do every week in the main and branch libraries.
By circulating throughout the community, the bookmobile will address unmet needs. Now a volunteer driver can only serve five or six homebound individuals, whereas Library staff will drive the bookmobile and make numerous stops weekly.
The FPL bookmobile, its contents and upkeep costs approximately $156,000. The vehicle with an accessible lift and exterior graphics costs $116,000; essential technologies and the initial on-board collection (books, periodicals, movies, music) costs $25,000; and a two-year service maintenance plan, including technology upgrades, vehicle maintenance, and purchase of new materials costs $15,000.
Measuring success
With the new bookmobile the FPL reaches out to underserved populations in various locales. We are able to measure success by the number and types of materials circulating, the number of new library cards issued, the number of children attending story times in the bookmobile, the number of homebound individuals reached, and by surveys of patrons.
