Ocean County Library hosted its annual Friends Forum Oct. 17 in Mancini Hall. About 50 Friends and branch managers attended.
The forum was organized by Sharon Osborn, Rita Oakes, Heather Andolsen and Nancy Dowd.
“People said it was the best Friend’s forum yet,” said Sharon.
Both agreed it was a moving experience.
“The morning was filled with practical knowledge that the Friends could take home and use to
make their groups more visible,” said Rita.
Topics included discussions about marketing the library, ways the library’s public relations department could help the Friends groups with advertising their events, and how to write press releases.
“I’d like to thank you and everyone at the Friends Exchange on Saturday,” wrote Laura Giannota, president for the Barnegat Friends group. “It was great getting together and hearing about so many great programs around the County! Thanks all for the hard work in putting this together! ”
Special thanks to Harry Applegate, Mike LaRocca, Karen Jakubczak and Brian Marshall for their technical and tactical support. And thanks to Bill Ringer and Michael Smith for creating the PowerPoint Presentation, and to Chris Barnes for his help on that.
Photos of the event can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/22036136@N07/sets/72157622618271670/

Manchester branch kicked off August with ’60s Week! The band “Strictly ’60s” rocked out to tunes from the Beatles, Stones, and Doors to an audience of 175 patrons.
The fun-filled week included 60s Jeopardy with Lou Nemphos as Alex Trebek, Beatles Day with the Utlimate Beatles Quiz, ’60s Movie Day with showings of “Funny Girl” and “13 Days,” Baseball in the ’60s and Woodstock Rock Band. The week concluded with ’60s karaoke where 30 patrons and our own Sabrina La Spata singing “Hey Jude” and doing cartwheels in front of our new book section!
Library and township officials joined the Friends of the Jackson branch of the Ocean County Library Saturday for the dedication of a statue they named “Jack and Jill.”


Debbie Macomber visited the Captain’s Inn Restaurant on March 25. The luncheon was sponsored by the LEH & UP Friends and it was a packed house, completely sold out. Debbie gave an entertaining, down to earth talk about how she became an overnight success that took 20 years. The friends presented Debbie with a plaque making her an honorary member of the FOL. A good time was had by all.


