Friends of the Library
Discover ways to help your community's Friends, Guild, or Association group.
Most library locations have a Friends of the Library group. Friends groups are member-supported, independent non-profit organizations. Their purpose is supporting their local library and its services to the community.
Through fundraising events such as book sales, Friends raise money for the library. These funds help pay for items and events that aren’t in the library's budget. Friends are also library advocates, and increase public awareness of library services. Joining a Friends of the Library group is a great way to support your local library.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We have 41 local Friends of the Library groups. New members are always welcome. Interested in joining a local Friends group? Find your next local meeting on our calendar. Or, contact your local library to find out more.
Most of the Friends groups ask that members pay small annual dues, around $5 per year. Members also volunteer time for fundraising projects, community events, and meeting attendance. Find your local group.
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Most Friends of the Library groups welcome donations of:
- Hardcover and paperback books in good condition
- Audiobooks on CD
- Music CDs
- DVDs and video computer games
- Comics and graphic novels
Please check with your local group for more information.
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Most Friends of the Library groups are unable to accept:
- Books that are missing pages, smelly, warped, torn, stained, mildewed, damaged, wet, or in otherwise poor condition
- Textbooks and reference materials older than five years
- Reader’s Digest Condensed books or Time-Life sets
- Encyclopedias
- Magazines, periodicals, or professional journals
- VHS videos, music, or language on cassettes
- Audio visual media that is a copy, is incomplete, or is without original case and notes
Check with your local group for more information.
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Most libraries have a Friends, Guild, or Association group.
Get the details about your library's group on the library's About page. You can find your library's About page at the top of its location page. Or, go directly to your library's About page from this list:
- Algona-Pacific
- Auburn
- Bellevue
- Black Diamond
- Bothell
- Burien
- Carnation
- Covington
- Crossroads
- Des Moines
- Duvall
- Enumclaw
- Fairwood
- Fall City
- Federal Way
- Federal Way 320th
- Greenbridge
- Issaquah
- Kenmore
- Kent
- Kent Panther Lake
- Kingsgate
- Kirkland
- Lake Forest Park
- Lake Hills
- Maple Valley
- Mercer Island
- Muckleshoot
- Newcastle
- Newport Way
- North Bend
- Redmond
- Redmond Ridge
- Renton
- Renton Highlands
- Richmond Beach
- Sammamish
- Shoreline
- Skykomish
- Skyway
- Snoqualmie
- Tukwila
- Valley View
- Vashon
- White Center
- Woodinville
- Woodmont
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You can donate books to your preferred Friends group. Find your nearest Friends of the Library group. During operating hours you can donate books through the library itself. Due to limited storage space, there may be a limit to how many boxes of donations we can accept at one time. Please contact your Friends Group if you plan to donate more than two boxes to make sure there is space.
We generally do not add donations to the cataloged collection. It is often more expensive to prepare donated books for library use than to buy them. When we buy materials from our vendors, they provide deep discounts and do much of the processing for us.
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Friends groups raise funds through book sales. All Friends have ongoing book sale shelves in the library. You can find an upcoming fundraiser or book sale at the nearest library in our event calendar.
