Tucked behind Fountain Valley City Hall and Police Department, the Fountain Valley Library is a hotspot for community members to access breadths of knowledge by checking out books and various other resources. Right next to the library, community members can find a bookstore selling used books — from children’s fiction to nonfiction, novels and biographies, there’s a book for everyone to purchase and read.
Run by the Friends of the Fountain Valley Library, this bookstore raises funds by reselling the books donated by community members to support the needs of the Fountain Valley Library.
“Our main and only goal is to support the library in any way we can,” Friends of the FV Library Bookstore Manager Jill Smith, who has been a volunteer since 2001, said. “And that means raising money to purchase items that the county doesn’t pay for.”
Not only can community members visit the library for books, but they can also attend events such as craft sessions, children’s storytime, magic shows, movie showings and science demonstrations — all in one month at the FV Library. Recently, the library has had new flooring installed, along with a new large television screen in the meeting room, which aids in displaying the library’s lessons and events. Furthermore, every summer, children receive various prizes such as toys and gifts as a part of their participation in the library’s summer reading program.
What do these projects all have in common? All are some of the most recent projects supported by the help and fundraising of the Friends of the FV Library. Besides the bookstore's sales, they host several sales: holiday decorations during the winter, garden plants during the spring and baked goods during the summer. The organization also organizes several events with authors throughout the year.
As a completely volunteer-run organization, the Friends of the FV Library is always looking for new volunteers to help with the bookstore and its events. In addition, community members are invited to donate any books and support the bookstore’s mission of fundraising for the library.
“If you’ve got a book to donate, just bring it and we will evaluate it to see whether it’s a book we can sell,” Smith said. “We're always looking for new volunteers, and we have a great crew of volunteers that are really hard-working people.”