membership - The Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library

10Jan, 2024

Appaloosa Library Tour

Friends members can enjoy a behind-the-scenes and architectural tour of the Appaloosa Library, led by Sky Larsen, Appaloosa Branch Manager and Douglas Sydnor, a member of the Architectural team for the Appaloosa Library.

The newest branch of Scottsdale Public Library (SPL) celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2024. This tour will provide more information about the Gold Level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified building and what makes it so special to SPL patrons.

This tour is available for Friends members only. Please RSVP to scottsdalelibraryfriends@gmail.com.

6Oct, 2023

Desert Foothills Book Festival

The Desert Foothills Library is sponsoring the 2023 Desert Foothills Book Festival, a celebration of the importance of reading in our community. The event is offered free to the public, to promote literacy and a love of reading among adults and children by creating an interactive and inclusive venue for readers and authors to connect.

Net proceeds from the festival support local literacy programs for the Desert Foothills Library. Over 50 authors will be present and you will have the opportunity to visit with the authors and purchase signed books.

Friends members will be invited to a special meet up the morning of the Festival, and will receive a $5 coupon to use for purchasing a book. Meet up details will be provided to members.

1Mar, 2022

Friends Members Enjoy High Tea With Authors

The Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library celebrated “We Love Reading” month with a high tea celebration featuring 18 guests, six local authors and an afternoon of fun on February 24.

TeaTime Scottsdale served as host for this sold out event. Guests enjoyed multiple varieties of tea, sandwiches, and desserts while discussing books with authors Dan Baldwin, Donis Casey, Dianne Freeman, Karen Odden, Betty Webb, and Dianne White.

To ensure a safe and intimate event, each table featured three Friends members and an author. While the event was not exclusive to Friends members, they received a $10 discount on tickets. In all, 14 of the 18 attendees were Friends members.

The Friends want to extend a special thank you to Sonoran National Insurance Group for its sponsorship of this event.

The event was such a success that a sequel is already being discussed. In order to receive priority notice (and discounts) for all Friends events, consider becoming a member today.

30Nov, 2021

Friends Memberships to be Matched During December 2021

Through the generous support of a Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library donor, all Friends memberships during December will be matched (up to $2,500) as an extra donation to the Friends.

Friends memberships start at $35 annually, and include benefits like member-only author presentations and exclusive book sales. All donations are tax-deductible.

Money raised by the Friends funds Scottsdale Public Library events and programs, including the Storytime Room expansion, Summer Reading Program, and Ultimate PlayDate.

To become a Friends member, visit this page and you can pay online via credit card. You can also fill out and mail our membership brochure to:

The Friends of Scottsdale Public Library
PO Box 71
Scottsdale, AZ 85252

All new and renewal memberships completed between now and the end of 2021 will count toward the membership matching promotion.

4Nov, 2021

Author Jenn McKinlay Entertains Friends Members

The latest “Airtime With an Author” event welcomed New York Times best-selling author Jenn McKinlay to the patio at Appaloosa Library on Tuesday, November 2.

*Author Jenn McKinlay discusses her work with Friends members*

McKinlay is the author of 49 books, specializing in mystery and romance novels. She is based in Phoenix.

She previously worked part time at Phoenix Public Library while pursuing her dream of becoming an author, and met her husband while both were library employees.

McKinlay discussed how she got started as an author, providing funny stories about her experiences working with editors. She explained ongoing challenges in the writing industry, and documented key family events that coincided with career milestones.

The event offered limited capacity, was outside, and practiced social distancing to ensure member safety. McKinlay also signed copies of her books.

“Airtime With an Author” events are one of the many perks of becoming a Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library member, and are held several times per year.

28Oct, 2021

Enjoy a Free Concert for Library Cardholders on November 12

The Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library is sponsoring a night of music and fun featuring 80’s music band Rock Lobster on Friday, November 12 at 5:30pm.

Scottsdale Stadium (7408 E Osborn Road) will host this free event that is exclusive to Scottsdale Public Library (SPL) cardholders of all ages, as a celebration of the Library Card Campaign running through November 30. SPL has set a goal of 2,000 new card sign-ups.

Doors will open at 5:30pm, with the concert beginning at 6:30pm. Attendees can park at Civic Center Library next door, and they’ll need to show a library card to enter.

There’s no RSVP required to attend, so just stop by on November 12. You can bring chairs and blankets, and there will be food and drinks available to purchase.

Be sure to stop by the Friends table at the event, as we’ll be raising awareness of the Friends and signing up new members. It’s a great way to show your love for the library.

17Oct, 2021

Happy Friends of Libraries Week

October 17-31 is National Friends of Libraries Week, and we want to thank all the Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library members for supporting our initiatives to improve the experience at the library.

We have plenty of ways to celebrate over the next two weeks, including a fundraiser at Oregano’s on Tuesday, October 19 (20 percent of sales go to the Friends when you present this flyer) and free book bingo on Tuesday, October 26.

One easy (and free) way to show your library friendship is to sign up for a library card. SPL has a goal of 2,000 new card sign-ups by November 30, and the goal is well over halfway complete.

Library cardholders will also be invited to a Library Appreciation Night at Scottsdale Stadium on Friday, November 12, which includes entertainment funded by the Friends.

If you want to support this and other library programs, please consider a Friends membership. They start at just $35 annually, and you’ll receive invites to author presentations and more fun activities.

10May, 2021

Third “Airtime With an Author” Event Welcomes Donis Casey

Local author Donis Casey was the latest local author to entertain the Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library members with an hour long talk about her mystery novels on Friday, May 7 at Arabian Library.

Book Signing — *Author Donis Casey signs copies of her book for Friends members*

The event was held outdoors on the patio with limited attendance due to COVID-19, and Casey spoke about how she got started writing, why she chose the mystery genre, and how she develops her characters across a series of novels.

Her Alafair Tucker mysteries feature a woman (Tucker) with 10 children, and each book in the series spotlights one of the children in the middle of the mystery. While most are set in 1910s Oklahoma, The Wrong Hill to Die On takes place in Arizona. Each book in the series also features recipes at the end related to the novel’s topic.

“It’s very hard to fool mystery readers, because if you read a lot of mysteries they know all your tricks,” Casey told the crowd. “That’s the fun of being a mystery writer is you have to try to fool the reader with a misdirect or a surprise.”

Casey also discussed her newest series, the Bianca Dangerous Hollywood mysteries. Her latest novel in this series, Valentino Will Die, came out earlier this year.

Due to summer weather, our next “Airtime with an Author” event won’t take place until the fall. These events are exclusive to Friends members, so be sure to join today so you don’t miss out on great local author presentations.

26Feb, 2021

Anne A. Wilson Shares Writing Journey with Friends Members

The second “Airtime with an Author” event welcomed Phoenix native Anne A. Wilson to address the Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library members at Appaloosa Library on February 24.

*Author Anne A. Wilson speaks with Friends members about her novel* Hover

Wilson is an adventure fiction writer that gained inspiration from her time as a helicopter pilot for the US Navy.

Her hour long talk offered a unique perspective in that when she was a cadet at the US Naval Academy, it was less than 10 percent female.

Growing up with a math and science background, she maintained a journal during her time in the Navy that helped hone her writing skills and provide background research.

Anne’s two novels, Hover and Clear to Lift, both feature female protagonists that are Navy helicopter pilots. While the two books are unrelated, she is open to the idea of developing a series.

In addition to providing a background of her writing process and how she got started (see video below), Anne entertained the crowd with tales of her most notable rescues, including during the 1997 Lake Tahoe Basin flood.

“Airtime with an Author” events are exclusive to Friends members and hosted several times each year. Due to COVID-19, these events have thus far limited attendance to 15 people with mandatory mask wearing and an outdoor setting.

In November 2020, the Friends welcomed Scottsdale’s Karen Odden for the inaugural session. Stay tuned for details regarding the next Airtime with an Author event.

19Nov, 2020

Author Karen Odden Entertains Friends Members at Exclusive Event

The Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library welcomed best-selling mystery author Karen Odden to speak with a limited audience of Friends members at Appaloosa Library on Wednesday, November 18.

This event begins a recurring series called “Airtime with an Author,” where Friends members are treated to intimate conversations with authors.

Odden, a Scottsdale resident, spoke to the audience about her adventures in writing Victorian mysteries. This includes her most recent release, A Trace of Deceit.

Odden spoke for an hour about her experience as a mystery writer, her love of the Victorian era, and her passion for character development. She also autographed copies of her books.

Odden’s first book, the USA Today Bestseller A Lady in the Smoke, won the 2017 New Mexico-Arizona award for eBook Fiction. Her second book, A Dangerous Duet, won the New Mexico-Arizona book award for Historical Fiction in 2019.

The Friends encountered difficulty staging events this year due to COVID-19. As a result, this event had attendance restricted to 15 people, mandatory mask wearing, and an outdoor setting on the patio at Appaloosa.

We look forward to hosting future “Airtime with an Author” events in the coming months. If you’d like to participate (and receive other benefits), you’ll need to become a member of the Friends.