Building resilient communities by cultivating healthy bodies and curious minds.
Healthy and inquisitive communities that invest in one another success and honor each individual's worth.
Integrity
Innovation
Inclusion
Collaboration
Service Excellance
Stewardship of resources
Encouraging the heart
The Friends of the Ripon Memorial Library was founded in 1974 as a 501(c)(3) non- profit organization. Our vision is to have the Ripon Memorial Library become recognized as our community’s information hub, and a thriving center of discovery and life-long learning. We have been a proud member of the Ripon Chamber of Commerce since 2003.
Libraries continue to fill a crucial need in our communities as partners in literacy and learning, and Friends of the Library organizations across our nation help to raise private funding to pay for enhanced library programs and collection materials (books, audio books, CD’s, DVD’s, etc.) not paid for by city, county or state government funding. As government funding for public libraries has steadily eroded over the years, Friends organizations play a more critical role than ever before to help make up the shortfalls.
From 2004-2006 the Ripon Friends spearheaded the community fundraising effort to raise the necessary funding for the renovation and furnishing of a new community library. On November 18, 2006 our community proudly celebrated the grand opening of the new Ripon Memorial Library. Since opening the door to our new 11,000 sq. ft. facility (which is three times the size of our old library), the Friends have been busy rebuilding our organization, and helping library staff to rebuild our library operations.
Some of our accomplishments in 2008 include launching a Friends website, our summer reading program, and adding lots of new programs and collection materials to our library shelves. Additionally, many citizens who don’t have computers at home rely on our library computers. If you haven’t been to our library yet, please stop by and visit us because we’re not your grandmother’s library!
If you would also like to help the Friends “Plant the Seed of Literacy” in our community, we would be happy to welcome your business as a new community partner in literacy and learning. Together, we can all help to assure on-going quality, state-of-the-art library services in Ripon. Thank you.
“Dreams are free, but the libraries that inspire them are not.”