​The Skagit Valley Co-op 4% Friday grant has enabled the library to buy high quality materials to read, learn from, and be entertained by.  Library staff member Andrea Alaniz has taken the lead in ordering materials to boost interest among Spanish speaking community members. She has ordered an array of Spanish and bilingual books for children and adults both fiction and non-fiction. Children will see new chapter books, board books, and non-fiction books on subjects such as space, animals, and the environment. New poetry, graphic novels, and holiday books will add spark to the collection. Adults will find new books on parenting, cooking, finances, relationships and business. They will also find a mix of popular fiction originally written in both Spanish and English and translated. The Co-op grant has planted a seed that will be nurtured by the library to continue to grow the collection for Spanish speaking community members.

You can be part of the effort to save the periodical section of the Mount Vernon Library by “adopting” one or more of your favorite titles. ​The budget to renew magazines and periodicals is at risk due to the budget cuts the city has had to impose on all departments.
You can donate the subscription cost of a magazine or multiple magazines which you enjoy to the library through the Library Foundation. It’s easy!  Click the "Show Your Support" tab at the top of the page, then click "Adopt A Periodical".  Scroll through the list of magazines in the list, choose one, fill out the form, and donate the cost of a year’s subscription. Be sure to include the name of the magazines you are adopting in the comment block.  Your name, or the name of someone you would like to honor, will appear on a special label below the where the magazine is shelved. If you would like to donate a subscription to a magazine that is not listed, or if your choice has already been adopted, send an email to info@mvlibraryfoundation.org and let us know and one of our volunteers will contact you.  Our goal is to raise $3300 which will allow the renewal of all of the 75 titles the library currently has in their collection.

Budget cuts to the library may mean limited magazines and periodicals in the 2021 budget. You can be part of the effort to save the periodical section of the Mount Vernon Library by “adopting” a magazine. We will very shortly have a donation page available where you can donate the subscription cost of a magazine or a whole genre if you like. Your name, or the name of someone you would like to honor, will appear on the shelf label below the magazine.   And remember, you can check out your favorite magazines and catch up on back issues by using the curbside checkout and pickup option.

​The Foundation has covered the cost of a graphics-capable computer to be used by a library employee who will be working remotely for a period of time.  Acquisition of new computer equipment was put on hold by the City and it would have been difficult for this employee to continue her work.  This employee assisted the Foundation with the advertising campaign we conducted in the Herald, and she also does a lot of the marketing materials that are on the web site and library Facebook page.  We felt this was a win-win for everyone involved!

The Foundation, with the cooperation of the Skagit Valley Herald, ran a series of six advertisements in the Sunday edition of the newspaper in July and August.  The ads were a reminder to the community that the library is still available even though operating under a different set of rules.  Curbside pickup has been very popular and the library even has a concierge service where you can call in and ask them to help you find the resource you are looking for.  Here's an example of one of those ads!