Archive for Weekly Newsletter Messages

December 12, 2025

In the mail this week, many of you will receive a letter from our board chair, Charles Roussel, about our annual appeal. This letter was written by our volunteer board chair, edited by our professional staff, stuffed and sealed by a cadre of dedicated volunteers, and driven to the post office by yours truly. I mention what went into getting the letter itself out because I feel it is an important example of what it looks like to have a community of people quietly filling different roles behind the scenes for a community library to operate.

When I speak with people about the library, they are often surprised to learn that although the West Falmouth Library is part of the CLAMS system, we are not part of the Falmouth Library system – and in fact, we receive less than 10% of our funding from the town. As an independent non-profit library, we rely on the generosity of our community of donors to sustain our operations, programs, and services. Despite our historic façade and legacy as an institution, our library needs substantial financial support that meets present day challenges of rising costs and government budget cuts.

As a valued member of the West Falmouth Library community, I hope that you will consider supporting this year’s appeal. To our long-time patrons, thank you for your steadfast financial commitment. For those who may be considering a gift for the first time, I encourage you to show your support for the library’s ongoing work by making a donation today.

We are truly grateful for your partnership and generosity.

Allison Strickland
Acting Executive Director
West Falmouth Library

December 5, 2025

This evening I’d like to invite you all to attend our annual tree lighting. In partnership with the West Falmouth Village Association, this spirited event is a chance to gather with your friends, family and neighbors and make merry music together to kick off the holiday season.

After the caroling, come warm up inside with some drinks and treats, see Santa, and enjoy a festive gathering. While you’re here, be sure to check out our memory tree decorated with ornaments hand made by members of our community in honor of loved ones during our ornament making program in November.

I hope you can join in this lively gathering and help us ring in the season.

Allison Strickland
Acting Executive Director
West Falmouth Library

November 22, 2025

As we eagerly look ahead to Thanksgiving this week, I’ve been thinking of how gathering with our friends and family and taking this time away from our busy lives for connection is so essential to our health and happiness.  When I started at the library some months ago, it struck me how important the physical library is for our sense of connection.  It is the central meeting place here in West Falmouth, to gather and be with each other.  We do so at so many times throughout the year! We have our annual tree lighting coming up. We have our egg hunt in the spring. Our garden party and art show in the Summer. And many, many other programs and events from clubs and classes to community meetings and animal shows.

While the library itself is spectacular in its architectural heritage and carefully curated collection, its people are the element that makes it our community home.  And while it had a few places for gathering, it became clear to me that reimagining our use of the building to increase locations for meeting and connection would help our patrons and neighbors do exactly that.

The staff and I spent the early part of this week enacting that vision.  First, the quiet reading room has been restored to its previous functionality as promised. We know how important that room is to so many of you so that was our first priority.

Second, I am proud to announce that we now have a YA/Teen room!  This dedicated space enables our teens to gather with friends, play games, work on homework and discover great reads tailored just for them.

Third, our children’s collection has moved to the lower level, now integrated with the play area. Families can now explore books, play, read aloud, and spend time together in one engaging place.

Finally, in the room that formerly housed the children’s collection, a refreshed media room housing our expansive DVD collection features a large conference table that has already become a meeting spot for book groups.  This room also showcases our extensive puzzle collection, including best of all for you puzzle lovers, a dedicated puzzle table for patrons to puzzle together. After all, I did mention last week that we would be puzzling the library back together!

I hope that these spaces help you find new ways to connect and engage with our collection and most of all, each other.

Allison Strickland
Acting Executive Director
West Falmouth Library

November 7, 2025

As a newly appointed Board Member and longtime lover of the West Falmouth Library, I am delighted to help advance our ongoing efforts to enhance our volunteer opportunities.

Living close to the Library, I almost use it as if it was another room in my house. Attending talks, music events and so many other programs has given me firsthand enjoyment of how this beautiful, historic building serves the community.

We are grateful for the many individuals who have contributed their time, skills, and enthusiasm over the years. Now, in alignment with the Five Year Strategic Plan, the Board has initiated a more structured program to expand, organize, and formally recognize our dedicated volunteers.

For those new to the Library, we invite you to get involved and help sustain this valuable community resource. For current volunteers, we appreciate your continued commitment and are eager to make your volunteering experience even more rewarding.

Nearly 150 years ago, five young women founded the library with a commitment to community and shared learning. We continue to steward the Library in recognition of their legacy and in appreciation of you, our patrons and volunteers.

Please join us. Whether or not you’ve volunteered with us before, if you’re interested in volunteering with the library, we kindly ask you to complete this brief volunteer survey so we can better match your interests to the Library’s evolving needs.

I look forward to meeting you.

Linda Pogue
Chairperson, West Falmouth Library Volunteers
Member, West Falmouth Library Board of Directors

October 24, 2025

As we descend into fall in beautiful West Falmouth, many of us are savoring the final days of a wonderful growing season in our gardens. Or, if your green thumb is as good as mine, harvesting whatever we did manage to grow this year. Either way, time spent in our own gardens or admiring those of friends and neighbors with more fruitful results, reminds us of our intimate connection to the land around us.

As we tidy up our plots and prepare for winter, our thoughts turn to spring – especially as the library’s bulb sale orders have just arrived! It’s a reminder that new possibilities await and that as surely as the leaves fall now, flowers will bloom again in a few short months.

One of the great joys of working at the library is discovering the hidden gems that make our library – and our community so special. I recently learned about our very own Seed Library, a wonderful resource hidden in a vintage card catalog that stores a wealth of seeds (and in my case, optimism) for future growing seasons. It allows patrons to share the bounty of their harvests by donating seeds each fall and picking up new varieties to try in the spring.

I invite you all to share in this spirit of generosity and curiosity. If you have extra seeds from your own gardens this year, please bring in to help grow our collection. And as spring approaches, be sure to check a few out as well so that you too can share in the hope that is planting a seed for the future.

Happy autumn,

Allison Strickland
Acting Executive Director

October 10, 2025

Hello West Falmouth Community,

October 5 – 11 is Banned Books Week, a time to spotlight the importance of free and open access to information. Across our nation, books are still being challenged and removed from shelves – often because they tackle tough topics or amplify diverse voices.

Here at the West Falmouth Library, we have a long tradition of standing with readers, authors and educators in defending the freedom to read. Our library was founded by five women who wanted to create a place where books would be accessible so the community could come together in a place of learning and open communication.

In that spirit, this week and for the month of October, we are featuring books that have been banned or challenged. Our Collections Development and Circulation Manager, Susan Carliss, has put together a display of such stories that spark conversation, encourage empathy and reflect a wide range of experiences.

Come explore our display and check out a title that someone once tried to silence. Because here at the West Falmouth Library, we believe that books are meant to be read, not banned.

Allison Strickland
Acting Executive Director
West Falmouth Library