Friends of the Library Blog
Read about FOLSOI events and other news of interest to book lovers
Meet the Author – Carey Henry Keefe
On Friday of Superbowl weekend, Harper Library FOLSOI and Carey Henry Keefe welcomed a full house to our Meet the Author event. The attendees were treated to a presentation on Keefe's book "A Tide of Dreams." We learned how football, lifelong friends, family and...
Meet the Author K. Robert Campbell
Inspiration can come from anywhere. Author K. Robert Campbell, speaking to a fullhouse at Barbee Library on Friday, January 23rd, said the inspiration for his first mysterynovel came from a song he heard in his car while on a long drive. It was an eerie,suspenseful...
FOLSOI Board members meet with Southport Lions Club
Cindy Philips, President of FOLSOI and Petra Fey, FOLSOI board member, made a presentation to the Southport Lions Club, thanking them for the generous grants that they have given for audio books and large print books for more than a decade. They also gave them an...
FOLSOI Advocates for Libraries at Brunswick County commissioner’s meeting
Excerpt and photo from State Port Pilot article (date of the meeting corrected). Supporters of the Southport and Oak Island libraries asked Brunswick County commissioners for help dealing with what they say is increased usage of their branches. Friends of the Library...
PSA on Cape Fear Radio
The publicity team for FOLSOI has embraced a fresh approach to engage the community for the December Meet The Author event by collaborating with Cape Fear Radio to create a "FOLSOI Book Minute" radio segment. Established in 2024, Cape Fear Radio is not your ordinary...
Bookmobile Grant from St. James Foundation
Friends of the Library Southport Oak Island (FOLSOI) was awarded a grant of $3,000 from the St James Foundation of NC to provide books for the children and young adult collections in the new Bookmobile in Brunswick County. Photos show the new mobile library, as well...
A Novel Afternoon with Diane Chamberlain
FOLSOI’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Membership Appreciation Event was a livelyafternoon, as we celebrated our 35th birthday! A crowd of 200 book lovers assembled tolisten as FOLSOI President Cindy Phillips summarized another year of record-settingsales at our Once More...
Brunswick County Libraries Participate in Day4Hope
FOLSOI and the staff from the Brunswick County Library team participated in the Day4Hope event held on Saturday, August 9th at the Brunswick Community college. The homeless and children in need in Brunswick County were invited to participate in this Back to School...
Still time to advocate for library funding!
The American Library Association (ALA) released news this week that Congress has decided to push back their discussions on library funding until the first week of September. The Institute for Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) is a current target of funding cuts, and...
NC Reads – Doc Watson; A Life in Music
FOLSOI played host – virtually – to author Eddie Hoffman on Tuesday evening, June26 th , at Barbee Library, as part of the final 2025 NC Reads book club program. Morethan 20 people came to watch the live Zoom chat while enjoying the comradery of like-minded readers...
Donation from St James Woodworkers
The St. James Woodworkers crew known as Boughton-Collier-Hayes Trio asked library branch manager Erika Dosher what type of construction project the branch could benefit from. The woodworkers came to the library, talked with staff and it was decided that a smaller...
Grant from St James Service Club for Summer Reading Program
On Wednesday May 14th at the Homer E. Wright Event Center, FOLSOI accepted a grant from St James Service Club. Cindy Phillips (FOLSOI President) attended the brunch with fellow board members, Karen Bearslee Kwasny (vice-President) and Mary Gretton (Treasurer). What...
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Our Impact in 2025
Our mission is to serve our community by supporting excellence in collection and program development and more at Harper and Barbee Libraries.
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