Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum held its annual meeting on Monday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It is National Friends of Libraries Week and the Berkshire Athenaeum's group has a lot to be proud of.

The Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum Executive Committee gathered in the auditorium on Monday for its annual meeting. Since 1938, generations of Friends have worked to enhance the community's library experience through programs and events.

The volunteer organization has about 500 members and coinciding with the appreciation week, memberships will be half-price on Oct. 25. Annual rates run $10 for an individual to $25 for a family with higher ticket options for patrons, benefactors, and lifetime members.

Over the last year, the organization put in 5,827 volunteer hours — almost 2,000 more than the previous year.

President Richard Dauchy is finishing his first year leading the Friends board and looks back at it fondly. He sees the group's contributions to the children's library as one of its best outreach efforts.

"It was a great honor to serve on the board," he said.

"I cannot tell you how much it gives me great pleasure every time I visit with the children's library and how grateful they are for all the gifts and the programs that we help make possible."

The Friends facilitate a wide range of programming for children, teens, and adults. This year's annual report showed that there were just over 6,500 participants in the children's programs.

Dauchy commended committee member Marilyn Manning's work on the programs, explaining that it helps reach out to the community.

"They are free and it helps get people into the library," he said.

"And once again, the Pittsfield library is a wonderful center in this city to help people kind of have a community area, because so much of that is missing in modern day life."

The Friends hold used book sales a few times per year and had a record-breaking event this summer.

"The one in July was one of our most successful ever," Dauchy reported. "We almost made $20,000. It was extremely successful."

The next book sale runs from Nov. 14 to 16 and will include plenty of holiday-themed goodies. Aside from used books, shoppers can expect collectible items, games, movies, music, and more.

Dauchy observed that the library is now a well-known place for people to donate books. Upstairs, there is a section where community members can purchase used books for a cheap price outside of the book sale.

He said they can never have too many books, as "even if we are overwhelmed, it still is a great service for the community."

Treasurer Scott Eldridge delivered a financial report that showed that the organization ended its fiscal year with more than a $7,300 surplus. The total expense was 71 percent of the year budget and over $8,000 in memberships and nearly $62,000 in book sale monies made up 99 percent of the annual income.

Library Director Alex Reczkowski was glad to share that the library spent just under $211,000 in grants last year, which is a sign that everybody is working together. There were more than 23,700 borrows from the library during the last year.

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