More than $500K donated in support of the library

 The Friends of the Beaverton City Library reorganized in 1978 as the New Friends of the Beaverton City Library (NFBCL), and then again in 2024 when it merged with the Beaverton Library Foundation to better serve the community and the library. 

The mission of the FBCL has always revolved around community connections and fundraising support for the Library. The FBCL is served by a volunteer Board of Directors who meet the 2nd Tuesday of the month at the main Library. The 5:30 pm meetings are open to all members.

In the early years the FBCL (previously NFBCL) was actively involved in arranging and hosting speakers, workshops, exhibits, discussions and children’s programs at the Library. Book sales became an annual event in 1991, and in 1993 they were combined with the FBCL’s first Silent Auction. Funds were also raised by membership dues and small fees for some events. The first “book store” shared space with the Beaverton Arts Commission Gallery at what is now Cedar Hills Crossing.

The NFBCL then asked permission from the City of Beaverton to use a house at the west end of the Library parking lot at its SW Allen location for a bookstore. Pam Farris, then president of the NFBCL Board, and her father, Chuck, took on needed remodeling and the house became “The Book Corner”  in May 1996. It is one of the few freestanding bookstores in the state operated by library friends.

From its beginnings in 1925 in the Cady Building, the Beaverton City Library was housed in six different locations before today’s library opened in 2000. The 69,000 square foot building, at S.W. Fifth and Hall Blvd., across from City Park, contains more than 345,000 items and has an annual circulation of more than 2,700,000 items.

The following year, 2001, The Book Corner moved to “the little house on the corner,” at S.W. Fifth and Washington, across from the City Park fountain. As the new library neared completion, the Friends contributed funds for furnishings and equipment such as study carrels for the homework center, tables and chairs, furniture for the children’s section, and signage.

In 2010, Beaverton’s first branch library opened in the Murray Scholls Town Center, with an emphasis on serving children and families. Once again, the Friends supported the new library by funding furnishings and equipment. With the Murray Scholls Library’s expansion in 2015, the library more than doubled its space and dedicated a new wing to children’s books and activities. The NFBCL contributed funds for most of the furniture for the children’s room.

Sales of community-donated books, movies and music CDs continue to be the Friends’ primary source of revenue. In 2013, the Friends began selling books and media online through Amazon. Sales grew quickly, and have the added benefit of reaching buyers for textbooks, specialty nonfiction and collectible books, which often do not sell at the bookstore. Library sales provide another outlet and reach a wide audience.

In 2024 a decision was made to merge the FBCL with the Beaverton Library Foundation (BLF), another non profits whose goal was to raise money to support the library. Given the similar missions, the two organizations decided to merge to more effectively serve its goals both with the community and the library. Members of the BLF and NFBCL both sit on the joint board of FBCL.

Membership in the New Friends of the Beaverton City Library is open to all who want to join in the support of our community’s libraries, and membership dues are an important source of revenue for the Friends. Volunteering is another way for library supporters to become involved with the friends and contribute to the community and the library.