The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIENDS
In Norristown, museum passes are a benefit of Friends of Library membership
NORRISTOWN >> As the song says, that’s what friends are for.
Friends can come with all sorts of perks, but in the case of the Friends of Montgomery District Library Center, it’s all about gaining access to some pretty engaging places.
“The Montgomery County-Norristown Public library is delighted that the Friends of Montgomery District Library Center provides a rich variety of museum and attraction passes,” noted Cliff Hirst, Administrative Assistant, Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library.
The roster of available museums and attractions includes the Elmwood Park Zoo, the John James Audubon Center, the Morris Arboretum, and the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion. “These passes are available at no additional charge to any library card holder who is a member of the Friends of Montgomery District Library Center. An individual membership in the Friends begins at $10 for a calendar year.”
Join the Friends for $10 on up and then you get to check out which passes are available, explained Executive Director Kathleen M. Arnold-Yerger.
“The Friends use it as a marketing tool,” she added. “It is unusual; other places don’t do that. So, ours is probably a little different because of that. Most people, if they’re from the Norristown they’ll join the Friends, but if that’s not something they want to get involved with, they can go over to one of the branches, like Conshohocken, Schwensksville, Red Hill and Royersford.”
Each of the branches is different with its procedures, Arnold-Yerger said.
“Conshohocken has a Friends group for that branch and they purchase their passes, then they just check them out. My Friends here has a different process, and so does Red Hill. The other thing My Friends group here does is to give out DVD rentals. They have little perks and not all of the Friends do that. “Anytime during the year if you want a pass, usually they’ll call us to see if a pass is even here before they come over. If it’s a beautiful Saturday morning and you want to go to the zoo that day the passes may be gone by 10 o’clock.”
All the libraries have different passes to offer, Arnold-Yerger said.
“Some (places) don’t know about (the program) or realize it until we reach out to them and then they say they can work something out. So it really depends on the museum sometimes. All the libraries have different museum passes.”
According to the its Facebook page, Friends of the Montgomery CountyNorristown Public Library, founded in 1975, is an award-winning nonprofit that provides funds for equipment, materials, and additions to the library’s collection. The Friends also sponsor public events for children and adults at Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library.