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Treasures of our Memorial Library Remembrance Day, November 11th, 2000 was the 50th anniversary of the opening of our cherished library. As the Friends of the Library, under another name, had been active even before the library opened, it seems appropriate to examine the history of the Friends at this time. Your scribe, being a youngster of only twenty-four years of residence in West Vancouver, sought enlightenment on the Library's history so lucidly recorded by the late Sally Carswell, in her fine book, "Fulfilling a Dream". Much of what follows here was gratefully extracted from its pages (and my thanks go to the City of West Vancouver, which holds the copyright). The story was then enriched from the files of the Friends, masterfully summarized by our incumbent president, Sophia Weremchuk. The present Friends of the Library organization had its genesis in a loose grouping of volunteers who first called themselves "The Library Development Commission". In the late 1940's they set themselves the task of fomenting support for a municipal library in West Vancouver. With enthusiastic help from citizens and City Council, the dream came true as a memorial project, appropriately on what was then called "Armistice Day", 1950. Shortly after that, the old "Library Development Commission" adopted the name "Friends of the Library", and started doing whatever they could to help the library and its patrons, including for example the following: watering the plants, picking up donations, a book delivery service for shut-ins, providing refreshments for social functions, and raising funds towards furnishing and maintaining the library. In January 1954, the Friends organized a series of ten lectures on Music, presented in the library by the head of the Music Department at UBC. The first lecture had to be postponed two weeks because a 32 inch snowfall prevented delivery of the piano. Eventually, the Friends passed to the Extension Dept, of UBC the entire proceeds of $581.50. The following year, the Friends arranged with City Council to hold a referendum favoring an extension to the library (already sorely needed). These volunteers prepared a persuasive brochure, and sent a copy to every home in the municipality. Over the years, the Friends have quietly found many ways to help. For example, they made possible the Children's Story Room, built to accommodate thirty children, and stocked it with such items as furniture, hassocks and large puppets. In 1975, another extension of the library was planned, and the Friends assisted in raising funds by canvassing the community for donations. On this occasion, the newfound dollars helped to pay for rooftop parking, enlargement of the Reference Section and various minor features. In 1982 the Friends sold raffle tickets for signed copies of books by local authors. The $750 proceeds went to buy a cabinet for rare books. In 1988, the library had to transfer hordes of books to storage space in Hillside School. Once again the Friends rallied to help. That same year, the library opened a small gift shop, for which the Friends supplied merchandise costing $2,115. Sadly, despite this boost, the gift shop was not a success. When 1990 rolled around, the library was again forced to expand. Once more, the Friends rallied to the cause, to the tune of a $21,000 donation. The Friends have been involved for many years in supporting