Support Groups
Birkenhead library has had a number of support groups. Volunteers were instrumental in staffing the library in the early days; while the Birkenhead Rotary Club took down the old council quarters in preparation for the new 1968 building. They also donated money to set up the Reference Collection; and later, in 1982, they started the first collection of talking books. Similarly, the Plunkett club of 1980 raised $200 to buy 35 LP recordings of children's fairytales, songs and rhymes.
The Friends of Birkenhead Library were established in November 1990, under the patronage of Keith Sinclair, and continued under Thea Muldoon from 1994. They have advocated strongly for the library, most recently on behalf of the new building, drumming up support through meetings with the Community Board and in the local paper. Along with Plunkett they spoke up for the library at the Environment Court hearing. The Friends have also raised monies for various equipment, such as listening posts and the library's first camera, a Pentax. Speakers at their events have been diverse and have included historian Claudia Orange, writers Muriel Fisher, Sheridan Keith, and Rosemary Menzies, as well as Ann Hartley, a former mayor, Jenny Kirk, a former councillor, and Sergio Gulyaev, a Russian astronomer.
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“... married women work and neglect their children because the duties of the homemaker become so depreciated that women feel compelled to take a job in order to hold the respect of the community. It is one thing if women work, as many of them must, to help support the family. It is quite another thing—it is destructive of woman’s freedom—if society forces her out of the home and into the labor market in order that she may respect herself and gain the respect of others.”
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