North Tillamook Library Friends

The North Tillamook Library Friends group is a nonprofit organization that funds the repairs and maintenance of the public library located in Manzanita, Oregon. Founded in 1989, the friends group has raised enough money to have the building designed, constructed, and repaired several times over. The NTLF also produces a newsletter discussing upcoming fundraising events, hosts a book sale, and hosts regular concerts and speaker series to generate revenue.

Organizational Culture

There is a board of 15 and no staff. There are several standing and ad hoc committees including a communications committee, a development committee, and a maintenance committee. Each committee is comprised of volunteers from the Board and the three village community.  It is a highly structured and professional nonprofit with many volunteers, most of whom have a high level of technical expertise.  The follow the bylaws, regularly rotate responsibilities, and are prudent financial managers. This high level of professionalism has resulted in the Friends receiving a large bequest for maintenance of the building.

Audience Demographics

Although the three villages, which include Manzanita, Nehalem, and Wheeler, are very different, there are some similarities. All three towns have full time populations of fewer than 500 people and are surrounded by rural farms. The towns of Wheeler and Nehalem are very different than Manzanita in terms of the emphasis on tourism with Manzanita being actively marketed as a resort town and Nehalem and Wheeler being considered rural villages where people live and work.

The library is located on the commercial strip of Manzanita which encompasses the 8 blocks of Laneda from the Pacific Ocean to Highway 101. While the library is physically located in Manzanita the NTLF board explicitly states that the audience is anyone visiting the area and for the residents of the three villages, for whom the North Tillamook Branch is the closest public library.

Residents of Manzanita are often retired or second home owners. Nehalem residents are often younger professionals, and Wheeler is a mix of younger professionals, retired artists, and service workers. The education level is high in the three villages with many retired professionals holding one or more secondary degrees. There is a large demographic of younger service workers with one or fewer secondary degrees.

The population of library users is diverse with many local residents using the services to obtain books and media and many tourists and second home owners using the library for computer access and the children’s library. There is also a large indoor meeting space which is open to the public.

Mission Statement

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