Friends of the Redwood Libraries’ (FRL) Frances Rapin Community Service Award is granted yearly in the name of a local resident deemed to have contributed extraordinarily to the local community in support of literacy, literature, educational programs, libraries and the “Friends.” The award is a $2,000 contribution to the Humboldt County Libraries in the awardee’s name. The award winner is encouraged to offer guidance to the library in how the funds will be used.

Having no advertising budget, FRL is challenged to inform the community about its activities. Quarterly newsletters are sent out, but these go only to members. To reach the greater community FRL relies on its website to spread word of its activities including book sales, calendar sales, operating hours of Serendipity, book donation policies, and access to online sales. Given its importance, an up-to-date web presence is critical. And FRL has been extremely fortunate to have the generous support of a highly talented web master.

Martha Longshore, a published author, has assisted FRL with her expertise for numerous years. She willingly takes semi-cryptic requests and converts them to coherent news updates. She readily adjusts web page menus at the whim of the FRL board. She updates sales dates, happily removing old ones to replace with new ones as soon as requested. She keeps policy document links up to date and has efficiently worked with FRL through the myriad of changes in operations, practices, availability, and open hours through the challenges of the Covid pandemic. For these reasons, for 2023, the FRL board of directors chose Martha Longshore to receive the Frances Rapin Community Service Award.

By James Cech