Penny Lins’ love for books began at a young age, sitting on the arm of her father’s leather club chair while he read to her. Her father, Raymond L. Moore, owned and operated his own book bindery, Moore & Company. His connection to books appears to be a passion Lins has inherited.
The 72-year-old Lins grew up in Towson. She and her husband, Jerry, moved to Centreville 39 years ago, and immediately installed large bookshelves in the front rooms of their home to accommodate their growing book collection. “I have books in almost every room of our house,” Lins says. “I love to hold books, I collect books, and I have a wide variety of books on all kinds of topics on my bookshelves.”
Her fascination with books inspired her to become involved with Friends of Queen Anne’s County Library. Though Lins still works full-time for an ophthalmologist in Baltimore, her spare time is spent volunteering at the library, where she can support programs and services and, hopefully, help others fall in love with books.
How did you initially get involved with Friends of Queen Anne’s County Library?
When the Queen Anne’s County Library decided they wanted to start the group, the director and the assistant director of the main branch approached several patrons and asked if we’d be willing to be a start-up. We’ve only been in existence for five years. We started out with very few people, and up until about a year ago, we had less than 100 members, but now we have 326 members, which is a good thing because we have a broader membership to get volunteers.
What type of work does Friends of Queen Anne’s County Library do?
We raise money to help the library acquire things that are not in their budget. We raised over $35,000 last year, and this year we gave $12,500 to the summer reading program, which fully funded the Queen Anne’s County summer reading program.
We just helped them purchase some 3D printers. We’ve provided things like seating, a small meeting room at the Centreville Branch, and charging stations for both branches. A couple of years ago, we helped send some extra people to the Annual Library Association Meeting in Colorado, since they didn’t have enough money to send everybody that wanted to go.
When you were approached about joining the Friends of Queen Anne’s County Library? Why was it important for you to be part of the organization?
Because I’m at the library all the time. I was in the library at least once a week, and now I’m in the library two or three times a week. [The group] was an interesting concept to me, and so I decided that it was something I would like to be involved with.
You’ve chaired the book sale fundraiser for the past five years. Can you tell me about that project and what goes into putting that all together?
The first time we did it, we had it for two months, and it started because we had a patron who had contacted the library and said they wanted to give us their book collection. That was the basis of our book sale that year, along with regular other patron donations.
The next year, we decided to have it for three months, and we decided to have one donation day each of those months. That’s how we get most of our books now. It’s lot of work collecting the books and sorting them.
We have one table of books with special selections, where we’ll put out books that we think are in excellent condition. Some are signed by the author. In fact, someone picked up a book, and when they opened it up, it had John Glenn’s autograph in it. We missed that one, so they ended up getting it for just a couple dollars.
Do you have a favorite book or author?
One of my favorite mystery writers is Louise Penny, who does a wonderful series that takes place in Canada and Quebec, and it has a French-Canadian protagonist by the name of Armand Gamache. I listen to those on tape and I just love the narrator.
Another writer that I like that my husband introduced me to is James Lee Burke, and his novels are very graphic, but I happen to like his Dave Robicheaux series. I also like autobiographies. I like history. I read as much non-fiction as I read fiction.
What do you hope to see the organization accomplish in the future? Do you have any personal goals?
I would just like to continue to see it grow. The Kent Island Library is going into an expansion program, and so we’re hoping that the county will continue with their agreement to fund part of that. They’re matching funds. We’re not involved in any way with raising money for that capital fund, but once it’s done, hopefully, we can help them with things that they want for that expansion that aren’t in their budget. Furniture, cases, carts, electronics, whatever might be needed that they don’t have in their regular budget for the year.
Why do you think that the work that Friends of Queen Anne’s County Library does is so vital for the community?
It’s important for the community because there are a lot of things that the library doesn’t have the finances for. There are a lot of programs, (ones) for children on a Saturday, art programs, but without that funding, they would not be able to have those. There’s just a lot of things that we help them with that they wouldn’t have the finances for otherwise.
