With friends like these...

JDriends of the Library: so benign, so helpful, so ... friendly! Yet, so often when one mentions the subject to library administrators reactions are heard which range from, "Oh yes, we had a group years ago, when we had our new building campaign, but after that they became inactive and quietly disappeared," or, "Oh, you have a friends group? I keep thinking I should try to get a group going for my library, but what do you do with them?" to "Friends? You mean pests! There are days I'd trade them for identifiable enemies!" Are friends worth the bother? Is it heresy to ask? This small anthology of case studies has been assembled on the basis of discussions with many people, in different parts of the country and from libraries of various sizes. An entire book could be written about the interactions between library administration, the trustees of the library, and the friends group. There appears to be an endless array of stories, experiences, and strong feelings among participants in these mini-dramas.published or submitted for publicatio