The Barbara Bush Library Friends are a 501c(3) non-profit organization, founded in 1973, designed to support the Cypress Creek Branch of the Harris County Public Library.

Contact the Friends through the Barbara Bush Branch Library at Cypress Creek
6817 Cypresswood Drive
Spring, TX 77379
281-376-4610

Officers of the Barbara Bush Library Friends:

Susan Greer, President
Susheela Beteet, V.P., Membership
Jeannette Loverdi,  V.P. Ways and Means
Diane Prewitt, V.P., Communications
Open, Secretary
Craner Ford, Treasurer

To have a Barbara Bush Friend contact you about membership and contribution opportunities please complete the contact information form below. 

Make a Book Your Own

Perhaps you've noticed some artwork happening on the back wall of the Children's room in the library. It is being done by a local artist, Terri Barker, who has donated her time to paint a mural of books and characters above the book shelves.

Now here is the fun part. You came name a book -- put your name or the name(s) of loved ones on the spine of one of the books for a contribution of $100 to the Friends. Be creative - something like "The Kruckemeyer Boys" or "Tales of the Smiths: Jane, John and Jim." Make your "title" approximately 30 letters or less. The artist will choose the book that best fits your title.

You may send your contribution along with your name, address, and phone to: The Barbara Bush Library Friends, 6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379. The Barbara Bush Library Friends is a 501 c 3 organization, your contribution is tax deductible.

What do the Friends do? Make a Difference - Become a Friend

Those of you who are not familiar with the Barbara Bush Library Friends may wonder what we are about. The Barbara Bush Library Friends is a 501( c)3 organization. Our mission is to promote the development of library facilities and to augment the services of the library and thus enrich the cultural opportunities available to the surrounding population. How our mission is accomplished is as creative as the people who make up its membership.

We invite anyone interested in the library and its functions to become a member of the Friends. Membership dues are one of our main sources of funds second only to our book sales.. Members receive a newsletter updating the happenings of the Friends and the library and receive a discount at the preview night of our book sale. But, most importantly, membership dollars make a difference in our community by improving and expanding the offerings of our library.

Our largest fundraiser of the year is our annual used book sale. The sale is the result of an ongoing collection of donated books.  Any books the library needs will be placed directly into the collection. The remaining books are then inspected, sorted, and boxed by the Friends and are then stored for the next book sale. We sell or recycle every book donated each year. The dedication of the group of volunteers working year round is paramount to a successful sale.  Recently, we have also held sales of new books and CD's in the library that have generated funds for the library.

The Campaign for the New Collection was formed as the new library was being constructed. Donations for pavers, donor wall recognition, and honor book plates were the backbone of the campaign to which the community has responded generously. Except for pavers, this campaign is still ongoing. Donor recognition on one of the bronze plaques displayed in the new library or a name in a book is still available.

Funds raised by the Friends go back to our library in the form of books, materials, and programs. Adult, reference, and children's books are purchased with donations to the Friends.

Children are one of the top priorities for the Friends. Along with the purchase of children's books, we fund the annual Children's Summer Reading program which is a delight to many area children and parents who wish to instill a love of reading at an early age. A new young adult program has also been well received in the past two years and we hope to see it grow as the word gets out that the library offers something fun for teens.

The Barbara Bush Branch houses one of the largest microfiche archives in the County and is funded by the Friends. Gift money has purchased magazine subscriptions, pamphlets for the vertical file, videotapes, and large print books. Help in providing staff with equipment, workshop fees, and summer staff not included in the county budget is also part of our funding agenda. Literacy has also been an important focus of the group. Literacy has also been an important focus of the group. Through our sponsorship of literacy workshops, individuals are trained to become tutors for those who speak English as a second language.

Each year, a selection of books is placed in the library in honor of the individual staff members, the current BBLF board members, and exceptional volunteers. These are displayed at our Annual Meeting held in May and reflect the interests of the honorees.

The Friends are about more than money. We have continually been outspoken advocates for better libraries. We have gone to Austin to discuss library issues with our congressional representatives. We also belong to the Harris County Friends of the Library and some of our Friends have served on the HCFOL board. As of last year, one of our members secured tax exempt status for the Harris County Friends. One of our former presidents is now President of the Harris County Friends and is working with the County to raise funds for all Harris County Friends groups.

We assist in patron counts at the library, volunteer for HGA golf tournaments, serve as hostesses for the AAUW Holiday Home Tour, gift wrap at Barnes and Noble each Christmas, and are members of the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce. This year we sponsored and hosted the first library open house celebrating the dedication of the Barbara Bush Library, complete with Christmas decorations. We also served as carriers for the KISD Library Card program. We are always looking for new ways in which we can make the library visible to the community.

We feel it is important to recognize the staff of our library who work tirelessly to serve the patrons. We thank them with a Christmas luncheon and have a little fun with a White Elephant gift exchange.

We wish to thank all the organizations, businesses, and individuals who have donated their money, their time, and their services for a better library. We know we could not have done the job without the gracious support of the community. Our library is the community's pride and joy. The Friends thank you.

Levels of Giving

Keystone Circle ($500-$999)
Cornerstone Circle ($1000-$4,999)
Founders Circle ($5000-$9,999)
Philanthropic Circle ($10,000 and up)

Collection Builders

Contributor Bookplate Recognition
Reference Books @ $50.00 Each 
Adult Or Children's Books @ $25.00 Each 

Bronze Plaques Donated
Brookside Funeral Home has donated three beautiful bronze plaques to be located on a donor wall just inside the library foyer. Names of major library donors are engraved on these plaques. There are still a few spaces remaining at each level. Interested individuals, organizations, and business can send donations to the Barbara Bush Library Friends, 6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379.

Special Gift Giving Made Easy Looking for a gift for a special person? Or, maybe you want to remember a loved one. Donate $25 for a children's book or $50 for a reference book for the library in honor of your friend or family member. We will display a bookplate in the front of the book showing who it is honoring and, if desired, who the donor is. This is a great way to remember your loved ones that will last for many years. Send your donation to the Barbara Bush Library @ Cypress Creek Library, 6817 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379. Include what you like to appear on the bookplate.

Please send contributions to:

Barbara Bush Branch Library at Cypress Creek
6817 Cypresswood Drive
Spring, TX 77379

To become a Friend of the Library, please Select and Print Form below and mail to the address given.

New ___ Renewal ___  Address change ___

Name___________________________________________________________________

Address_________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Phone Number________________________E-mail______________________________

$25(min) __$50 ___ $100 ___ Other ____

Matching fund form enclosed __

Make checks payable to "BBLF" and mail to:

I am interested in helping with: Book Sale ___ Golf Tournaments ___ BBLF Board ___

Library volunteer (Shelving, Book mending) ___

How Else Can You Help the Library?

There are lots of ways you can help the Barbara Bush Branch Library @ Cypress Creek remain a vital and growing part of the community. You may choose to volunteer your time to assist the Library, by shelving books, or through the ESL/Literacy outreach programs. Please call the library at 281-376-4610 for more information. You can make a donation of books or media (DVDs, CDs or videos). You may be interested in joining the Barbara Bush Library Friends (print and mail the form above).

What about Donations?

The library gladly accepts donations of gently used books and other materials. In the event that the materials cannot be used by the library, they will be sold in a future book sale to raise money for new materials. The library can always use donations of the following:

  New hardback fiction
  Soft and hardback nonfiction
  VCR tapes and DVDs
  Audio books and CDs
  Books and materials of local interest
  Gift subscriptions to periodicals (please call first)

The library is no longer seeking donations of the following:

  National Geographic magazine
  Reader's Digest Condensed editions
  Encyclopedias more that five years old.

1. Friends are kept informed of the library’s plans, progress, and challenges by the Branch Librarian.
2. Friends recognize that they do not perform a policy-making role for the library, but should feel that their opinions are valued by the library.
3. Friends support policies set by the County library system.
4. Friends serve as "connecting links" between the library and community, interpreting one to the other.
5. Friends funds supplement the library’s operating budget to provide materials and programs that enhance the library’s materials and services. Friends funds should not replace money that is normally provided by Harris County for library operations. Friends decide how to spend their money after conferring with the branch librarian.
6. Fundraising by the Friends is done with the knowledge of the Branch Librarian and in coordination with the County Library Director.
7. Individually and collectively, Friends use their influence to assist the library in obtaining desired financial support from the community by representing the library point of view to local government, local businesses, legislators and the media.

Our Commitment To Privacy
Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this notice easy to find, we make it available on our homepage and with our membership application.

The Information We Collect:
This notice applies to all information collected or submitted to the Barbara Bush Library Friends.

In some of our materials, in paper form or on our website, you can submit a membership application, make a request, or register to receive materials. The types of personal information collected by these pages are:

Name
Address
Email address
Phone number

Volunteer Interests

The Way We Use Information:
We use the information you provide about yourself only to complete your requests. We do not share this information with outside parties.

We use email addresses to answer the email we receive and to send out information to members related to the activities and interests of the Barbara Bush Library Friends. Such addresses are not used for any other purpose and are not shared with outside parties.

We may use non-identifying and aggregate information to share with outside groups. For example, we may tell a media representative that X number of individuals are members of our organization, but we would not disclose anything that could be used to identify those individuals.

Finally, we would never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us in ways unrelated to the ones described above without providing you the opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.

How You Can Access Or Correct Your Information
To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.

You can access all your own personally identifiable information that we collect and maintain by sending us a signed, written request along with a photocopy of a standard form of identification. We use this procedure to better safeguard your information.

You can correct factual errors in your personally identifiable information by sending us a request that credibly shows error.

How To Contact Us
Should you have other questions or concerns about these privacy policies, please contact us through the Barbara Bush Library (281-376-4610), mail us at

Barbara Bush Library
6817 Cypresswood Drive
Spring TX 77379

or send us an email at president@bblf.org.

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