At the Zelienople Public Library, a group helps prepare for a fund-raising auction, while in Bellevue, docents conduct tours of the Andrew Bayne Memorial Library mansion.

In Scott, the fund raising this spring takes a new approach toward Bridgeville; the Pizza Hut on Route 50 will donate 20 percent of its sales May 16 and 17 to diners who mention the Scott library's name.

As diverse as these activities are, the volunteers, known as Friends of the Library, are working toward a common goal, helping their local libraries better serve their patrons.

Friends are organized library volunteers who usually do not check out books, restock shelves or assist patrons. The groups, most of which are registered with the state as nonprofit organizations, promote the library, help organize events and raise funds that augment the libraries' basic funding.

For these volunteers, it all adds up to a major commitment of time as the hours turn to weeks, months, years, and, in the case of Scott, decades.

Kelly Brennan-Leis, vice president of the Friends of Scott Township Library board, marvels at how the group has been able to persevere for 40 years.

She's a relative newcomer, part of a new group of board leaders who have helped to make the relatively new Scott library -- it recently marked its fourth anniversary -- a success.

To her, the true stars are the people who were able to keep the friends going through three decades when talk about a library in Scott was mostly just that, talk.

"This money was initially raised over 30 years ago for the library. They raised it and kept it. It did not become a reality until four years ago.

"That's really something in today's world that they were able to hold onto that money for so long," she said. "These people, what they have done is phenomenal."

Ellen Souders, one of these original contributors, said that much of the credit goes to Gerd Leston, the board member who made sure the initial funds in 1965 didn't wind up on some state treasurer's Web site as unclaimed property.

"Many of the original people died or moved away," said Souders, who still lives in Scott. "[Leston] kept the books and kept the money; that was the big thing."

As a result, the original $30,000 would grow to nearly $200,000. Just as important, the political landscape would evolve so that, in the late 1990s, talk of a library was ready to become something more. A 1999 referendum allocated what is now 0.028 mills to the library, or about $65,000. On March 26, 2001, the library opened its doors with 4,712 books.

The key, Souders said, was that the township was able to land state and federal funding for an expansion of the municipal building on Lindsay Road, including space for a library.

These days, library friends have become integral parts of the libraries they support.

With the Friends of the Sewickley Public Library contributing up to 50 percent of the library's materials budget, it's no wonder that Executive Director Carolyn Toth said, "The Friends of the Library are the most underrated fund-raisers in the nonprofit sector."

Scott's Brennan-Leis doesn't argue the point, but said there was something else that's just as underrated, the library itself.

"Unfortunately, I feel the Scott library is a very well-kept secret," Brennan-Leis said.

One reason the volunteers and the libraries they work for might be underrated is that their existence remains relatively unknown to patrons of the libraries they serve.

Yet anyone who has ever visited a library is likely to have benefited from a friends effort, because most libraries in the Pittsburgh area, from independent community libraries to the Carnegie libraries, have Friends of the Library volunteers. An Internet search lists Web sites for more than 100 friends groups throughout the country, including Hawaii and Alaska, with additional listings for Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Belgium.

In the Pittsburgh area, friends groups have been around for a long time. The Friends of the Martin Luther King Jr. Reading and Cultural Center, a branch of the Carnegie in the Hill District, and the Friends of the Butler Area Public Library in Butler County have been raising funds for more than 30 years.

Yvonne Addison, president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Friends, said, "We've supported the library since it was no more than a storefront reading room. Our funds were instrumental in getting the center built in 1988. Last month, we netted approximately $5,000 for our 16th annual fashion show, and this money will go to buy books and to fund activities."

In Scott, the best fund-raiser isn't a one-day auction, two-day pizza sale or even the always appropriate monthlong raffle.

No, the best way in Scott to put new books on the shelves is to put more candy on the counter.

Sarris Candies products once were sold as a one-shot fund-raiser, but it became so popular that the Scott library friends decided to keep the pretzels and the candy bars at the counter year-round.

"Everybody loves chocolate, so you can't go wrong with that," Brennan-Leis said.

Sharon Helfrich, director at Bellevue's Bayne Library, echoed the sentiment of other library directors about funding issues.

"In 2002, we were notified that the state's 2003-04 budget would cut funding for public libraries by 50 percent, resulting in a reduction of from $25,000 to $30,000 in annual operating funds," she said.

"For our library, and I'm sure for others, that could mean limiting the purchase of necessary library items. The friends happened along at that time, secured their nonprofit status and pitched right in by holding a used book sale, although none of the members had ever organized one previously. I hope they're around for a long time."

How long they'll be around depends on the friends' ability to attract members. Although the U.S. Department of Labor reports that, of the 64.5 million people who volunteered last year, the age most represented was 35 to 44 years, this isn't the norm for friends groups. Many of the friends are retired or nearing retirement age and the groups, always looking for new members, say that younger volunteers are definitely welcome.

Betty Smolen, a member of the Friends of the Woods Run branch of the Carnegie Library, said, "I joined the friends to give back something to the library, which my children and I have used for years. But we need new members if we are to continue helping the library."

Friends' projects, which vary from library to library, offer a variety of events and programs that make use of members' talents and efforts. A sample of friends endeavors includes food-tasting fairs, used book sales, flea market sales, letter-writing campaigns and grant proposals, speakers bureaus and children's activities and programs.

One aspect of the fund raising that surprises Scott's Brennan-Leis is the collegial attitude that exists across community borders.

When the library in Scott started up, she said, the last thing she and others had to worry about was getting expert guidance from friends in other towns.

"Other libraries pitched in," she recalled, including Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park, which donated books and counsel as to how to sort acquisitions, arrange shelves and raise money.

"It's nice to see it wasn't a competition but a fellowship of other libraries," she said.

For more information about Friends of the Library, contact a local library. For the Carnegie libraries, call 412-622-8821 or a neighborhood branch.