A library can be seen as a physical store of almost limitless information where the only form of payment accepted and needed is a free library card.

Friends of the Library is a group in Brookhaven dedicated to promoting and enhancing such a vessel of information in Lincoln County and will have their first meeting of the year on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the Lincoln County Public Library. Friends of the Library President Pam Womack said the meeting will consist of planning for this year’s events and programs. Dues are $10 yearly and anyone interested can join.

When a similar program at a library in Rabun, Georgia, inspired Womack in 2011, she began looking to start something similar in Brookhaven. The organization soon became a reality with the help of some of her friends by 2012.

“We believe the library in every community is the foundation of the community,” Womack said. “If you just walk into the library and have the librarian or someone help you, the world opens up to you. You can find anything you need to know.”

Friends of the Library hopes to ensure that this stays a fact for the Lincoln County Public Library with its primary and ongoing source of income, a book sale held at the library.

Selling books at 25 and 50 cents a book, the sale help raises about $100 per month for the library and consists of books donated from the community. Womack said it’s a win-win situation, the organization gets steady income for the library and “practically anybody can buy a hardback or paperback book”

Money from the book sale’s other events have gone to buying new books for the library, programs for the community and a new screen and projector for the Vernon Room in 2014. During last year’s observation of National Library Week, the Friends of the Library invited Neil White, author of In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, to speak.

Womack said this past year the organization was able to raise almost $20,000, which went to the projection equipment, securing Neil White and National Library Week events. She said this year might be comprised of many smaller events rather than larger however the meeting Thursday will actually determine the outcome of that decision.

“It’s an amazing thing we have public libraries,” Womack said. “It is there for us.

Womack looks forward to the meeting, and this year’s events with a special focus on the children’s reading program that helps combat childhood illiteracy.