McLane, a Willow Glen native, was recently named the new executive director of the San Jose Public Library Foundation. Her job is to help raise the additional funds the $212 million branch library bond measure doesn't cover. Voters approved the bond in 2000.

"When the opportunity arose to come over to the library, I thought what a fantastic opportunity to actually be able to leave a legacy with the library system here in San Jose. That's really what motivated me," McLane says.

The library system includes more than a dozen branches, with six more to be added by 2011. Raising the necessary funding could be a daunting undertaking, but McLane says she is ready for the challenge.

"I've been a fundraiser my whole life and I really love it. I've worked for places that have some special meaning to me. I actually find it quite enjoyable," says McLane, who was the former business manager for the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association.

She is also motivated by what she has seen at the four libraries that have been completed--Vineland, Tulley Community, Berryessa and Dr. Roberto Cruz Alum Rock branches.

"I've been out to visit some of the libraries that have already been built with the bond money," McLane says. "I've seen what a dramatic change there is from our old branches. It's truly incredible. I think the citizens are going to be thrilled with their new libraries."

McLane sees the new libraries being constructed as state-of-the-art, with teen centers, community rooms and expanded collections.

"Everything will be the greatest we can have," McLane says.

In her new position she will assist the foundation in raising funds for furnishings, fixtures, equipment and technology.

Familiar calling

For McLane, fundraising has been part of her life since the age of 7, when she started raising money for the American Heart Association.

"My father died from congenital heart defects when I was 7," McLane says. "My mother was a nurse and so she said, 'Mary, we're going to do something to help the McLanes and we're going to go out and raise some money for the Heart Association.' "

McLane would go door-to-door asking for contributions to the "Dear Neighbor Program." At first she went with her mother. Then as a teenager, she went by herself. McLane says she did that for years.

That first taste of fundraising turned into a lifelong commitment of contributing to causes she believed were important.

"Over the years I've always been somehow related to the AHA, because of our family history," she says. "In 1998 the opportunity came up to work there, and it was perfect. It wasn't just by happenstance, it was a conscious decision that it was where I wanted to go."

McLane was with the American Heart Association for seven years before accepting the position with the library foundation.

Yet the association continues to have a personal connection in her life. McLane lost her sister to congenital heart disease in 1999 and her brother to a heart attack earlier this year.

"My sister died six weeks after I started at the Heart Association and my brother died about six weeks before I left," she says.

In September McLane honored her brother's memory with a team called the Donettes during the American Heart Walk, an event she was responsible for planning for many years.

She also stays connected to past employers, including her undergraduate alma mater, Santa Clara University, and KTEH.

"I don't leave them too far behind."

And she has opened her heart in other ways.

In 1992 McLane traveled with her choir on a singing tour that visited Russia.

"When I came back from there, San Jose was starting to form a sister city relationship with a place called Ekaterinburg," says McLane.

Two years ago McLane adopted a daughter from Russia. Her daughter turns 10 in November.

"I love being at the library; it's a great environment to be in," McLane says.

San Jose Public Library director Jane Light is thrilled to be working McLane.

"We're really lucky to have someone with so much local experience and so well-known in the community."