August 18, 2016 - The Center Rotary Club presented a $2,000 check to the Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library on Tuesday, August 16, 2016. The donated funds were proceeds from the What-A-Melon Festival 5K which was held Saturday, July 9th. The chairperson for the 5K was Rotary club member Scott Stanfield.
The club meets at noon on Tuesdays for a luncheon meeting at the John D. Windham Civic Center. However, for their last meeting they were guests of the library enjoying their luncheon in the Redditt Room. Kathy Sawyer, the newest member of the library team, presented a program on the library and the services they offer which have helped to maintain the library's involvement in the community.
Since 2011, funding for the library has changed drastically as government funding was cut which the facility relied on for day to day operating expenses. The Friends of the Library was started to help offset the deficit left by the cut backs.
Sawyer said, "This library is pretty amazing actually. The city is very supportive of us, we certainly could not function without the support we get through the city. But other than that we are strictly funded through our donations and grants."
Describing some of the changes in the funding, Sawyer described some of the new plans the library has, "We are going to be asking our community to donate to the library based on sponsorship. Sponsor the library card, the actual cards, they are very expensive. Just little things like that individuals, businesses can actually sponsor." The library plans to roll out the new sponsorship program in October.
Additional future plans for the library include building partnerships with other area libraries or media centers. The library is already a part of the Piney Woods Digital Consortium which gives library users a large selection of online eBooks and audio books.
For more information about the Fannie Brown Booth Library, visit it online at http://www.centerlibrary.org/
