The Magee Public Library

     What does it take to start up a library in your community? A strong desire from the people that live in the community. And that is how it all begins in Magee, Mississippi.

    The Library began in 1935 on the 2nd floor of the State Guaranty Bank under the leadership of Ms. Maude Turner. The WPA (Works Progress Administration). 

    Fast forward to 1937, the Library is now in a far left section of the Community House and is renamed Mims Williams Memorial Library. Mims Williams was a prominent and highly respected business owner in Magee. Mrs. Williams was very active in bringing culture and education to her community. 

    In 1974, Mrs. Inez Shannon became the Librarian of Magee. Thanks to her tireless efforts, as well as the support of the Women's Club and local leaders, a new building was constructed which still stands to this day. I always love hearing stories from patrons who helped move books from the Community House to the new library building. Apparently, someone would pass the books out the window for others to carry over. It sounds like everyone had a great time helping out. This was just one example of how Mrs. Inez knew how to bring her community together. 

In a small town like Magee, the library was more about the librarians themselves rather than the building. Patrons fondly remember Inez Shannon (on the far left), Billie Terrell (my mentor, on the far right), Marge King, Mrs. Tootsie, Mrs. Mary, Garnet Craft, and Peggy Nowell for their invaluable help to the community and their enjoyable programs. I'm personally convinced that Mrs. Inez could have written a book about all the interesting things patrons have shared with me. For instance, one person (whose name I won't share) admitted to placing a possum in the book drop when they were a teenager. Luckily, Mrs. Inez was the one who discovered it. She forgave the prankster of their misdeed and allowed them back in the library. I'm certain she knew every child in the school.

    Mrs. Tootsie, Mrs. Mary, and Mrs. Peggy, all helped in making this library an inviting place to be in the community. The kids from the schoolhouse always found their way down the block after school to the library. The Librarians always kept them in control cause the kids knew the Librarians knew their moms and dads and sometimes their coaches! I don't know who the football players were more scared of, their parents or the coach? It was funny seeing their faces!

    To this day, we still have the beginning library collection. It is housed in the grey cabinets in the hall area. Do we ever plan to get rid of them? I hope not, I think it is a standing tribute to the hard work and dedication of Maude Turner and the Women's Club of Magee. 

    With the community's help, I hope to see the library still vibrant in the years to come.

    

The Story and History of Evon A. Ford ( Taylorsville) Public Library

 The Story of Evon A. Ford( Taylorsville) Public Library 

We have had a great outpouring of help and upgrades to our library in the past year made possible by our town employees, mayor, Friends of the Library, and our volunteers, which have made it all possible.

Our library was built in 1975. Ruth Walley was our town librarian a well-educated woman from Australia, after Ms. Walley retired, Ms. Frances Gregg began her time as our town librarian and was here for about 15 years. Joyce Mckinley then took over as librarian in 2005, after being a sub for two years prior. There have only been three librarians at our library since its opening in 1975.

Our mayor was John Locke Bryant at the time the library was built. Evon A. Ford of which whose home originally sat on the property until it burned in the early 70s donated the land that our library sits on.

Our Friends of the Library are very active in our library they can always be depended on to help with programming, as well as volunteering for anything we need help with. For example, for the upgrading of our carpet, The Friends of the Library offered their help, as well as funds to feed our volunteers as they helped box books and move the shelving, and then unboxed and put books back on shelves. A couple of years ago the Friends of the Library upgraded our bathrooms and we got new sinks, countertops, and toilets. They also upgraded our children’s area with new flooring a few years ago. Recently they have had our carpets cleaned and the floors cleaned and waxed. They are also working on replacing our doors.

Our mayor, Kelli Phipps has also provided her services and the town employees on keeping the grounds up kept, and clean as well as helping with moving things and keeping the inside maintained.

Our patrons are a great part of making our Smith County libraries a great success and asset to our communities. Our statistics reflect how well we are received in our towns and communities. With 25,883 visits in Fiscal 2022, we have 9,266 library cardholders. Our circulation of materials was 19,078. We have had 5,000 patrons attend our programs and 1,896 computer users for the fiscal year of 2022, Our WiFi has been used for 3,455 sessions.

All in all, our community, patron’s city, and county officials, and our Friends of the Library make our library what it is today and with their help, our coming year will be even bigger and better than our previous year. With more programming and more to offer to the community.

We are open Monday-Friday from 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. We are closed on Saturday and Sunday. We offer photo copying (Black and White, Color), Sanning, Faxing, Wireless Printing, WiFi. We were the honored as the Branch of the Year for the medium division in 2023. The Branch Manager is Joyce McKinley and the Youth Specialist is Jackie Jernigan. 

 

 

 

R. T. Prince Memorial Library: The Journey to Becoming a real Library

 R.T. Prince Memorial library was first established in 1960. The library was originally located in the Mize Community Center. The library's grand opening was held on July 15, 1962, from 3-5pm. From 1960-1980 the library was part of the “Capital Area Regional Library System.” In 1981, the library became part of the “Jackson Metropolitan Library System.” The library remained in the “Jackson Metropolitan Library System” until 1989. From 1989 to the present, the library has been under the “Central Mississippi Regional Library System.” In 1995, the library was moved to its current location on HWY 28. Its current location was originally a health department. The following year after relocating the library was dedicated as R.T. Prince Memorial Library. In 2008, a “Friends of the Library” group was created. The friend group is one of the best assets to the library. The library has been through many changes over the years, from location to hours, to everything in between. No matter these changes, it has always managed to remain open and available to the public. As of December 8, 2015, the friends of the library built a tardis. The tardis is a “little free library” based on the popular Dr. Who series.

The library moved again during COVID, 2020-2021. The location was closed in March 2020 for COVID and remained closed until January 2021. In January the R. T. Prince Memorial Library opened its door in the Old Trustmark Bank building at 302 Hwy. 28 West.  This move doubled the size of the Library and provided more room to have Summer Library Programs and more parking!

The library has two public computers, Wi-Fi access, books, DVDs, and a few blue rays. The R. T. Prince Memorial Library is also home to a drive-through feature, the only one in the whole system! Yes! Patrons can use it! Make a request online and make sure your pickup location is Mize.

The Prince can also brag that we had the first child in the Central Mississippi Regional Library System who completed the 1,000 Books before Kindergarten! Her name is Ashley McAlister. The Friends group treated her to a T-shirt, and a Walmart gift card and she was the star of the Christmas parade float.

The Blue Tardis was the Little Free Library outside of the Library. Since the Library could not be open more than 10 hours a week, Dick Ford and the Friends of the Library wanted to give the community the opportunity to read more books.  They sold the high school annuals on CD to raise the funds for the building of the  Tardis. It was a community favorite until a storm came in 2019 and created damage to the doors and the top of the box. It has been greatly missed. As soon as the Tardis is repaired, it will come home to the new building. 

The future looks bigger and brighter for the Prince but it will take the community to increase it more! Come by and see the crowning glory of this community. 

 

 

 

 

Pearl Public Library: Humble Beginnings

The Pearl River, which separates Pearl on the East side from Jackson on the West today, initially brought settlers to the area for agricultural purposes. Jackson, MS became the state capitol in 1822. In the 1940s, development from the capital city spilled over into Rankin county and more and more residents were calling it home. 

As all members of a civilized society will tell you, the town needed a library!  Residents of Rankin County were growing tired of having to cross the river and go to Jackson for basic needs. One library patron recalls having to go to Jackson for decent clothing at Howard's Department Store on Ellis Ave. Jackson also had the only children's clinic near the Jackson Mall off of Medgar Evers Blvd. All library needs were also being met in the capital city. In 1966, a library was established in Bright Shopping Center in what is now the Country Fisherman Cafe. 

City of Pearl Historian Chris Reid shared the following about the new library construction: 

In July of 1976, the Pearl Board of Alderman approved a contract with architect Charles F. Craig for the construction of a new library. By April 1977, the library's construction was well underway. The effort began 9 years earlier when the Director of the Rankin County Library System, Vance H. Dyess, applied for a matching grant through the Mississippi Library Commission to build a new library. Under the terms of the grant, the $400,000 construction cost would be split equally between the Library Commission and the City of Pearl, as funds became available to the Commission from the state legislature. When Dyess first applied for the grant, Pearl was No. 36 on the list and it took until 1976 to move to the No. 1 spot.

Unfortunately by 1977, the city was plagued with infrastructure issues and many citizens felt that the $200,000 price tag that Pearl was responsible for could be put to better use elsewhere. It was a hard choice -- either build at that time, and at the minimum square footage of 15,000 or lose any chance of getting the grant again. 

Fortunately, the need for a library won out! On November 14, the former library closed and began transitioning its materials (some 20,000 volumes) to the new facility at 3470 Highway 80 East. On January 15, 1978, the grand opening was held with guest speakers Evelyn Gandy, Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, Jim Buck Ross, Commissioner of Agriculture, and Mayor Harris Harvey.

The Pearl Press - March 3, 1977

The Pearl Press - April 21, 1977

In October of 1986, Hinds County pulled out to create its own library system and the Pearl Library became the Headquarters location for a brand new library system! That's right folks, the Central Mississippi Regional Library System was born. 

"The Library on the Hill" 1987

Penny Donald Stewart, a former Pearl Library shelver shared a story with us: "In high school, I worked as a shelver at the library on the hill during the evening and weekend hours. Before we used computers to do research (aka the internet), I took a phone call from a gentleman wanting to know what "E pluribus unum" on the back of our currency meant. We did not have any research librarians that worked in the evenings so I went on a search on my own. After checking latin dictionaries and the like I recruited Billy, my shelving co-worker. We searched for quite some time when I had the thought to use the World Book encyclopedias in the children's department. There it was! E pluribus unum meaning "out of many, one" referring to the thirteen original colonies becoming one nation."

She went on to say, "That experience helped solidify my desire to work as a librarian even though it took me another 25 years to return to the library world. The fact that sometimes the simplest, easiest tool can be the best was a lesson I never forgot."

Penny is now a Patron Services Specialist at Blount County Public Library in Maryville, TN.

The Rankin County News featured the Pearl Library weekly and here are some updates from August 1987. As you can see, the library has changed a lot since then! The library is boasting a purchase of Reader's Guide as far back as 1930 and magazines dating from 1980. Also, new VHS tapes on home improvement and the ACT have been acquired. The Babysitters Club series is available, and boy that brings me back! The Pearl Library in this location was right up the hill from my house growing up. My sister and I would walk there and check out all of the Babysitters Club and Goosebumps books. 

In 2005, a brand new library was built in the current location at 2416 Old Brandon Road right next to the old high school which is now City Hall. Today we have numerous digital resources, a computer lab, programs for every age group, and our card catalogs are all online. But as former Pearl staffer Penny says, sometimes the simplest way to find information is through an encyclopedia or physical book. Good thing we still have plenty of those too! 

Harrisville Public Library, Where the Community Comes Together

         Before we get to the story of the Harrisville Library, I feel that you need to know a little bit about the history of the community.

    Harrisville is located 13 miles West of Mendenhall. The community wasn't always known as Harrisville. When the community was established it was called "Buck Snort". When they established the post office in 1860, the name was changed to Harrisville after H. H. Harris who settled in the community prior to 1860. 

    Driving through Harrisville now you wouldn't believe it was once a bustling little town. H. C. Carrot was the first postmaster, along with running the post office he ran a general store. J. T. Rodger built a grist mill & sawmill in the early days. The school was taught in the Methodist Church until 1890 when a nice two-story schoolhouse was built. in the 1900s a rice mill, a cotton gin, and a blacksmith shop were also built. At the turn of the century, Harrisville boasted three general stores, a drug store, a blacksmith shop, four doctors, two churches, a school, and a Masonic Lodge. All that was missing was a library.

    In 1974 The Harrisville Library Committee was formed. It was sponsored by the Senior Citizens Club. When the library was first formed it was first located in a storage room of a store owned by the Iveys'. It contained about four shelves and had about five hundred books that were supplied by the MS Library Commission. In 1977, Willie Jean Shorter, who was a member of the Friends of the Library Group was drafted by the community as a volunteer Librarian. She served in a volunteer capacity for many years before becoming a paid staff member. Harrisville Public Library became part of the Jackson Metropolitan Library, then in 1986 the system split and Rankin, Scott, Smith, and Simpson formed the Central Mississippi Regional Library System.

    When the library began to outgrow the location at Ivey's store, two more buildings were used, one at the school and the other at a small building not far from its current location. That building is still standing but in bad shape. Patrons that were children at the time tell me that it had a small room downstairs where Mrs. Shorter held story time and library events.

    The community wanted more, they wanted a "real" library. In 1990 the Friends started fundraising and seeking donations from businesses and private donors. On April 17, 1991, groundbreaking ceremonies were held on land donated by the county. The community did it, through fundraising and donations they raised the money to build their real library. To help keep down the cost of the building, community members donated their time, skills, and labor to build the library. In February 1993, the Harrisville Community cut the ribbon to open their new building. On April 18, 1993, they held a dedication ceremony inviting the public and state representatives to enjoy their new library. There is a plaque in the library with the names of individuals, businesses, and organizations that helped build the library.

    Mrs. Willie Jean Shorter went on the serve as a librarian for many more years until her retirement. After Mrs. Shorter's retirement, Harrisville Library had several more librarians until June 2013, when Kathie Ward was hired for the position.

    The summer library program has always been very popular and continues to bring in kids from all over the community. We have added more programs over the years such as bingo, family game night, craft programs, etc. We also have computers for the public to use along with free WiFI. Services we offer include, faxing, black & white and color printing, and scanning to email. We have several digital resources as well including, World Book Encyclopedia, Freegal Music (free legal music - downloads and streaming), Cloud Library (eBook & e Audios), Rocket Language, Flipster (digital magazines), and so much more and more to come.

    The Harrisville Library has come a long way since 1974. If you haven't been in the library in a while, I would like to encourage you to stop by. Check out our new books, and our DVD collection, or just stop in for a visit with Mrs. Kathie.

    I wanted to include some photos that I found while searching for information on the library. Some are articles from past programs at the old library(s) and others are pictures from the school and community. 

Picture of County Librarians at a reception for the retirement of  Marian Lyons, director in charge of extension from the Metropolitan Library System. Willie Jean Shorter is on the far right end. 

Date unknown

Old Tally-Ho parked in front of Harrisville Consolidated School pictured was dated 1918.

A fleet of eight T-model open touring buses -"Tally-hos" - transported high school as well as elementary students.

Santa Visits the Library. These boys and girls made sure to stop by and let Santa know that they were on the nice list this year. Date unknown

Summer Reading Program winners and participants. Date unknown.

Dr. Neely served the community for 50+ years. On his 50th anniversary of serving the community, 

the community gave him a 1949 Ford.

Last is a poem written by one of the local citizens titled

"Who's Who in Harrisville" included you will see a picture of what downtown Harrisville looked like.

Lake Library Through the Years

                 In 1935 in a small building that had been a barber shop and had the Masonic Lodge as its upstairs neighbor, the first Lake Library was formed.  It was started as part of the Economic Recovery Act (a depression program.  Mrs. Edyth Jones Mc Combs was the first librarian.  Her salary was small and provided from funds through the Works Progress Administration.  This enabled her to be open a few hours each week to allow people to check out books and hold a story hour as it was called then. 

                In 1937, women and children from the community gathered in the Sunday School rooms of the Lake Baptist Church for a fundraiser sponsored by the Rose Garden Club.  It was a lemonade tea party.  Each person brought a lemon and when the lemon was cut, every seed was counted.  For each seed, a penny was paid into a fund to buy books for the town library.  After the seeds were counted and the money was paid, the lemons were used to make lemonade and served with cookies.  Even a penny was a sacrifice in those days, but in a world with no televisions or internet, books were a much-needed pastime as well.  This is one of many types of fundraisers practiced through the years.

                Sometime around 1937-8, the library was moved into a small room in the new grammar school and remained there for over a decade. In 1942, Mrs. McCombs moved to Hattiesburg and the library was run by volunteers including Mrs. Erline Street, Mrs. Myrtle Monk, and Mrs. Gussie Wilkerson. They would travel to the Forest Library, which was partly funded through county taxes, each week and borrow several boxes of books.  This gave a wider variety of books for the readers to choose from. 

                During WWII, Mrs. Laura Cole Smythe became the volunteer librarian.  There were more books on the shelf by now, but fundraising was still needed.  The Rose Garden Club continued to offer a variety of programs to help with this.  One that was very popular was held on July 22, 1949.  It was an entertainment program that included a “Tom Thumb Wedding” and raised $200!

                The Town Board of Lake has always been a great supporter of the library.  On November 5, 1946, they passed an order to contribute a monthly sum of $7.50 to the library, and on October 7, 1947, it was voted to continue the support for an indefinite period.  This money could have been used to give Mrs. Smythe a small salary or to purchase books and supplies.  In August 1948, $100 was given to purchase books.  In November 1950, a committee was formed to sponsor the library and by February 1951, Mrs. Smythe’s salary was increased to $30 a month which included her shared duties as the librarian and town clerk.

                In August 1952 Mrs. Smythe resigned and Mrs. Mary Weems was employed to succeed her.  It was during this time that Scott County entered the Capital Area Regional Library System.  You can still find books in the Lake Library with the stamp from this system today. 

                In 1955, under the approval of the CARL System and town board, the library was moved to a new location.  There was a town building that was partially rented as a grocery store by Mr. Thornton.  The area used as the feed room was remodeled and then used for the town office, the post office, and the library.  Now with more space, Mrs. Weems was able to have classes visit from the school and have special programs for the children in the summer.

                Mrs. Weems retired after fifteen years in 1967.  She was succeeded by Mrs. Mary Lucy Monk who served until October 1970.  Then Mrs. Brenda Martin was hired, and she served in this position until January 1981. Her mother, Mrs. Rachel Vance was then hired and worked until October 1986.

                During this time, the library continued to be housed in the same location.  It had been almost twenty years and the building was starting to deteriorate.  The roof was leaking, and the foundation had shifted causing cracks in the walls.  The post office moved to a new building in 1964.  The town had been saving to either renovate or build a new building.  After the front façade and part of the top of the building collapsed onto the sidewalk in front of the door to the library, it was decided to tear down the current building and rebuild on the same site.  The library and town office were temporarily moved into the home of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Harris for ten months.  On July 5, 1976, a Bicentennial program was held with a ribbon cutting at the new building.  

                Buildings weren’t the only changes taking place.  The Capital Area Regional Library System merged with the Jackson Metropolitan Library System and Lake Library remained there until the Central Mississippi Regional Library System was formed in October 1986.  Mrs. Rachel Vance remained through all these changes, but Mrs. Jean Evans started in November 1986 with the system that the library is still under today.  While Mrs. Evans was the librarian, the mayor (her husband) gave the library his office for use because it needed more space.  This allowed her to move the library desk from the foyer to the office and have some room for storage and checking out books. She resigned in November 1994 after the passing of her husband.   

                Mrs. Dorothy Vance took over in 1995 and the current librarian, Mrs. Selena Swink was hired in March 1997.  The library still wasn’t done growing either.  In 1999, it was automated, and books were no longer stamped at check out or cards signed to keep track of who had them. Everything was now done on the computer.  In 2008, the “new” town hall underwent a remodel.  The garage in the back of the building which had housed the fire department was transformed into a modern library.  The area of the building that had once held the library became a meeting room that could also be used for library programs too large to fit in the library.  The library has gone from being open nine hours a week in 1997 to being open twenty hours a week in 2014. It has also won branch of the year in CMRLS in the years 2013, 2016, and most recently 2022. 

                Every achievement that Lake Library has seen through the years is because of the support of the community.  In Lake, we know we are small and humble, so we appreciate what we have and work to promote progress in our town and we aren’t done growing yet.

Library Lovers Month

National Library Lover’s Month is celebrated in February and is dedicated to the people who love libraries. 

Libraries provide so much more than just books.

• Libraries provide Story Time for Preschoolers. They offer activities, music, art, and friendship.
• Many communities rely on their libraries for meeting space for public groups, meetings, fundraisers, and classes.
• They provide resources for researching family and community heritage.
• Libraries lend media like movies and music.
• They offer digital resources like ebooks and Audiobooks for the entire community to use.

So this month, check out what your library has to offer!