MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR

Shawn Pierce LIBRARY DIRECTOR

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT WORKING AT THE POPE COUNTY LIBRARY?

We link patrons to the local economy and promote economic development through early literacy and school readiness, strategies for building workforce participation and small business support, and the library has the power of place. It has a positive impact on downtown, commercial areas and neighborhoods.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE ACTIVITIES OFFERED AT THE LIBRARY?

There are so many. We start the kids’ early literacy with 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, Sensory Story Time for Kids on the Spectrum, Mother/Daughter Technology, Engineering and Arts, and then our Life Skills 101 classes: Intro to Lighting and Photography, Nature Awareness, Painting Along With Bob Ross and Farm-to-Table on a Budget. We also offer test prep for the ACT.

WHAT RESOURCES DO LIBRARIES OFFER TO CHILDREN AND ADULTS?

Books, e-books, fishing poles and more to check out, as well as story time; science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics classes; the Steam Punks group; Teen Writers; the Writers Group for Adults; homework help; poetry; and fitness classes.

WHAT MIGHT SURPRISE PEOPLE ABOUT THE LIBRARY?

We are like a community center focused on literacy. We are not quiet.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT THE RUSSELLVILLE COMMUNITY?

The interconnectedness, wheteher everyone realizes it or not. The people, civic groups, businesses, industry — just everything. Everyone depends on everyone else.

WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE A FIRST-TIME VISITOR IN RUSSELLVILLE?

To the library to get a library card.

WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER RUSSELLVILLE’S HIDDEN GEM?

The Katie Murdoch Genealogy and Arkansas History Room in the Pope County Library.