Friends of Library discuss grants, commends coordinator for work
The budget for the Malvern/Hot Spring County Public Library does not allow for all the programming needed to take library services to the entire population. But, the Library—working through the Friends of the Library—has been able to obtain grants to help fill at least some of the void. Barry Honold, who works for the Library as Bookmobile Coordinator, has volunteered to also serve as the grants liaison with the Friends. The results have been impressive.
Among the grants received by the Friends was a $1,500 gift from US Bank to be used to purchase a new bounce house and prizes for the Library’s summer reading program. Entergy has awarded a grant of $675 to be used for the Halloween Comic Fest, the Main Street Trick or Treat, and the Birthday Club. The Arkansas Humanities
Council funded a grant in the amount of $1,000 to purchase studio equipment for the production of good quality programming videos.
Most recently, a grant in the amount of $2,500 has been received to help purchase a book sanitizer, a device which will quickly disinfect returned library books. This will enable the Library to abandon the three-day quarantine in which books are now held before putting them back into circulation.
The Library Board of Trustees matched the grant, and the sanitizer has been ordered.
Clif Crawford, president of the Friends of the Library, said Honold’s work on behalf of the Friends grants program is greatly appreciated.
He also praised Honold for “volunteering his time in seeking grant funding sources and then writing grant applications—often a tedious process.”
Honold has worked at the Library for more than seven years. As part of his duties as bookmobile coordinator, attends community festivals for various schools, and he manages the Books-by-Mail program and the Library Birthday Club.
Honold is a native of Malvern. As a child, he attended Story Time at the Library and he can recall graduating to the Hardy Boys books before finding the joys of adult fiction.