Librarian Joins McDonald County Staff

The McDonald County Library has a new librarian.

Kim Schneider, of Bentonville, Ark., started work at the library’s main branch in Pineville on Feb. 13. She comes to McDonald County after serving seven years as library manager at Gravette, Ark.

She graduated from Rogers High School in 1979 and completed college at Oklahoma Wesleyan University with a degree in psychology. In 2015 the board of directors at the Gravette Library asked her to go back to school to get her master’s in library science. She will finish that degree this year through the University of

North Texas.

“I have a passion for libraries, and I love people of all ages,” Schneider said. “I’m excited because I just got a grant to help my Noel branch get computers. Now I have summer reading to plan, which will start June 3. We have a book sale coming up April 3. So I’m already planning a lot of things.”

“It’s going to be a challenge because I went from one library to three libraries and more staff, but I’m adjusting to it,” she said. “I’ve always admired this library. I love Southwest City. The library is beautiful. Noel is very impressive to be such a small library but an active library. I’ve got good people

that run all three libraries.”

Asked what plans she has for making changes to the library system, Schneider said she won’t change anything in her first year.

“This is my time of getting adjusted and them getting adjusted to me,” she said. “What I want to do is get more grants. I already got one in my first 30 days for Noel.”

She explained that Tyson employees at Noel use the Noel library, and Crowder College has partnered with the library to help the employees get their GEDs. The computers at the library were slow and needed to be replaced, she said. She went to Tyson for a grant for newer computers. She got a $7,000 grant for seven computers.

Schneider will soon begin working on plans for the library’s summer reading program. She will go to all the schools in the county and pitch the program’s theme, “Build a Better World.” She noted the library had, under the previous librarian, received a grant from the state for $12,000 for the summer reading program, and now she is implementing the program.

“I love the job,” she said. “I’m excited to be here.”