Starkville Public Library opens to the public in time for National Library Week
The Starkville Public Library and others in the Starkville-oktibbeha County Public Library System have been closed to the public since March 2020 because of COVID-19, and they have only been offering curbside services for the past year. However, they will be opening their doors to the public on Monday, April 5 at 9 a.m.
With the opening of the library on the first Monday of the month, the Friends of the Starkville Library decided there was no better time to have their first book sale in over a year. From noon to 6 p.m., Friends of the Starkville Library will be set up in the basement of the Starkville Public Library selling books where the most expensive books are hardbacks for only three dollars.
All of the proceeds will benefit the SPL and they accept both cash and card, but all payments with a card must be for a purchase over two dollars.
Lynn Reinschmiedt is the president of the Friends of the Starkville Public Library, and he is very happy to have the library open to the public again after a slow year.
“We obviously did not have our book sale for a year because the library was closed,” Reinschmiedt said. “There are two rooms down here [in the basement]. One is for our monthly book sale and the other is the ‘Anytime’ Room. Books there can be purchased any time for just 50 cents. For those interested in coming to the book sale, you can enter up
stairs or downstairs. We’re ready to get this started again because we are so full of books we’ve accumulated since last year. We’ve even had to, at one point in 2020, put out a sign that said we aren’t accepting donations right now.”
Last February, SPL brought on a new Library Director, Phillip Carter, who unfortunately got in and immediately had to shut the library down, but he has tried to make the most of it even while being short-staffed. If you visited the library PRE-COVID, the library now will feel more open and accessible. Carter has been able to consult with experts on how to make the most of the space in the library, and now it feels much more open than it has in the past.
“The new librarian is making a lot of changes, and he is doing things you are supposed to do with the library,” Reinschmiedt said. “You need to purge your old books that haven’t been used and checked out in a long time.”
All books coming in from being checked out must quarantine for three days before the librarians can check them in and put them back on the shelf. After the three days are up, they are wiped down and put out once again so they may be checked out.
Carter has also focused a lot on making the library more accessible, and he really wants to show the library is there for more than just books. Libraries are vital to towns, and not many people know the full extent of what a public library can do and help with.
“We’ve moved up the large print section and kept them in the smaller shelves,” Carter said. “Not only does it open up the library as soon as you walk in, but it makes this section way more ADA compliant than previously because they were all the way against the back wall and not easily accessible, which is needed with the audience for large print books. We’ve been able to move shelves and create more open space, and we eventually are going to do a whole new computer lab where the YA section currently is. Right now we are understaffed and have one of the smallest budgets per capita in the state, so we have to do with what we have right now, and I’m so grateful for everyone at SPL and in the community. You can tell people in the community really want to help.”
If you have time next week, make sure you stop into the library and support its reopening to the public. Check out everything the new director has done, and even check out the “Anytime” Room in the basement if you cannot make it out to the book sale on Monday.
If at anytime during the pandemic, you applied for a library card by email, you may pick the physical card up in person starting on Monday, April 5. The library will be open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.