Library hits road for funds
Hernando-based regional program is seeking $5.3M
“I like the puzzles,” said 4-year- old Jacy Jarman, grandson of Dana Tutor, as he stayed busy at the Hernando Public Library.
And he loves the stories and the dancing, as he joined this week with dozens of other youngsters for a “Digging Up Trouble with Leprechauns” story session animatedly led by library youth program specialist Denise McOwen. Meanwhile, older youths and adults were engaged nearby on computers or eyeing books and DVDs.
The day before, on Tuesday, the Wild Goose Chase Puppet Theatre troupe of the Nashville area performed the rollicking pirate tale “The Legend of Walter Weirdbeard,” first at the Hernando library and another show at the Southaven branch.
“It was a scream, and it was funny for adults, too,” said Hernando head librarian Heather Lawson. “They even had Abe Lincoln in a bathing suit.”
After much tragedy and travail, Weirdbeard’s crew finds a fabled treasure chest, only to discover that it holds only old, musty books. Mutiny and mayhem erupt, but Weirdbeard keeps the crew at bay by reading aloud from the books, leading his pirates — and little listeners at the libraries — into the world of the imagination and revealing what a treasure books can be.
On Friday evening, there was a “Digging Music” concert of local bands at the Hernando branch as part of the “Can You Dig It?” summer theme, and next Friday there’s magician Tommy Terrific’s “Magical Dinosaur Dig” show at 11 a.m.
For the Hernando-based First Regional System of public libraries serving DeSoto and four other counties, shows range from summer fun with pirates, leprechauns and dinosaurs to a serious side as library officials take a crucial presentation for funding on the road. The annual effort led by system director Catherine Nathan seeks funds to operate 13 branches during the next fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
“We’ve already been to the city of Tunica and the Tunica County Supervisors,” said Nathan, who made the library’s appeal to Hernando aldermen on Tuesday and to Crenshaw officials on Thursday.
“I’ll be doing 18 presentations in all, one each to our five counties and to the 13 cities and towns in these counties where we have branches. That’s my summer,” said Nathan.
The system serves Tate, Panola and Lafayette counties in addition to DeSoto and Tunica, and racks up tens of thousands of patron visits each week.
“We’d like to get $5.3 million in all, but we do get some state and federal dollars and grants,” said Nathan.
The challenge is that library usage is surging as cities and counties still contend with flat or uncertain revenues in the wake of the recession.
In Hernando, Nathan asked “for $105,000, the same as last year, or one full mill, whichever is greater, to help the Hernando Public Library build community.”
To help make the case, she brought along library chief Lawson, who said visits in just one recent week were at nearly 3,000.
Retiree Richard Johnson spoke movingly of how he has gradually lost eyesight, but with the library’s audio books he has been able continue the joy of “reading.”
Lola Shock said she teaches a GED class, and the library “gives my students computer access and access to books they need.” And more, it gives them “a second chance, and gives their children and grandchildren a chance they didn’t have, to learn and grow.”
Nathan’s show garnered good reviews in Hernando, her first DeSoto stop.
“The library does a great job,” said Mayor Chip Johnson, noting that many use its computers to file applications for work.
“We can’t commit this early in the budget process, but I think I speak for the Board of Aldermen in that we’ll try our best to meet their request” of $105,000 or one mill.
Associated Press
JACKSON — Country music star Jimmie Rodgers will be celebrated this weekend at the annual Mississippi Picnic in New York City, where a musician will play songs recently recorded using a guitar once owned by Rodgers.
Britt Gully used Rodgers’ custom Martin guitar in February to record a tribute album at the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian, Rodgers’ hometown. The museum owns the guitar.
It was the first time the guitar had been played in a recording session in years.
Gully, who is from Kemper County, said the guitar is valued at $1 million.
He’ll play a replica of the instrument Saturday during the picnic at Central Park, an annual gathering of Mississippians who live in the New York