Phillip Carter tells people all the time he is a “bad librarian.”
He’s not the person to ask about big-name authors or bestselling fiction, since he prefers to read nonfiction, the Starkville-Oktibbeha Public Library System director told the Starkville Rotary Club at its Monday meeting. But he described himself as “very community-focused.”
“I believe in community development, and I saw public libraries as a place where I could have a lot of influence on the community,” Carter said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020, the Starkville library received between 10,000 and 14,000 visits per month, which adds up to about 150,000 visits per year, Carter said. That translates to about three visits per capita in Oktibbeha County’s population of about 50,000.
Now, the library is open for curbside pickup from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and computer usage is by appointment only, with a limit on how many people are allowed inside the building at once.
The city owns the building on University Drive, and aldermen decided in October to ask the state Legislature to consider funding a project to relocate it. If successful, the library would move from its 60-year-old location to the stretch of Highway 182 that will be revamped in the next few years with federal grant money.
“Right now the conversation — and nothing’s set in stone — is to put us on that 182 corridor as part of that remodel to sort of anchor it, to build a community hub,” Carter said.
He said he is “not keen on” potentially giving up the library’s downtown location on University Drive, but he would accept the trade-off for more parking and the ability to tailor a new building’s design to the library’s needs, if the Legislature agrees to fund it.
The current library has undergone a few renovations over the years, but an existing space has its limits, Carter said. The building was originally a courthouse, and a new building always designed as a library would allow the system to plan for future growth, he said.
In July, he asked the city and county, which both fund the library system, to help replace the building’s aging air conditioning unit, since state law prevents library systems from using their own money for building maintenance.
Both entities expressed hesitation about increasing overall funding for the library system due to the financial challenges of the pandemic, but the county ultimately agreed to a funding increase, and the city set aside some money for library maintenance and repair, Carter said.
The county’s system of libraries also includes the ones in Sturgis and Maben, and the entire system is currently four full-time positions short of meeting state accreditation requirements, an issue that more funding would fix, he said.
Carter shared several more ideas for enhancing the library’s role as a community resource and gathering space. Friends of the Library, the nonprofit group that financially supports the library system, recently received a $2,500 grant from the Tennessee Valley Authority to purchase video and podcasting equipment. Carter said the grant, which the library will match in full, will aid the library’s efforts to modernize its technology and outreach.
The library is also in the process of applying for a $36,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to replace its old computers, Carter said. The library would cover 30 percent of the grant.
Carter said the library needs a dedicated space for a computer lab, and when gathering in groups is safe again, he hopes to institute workshops for people to learn how to write resumes and search for jobs.
The purpose of libraries has evolved beyond just checking out books and using computers for free, Carter said, since they are also the home of Wi-Fi access and community makerspaces.
“When I get these questions about (whether) people still use the library, it’s almost always someone who used it in the old mode, in the old role that it used to fill, as a place to get books to go home and read, or a quiet place to study,” he said.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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