The Mississippi County Library System and its Blytheville location have been a hot subject of discussion since MCLS director Lowell Walters went public with the Blytheville building's desperate need of repairs to the roof and HVAC system.
At the time, the fate of the Blytheville library was up in the air; however, since then several entities have stepped up within the city to help create a solution for the library's problem. On Tuesday, Walters held a public forum at the Blytheville library to gauge interest for starting a volunteer group called "The Friends of the Blytheville Library."
Walters stated that Melissa Moriarty reached out on Facebook to find out what Blytheville citizens could do to help the situation that the library is in.
"When I heard that the library may be closing due to the situation that they have with the air conditioner and the roof it just really hurt me because the library plays such a key part. Growing up, I went to the summer library programs and I had the ability to read a world of books that I didn't have at my own house…a town without a library, it is like its lost its heart and we can't allow that here," Moriarty said.
The new "Friends of the Library" group will partner with MCLS and the MCLS foundation, which is a 501c3 that is, according to Walters, in the works to allow those who give private donations to the library the ability to have a tax write-off.
Walters would like for the friends group to become organizers for all volunteer efforts within the Blytheville library. The group could potentially help organize themed events that would occur at the library, volunteer cleanups, student volunteer efforts and other community involved events.
Walters also went into details about plans he has for the library and how libraries are evolving in the modern day. He stated that libraries are becoming less about books and more like "community living rooms." The Blytheville library and the Osceola library are MCLS's facilities with the biggest surrounding populations and Walters would like to see both libraries focus on different aspects of learning for their communities. The plan that was discussed was to evolve the Blytheville library with technologies related to math and science and evolve the Osceola library with resources towards performing arts.
Additionally, Walters stated plans are to integrate a small café or other similar food services within the library. He stated that the stigma with libraries not allowing food or drink is not really valid because the libraries can't control if you have food around books once you check them out.
In other business, the current plan to fix the building's roof and HVAC system is to have the city deed the building to MCLS. Afterward, MCLS will take out a loan on the property to have the repairs done. Currently, the Blytheville Finance Committee has approved the deeding of the property and the MCLS board has agreed to consider accepting the property from the city. The Blytheville City Council will vote on the issue on Tuesday.
gwilliams@blythevillecourier.com