Leadership class of ?05 donates $2,500 to library
The 2005 Leadership McMinnville class recently made a significant donation to Magness Library which, as part of a new fundraising effort by the library, will be designated to help furnish and equip the library?s new expansion which is currently in progress.
The $2,500 donation will be used to purchase equipment to maintain the books at the facility, according to library director Mary Robbins and library board chairman Pat Bigbee.
?This donation will go to purchase a workstation which we?ll be using to cover and repair our books,? Robbins said. ?It?s something we have needed for a long time. We have almost 42,000 books in here, and if people use them, and that?s what they?re here for, then they?re going to get a bit ragtag every once in a while and we need a way to keep them in good repair. Then we also have our new books that we have to cover when they come in. This is a critical piece of equipment for the library, so we really appreciate this donation.?
Bigbee said some people may wonder why the library would need to do fundraising, since the facility received some significant donations in recent years, but she pointed out that money is being used to fund the building project itself, so as a result, Magness is beginning a major fundraising drive in an effort to raise the money needed to furnish and equip the new facility.
?We?re so excited about the library and how it?s coming along as far as the building part of it,? Bigbee said. ?But an empty building isn?t going to help anybody, so we really need a lot of items to furnish this new section to make it a viable facility. And that?s really why we?re having this fundraiser.?
Robbins says the expansion project is designed to bring Magness Library into the new century technology-wise.
?We want to be able to serve the community at the level that the community needs,? Robbins said. ?There are so many avenues right now that we are exploring. We are adding new departments, like the Southern Heritage Room, which is all about the history and heritage of the southeast region. Some think this is just about the Civil War, but it?s not. It goes all the way back to the revolution and then comes on through the space age and computer age.
?It?s music, it?s literature, it?s science, education,? Robbins said. ?It?s all of those things. Another small but growing department that Pat and I are very proud of is our business and community development department. We have an outstanding genealogy department,? Robbins added. ?We?re very proud of that.?
And, of course, no modern expansion project would be complete without the requisite computer equipment, and the addition is designed to house more of this type of equipment and make it more readily available to the community.
?We are preparing, technology-wise, to have, in our front room, the ability to use up to 24 computers,? Robbins said, noting these will all be public access computers, and will mark a significant expansion of the library?s current equipment.
The addition will allow Magness Library to expand its community programs as well, such as the already popular Summer Reading Program and Storytelling Projects, according to Robbins.
?We?re going to add art classes for children,? Robbins said. ?We?re going to integrate music and art. It?s going to be far more than it?s ever been.?
Bigbee says everyone involved with Magness Library appreciates the support the community has shown over the years, noting the importance of a good public library cannot be overestimated.
?We?re not just books anymore,? Bigbee added. ?We?re a whole lot more than that, and expanding all the time. We want to be the information hub of the community. That?s our goal, and this expansion is all part of working to achieve that goal.?