Library looks to City for more funding

While appreciating the $5,000 donation in the Gladys Ritchie Library budget by the City of Jacksboro, Director Lanora Joslin was hoping and asking for a little more in this budget cycle.

The $5,000 donated won’t even pay for a month of programming and budget, Joslin explained. A month of operations now runs between $6,000 and $7,000, the council was informed.

“What the city gave will not pay for a librarian or upkeep of the property,” Joslin said.

The library is one of four in the state that is not under city contract, Joslin said. When the school pulled out of its contract with the library, the library lost 2/3 of its budget. The library gave no money to the library for years, but has started giving funds in the amount of $4,500 while the county has offered $20,000.

Joslin said all the teachers there are certified teachers, who can help students with their homework during this COVID times. She feels that the libraries provide a vital service and need to stay open.

“We feel we’re an essential business and need to stay open,” Joslin said. “It’s surprising the amount of people who don’t know we offer but come in and need us.”

During COVID, folks are finding out we offer computers and have helped people get their stimulus checks and their unemployment monies or even file for unemployment, Joslin said.

“We’ve had kids come here just to do their homework,” Joslin said. “Our Internet is better than those as you head further west and we get told “the library smells like school.”