Friends of the Library donate funds

Julie Yates

Friends of the Library donated funds to Pryor.

Tommy Nixon, treasurer for the Friends of the Library, presented a $2,103.98 check Thursday to Thomas J. Harrison Pryor Public Library.

Nixon said the Friends of the Library dissolved after only one or two people were showing up for the meetings. Nixon said he has been a member at least 12 years. When he first joined the group, they had over 40 members.

Nixon said the Friends dissolved with hopes of one day reviving the group.

“I can’t tell you how much it meant to have the Friends of the Library supporting us,” board member Kathy LaValley said to Nixon.

Library Director Kim Risner said the funds will be used for summer reading program materials.

The library board members discussed potential candidates for the Pryor Library Addition Needs (PLAN) committee. Risner said she wants five or six people on the committee. The planning process will include several meetings. The library is interested in recruiting a person from the educational system, a business leader, a teen, and another member to represent the general needs of the public.

Risner has applied for a $3,500 grant with the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. If the library receives the funding, Pat Edwards will go to Portland, Ore. to attend the Public Library Association Biennial Conference.

Checkouts were 6,624 for the month of September. Adult checkouts were 4,995 and youth checkouts numbered 1,629.

The library issued 181 adult cards in September, 99 of which were new patrons. Fifty juvenile cards were issued, for a total of 231 cards for the month.

The library received 738 donated materials. Materials for adults added to the

collection totaled 198. Children’s materials were 158.

The library loaned out one book through the inner library loan system and borrowed six. Risner said 84 people were affected in library outreach through Great Days of Service, Pryor Junior High, and the Optimists. People utilizing the meeting room numbered 176.

With a third of the fiscal year expired Sept. 30, the library had expended 30 percent of the library general funds.

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