Dale County AlArchives Photo person.....Library Donation October 15 1970 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 May 4, 2004, 3:50 pm Source: Southern Star Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/dale/photos/gph187libraryd.jpg Image file size: 152.9 Kb Dale County Library Founded IN 1945 By ALICE M. DOUGHTIE How do you cover a quarter of a century of library service? How do you tell all the good thing and the bad things; the exciting and the humdrum; the funny and the irritating, all the things that go to make up a library and its program ? First of all, theie are the tangible things that may be recounted, things like the number of books added to the collection, the number of books loaned to patrons in the county, the construction of library facilities and the financial support of the program. There are also the intangibles- the influence of the library on the lives of its users, the place it holds in the community, the lives that have been directed, sometimes even changed, by its impact. A bit of history will show something of the tangible evidence that there has been a library in our community for a quarter of a century. In the official minutes book, the first meeting of the Dale County Library Board was held on March 9, 1945, at 2:30 p.m. in the office of the County Commissioners with Judge Frank 0. Deese presiding. Officers elected were as follows: Chairman, Mrs. John W. Carroll; vice- chairman, Creel Richardson; secretary and treasurer, Mrs. J. P. Walton. Other board members were Mrs. Lena Mae Riley and Mr. D. G. Barnes. Mrs. Carroll is still a member of the regional library board and Mr. Barnes is a member of both the county and the regional board. He serves as treasurer for the region. Present also were Mrs. Lois Rainer Green, director of the Public Library Service Division which was the forerunner of the present Alabama Public Library Service. Mrs. Green told the board that if they expected help from the State Agency, they must have a trained librarian and they must pay her at least $1800 a year. The first library, one room in the Chamber of Commerce structure on the courthouse lawn was opened on May 13, 1945 with quite a fanfare. President Hubert Search of Huntingdon College, a native Dale Countian, was guest speaker. $40.00 was spent for transportation of a band from Eufaula to perform. The sum of $27.00 was spent for refreshments and the new library program was launched with Miss Shirley Brother, Field Representative, helping out while the search went on for a trained librarian. By July of 1945, Mrs. Virginia Jones, the wife of a service man stationed at Fort Rucker had been placed in the position of librarian at a salary of $100 per month to keep the library open for 20 hours each week. Average cost of library service per month was $155.82 (including $100 for the librarian's salary). Compare this with the annual regional budget of $92,000 today. Mrs. Jones resigned on October 2, 1945, as her husband was leaving Fort Rucker. On January 8, 1946, we have a record that Mrs. Eunice Collins presented the library bills to the Board for their approval for payment so it is presumed that she was librarian at that time. By September 1947, the library was moved from the courthouse lawn to the City Hall in a large room, just over the City Jail. When the new county office building was completed in the Fall of 1949, the library moved to spacious, well- planned quarters in the new building. There were three rooms this time. By 1948, there was talk of the need for a bookmobile. All over the county to various groups, the movie "Books and People- The Wealth Within" was shown. The drive for funds was successful and a 1949 Ford truck was made into a bookmobile at a cost of a little more than $2500 and the extension of library service to the whole county was in full swing. R. C. Joiner, F. B. Culver and Noah Moring, Jr. had been added to the library board in the meantime replacing members whose terms of office had expired. In our files is a photograph of a proud librarian and board members standing by a dark green truck that had a slight resemblance to a hearse except that there was written on it the magic word. "Bookmobile." Proudly in May of 1951, the bookmobile decorated as inexpensively as possible took its place in the Armed Forces Day Parade. On September 7, 1951, a new name appears on the pages of the record book. Mrs. W. D. Thomason became librarian and Miss Magdaline Smith, assistant librarian, had her salary increased to $75.00 per month. Highlights of Mrs. Thomason's tenure as librarian was the organization of American Heritage groups, both white and Negro, throughout the county; a weekly column, Dale County Library News, was begun and is continued to this day; the Dale County Historical Society was organized and there began to be talk of a building just for the library. Mrs. Mac Borland, Pinckard; Mrs. Spurgecn Howell, Midland City; and H. M. (Booster) Greene, became new library board members. On May 12, 1954, Mrs. Gretchen Schenk, Director, Public Library Service Division, and members of the State Library Board met with the county library board along with Mayor Douglas Brown. More talk was heard about the construction of a new library. Two things of importance happened almost immediately after Mrs. Alice M. Doughtie became librarian on October 1, 1955. On the first Monday, she went out on the bookmobile only to have it stall on the Newton hill above the Choctawhatchee River. It refused to go on. There was nothing else to do but get help from the county bus barn who towed it back to Ozark. The George C. Wallace Trade School put the bookmobile back in working order at the cost of new parts and the new librarian had the temerity to change its color from drab, dark green like a hearse to yellow and blue. Now no one thought it was a hearse as they saw it coming'down the road — they thought it was a bread truck. But it moved bravely around the county and the librarian went happily with it. The second thing was that Mayor Douglas Brown asked to meet with the library board on October 27, 1955 to get their approval of plans for a new library to be built way out on James Street. It was to contain 5000 feet of floor space, be a one story building with brick exterior, plastered walls, asphalt tile floor, accoustical tile ceiling, steel roof framing, Tectum roof deck, flourescent lighting, aluminum windows and central air conditioning. On James Street in a vacant lot a brave sign appeared: Future Home of the Dale' County War Memorial Library. The story of what went on in the next four months until that glorious day of February 26, 1956, when the Lawrence Reynolds Building was dedicated is a long story in itself. Remember that day? There were such speakers as Dr. Ralph Ulveling, Detroit librarian; Dr. 0. C. Carmichael, President of the University of Alabama; Dr. Hubert Searcy, President of Huntingdon College; Miss Evelyn Day Mullen, Director, Public Library Service Division. Gordon Hubbard sang for us and Mayor Brown presided, 600 persons attended among them Mrs. Elizabeth Parks Beamguard who is now director of Alabama Public Library Service and who had come down many times to help us get ready for the opening. One special name has stood out from the beginning of the present library program — that name is James Douglas Brown, Sr. whose foresight and support has made the present program possible. It was a frightened librarian who when the dust settled found herself in this big, beautiful library with very few books, a very small budget and faced with the problem that the library was quite a distance from town. Suppose people stopped coming to the library, would the new librarian be blamed? Well, it never happened. In the first year, the circulation increased 50% and before too long, the number of books borrowed had tripled. Circulation of books for the year just closed on September 30 in Dale County alone was approximately 350,000. On June 16, 1970, 843 books were checked out in a single day. It was in January of 1958 that Ihe Choctawhatchee Regional Library came into being born of Ihe union of Dale and Henry Counties and named for the river that runs through the two counties. The Dale County litrary became headquarters library and W. L. Blalock, Henry County librarian, was in charge of the bookmobile serving Dale and Henry Counties. In March of 1959, Pike County, became a part of the region. A year later, a demonstration of bookmobile service was given in Barbour County which resulted in their becoming a part of the region. Just in time to seem like a present for Christmas of 1959, on Christmas Eve as a matter of fact, was the completion of the construction of an addition to our library which holds attractive meeting rooms and much needed book stacks. The facility has made the library a real community center because it is used by so many different groups. On April 24, 1966, the James Douglas Brown, Jr. Memorial Wing was dedicated. The wing was given by the family and friends of this outstanding young man whose tragic death in July of 1965 robbed the world of his many talents. The wing contained 4200 square feet of floor space. It houses the Lawrence Reynolds Children's Library, the Cullens Library of Local History, the Stokes Library of Alabama History and the Emily Byrd Musical Library. It also houses glass cases containing many objects of local historical interest. It is also the section where art exhibits are displayed and many programs presented to the public. Today the Dale County War Memorial Library serves as headquarters for the four counties of Barbour, Dale, Henry and Pike. From headquarters comes supervision of the libraries at Abbeville, Brundidge, Clayton, Eufaula, Daleville, Headland, Newton, Ozark and Troy. There are 85,000 books in the collection not including books on indefinite loan from the Alabama Public Library Service. More than a million books, films and records are loaned annually to the 110,000 people living in the four county region. The program is financed by tax funds received from city, county, state and federal sources. Seven of the libraries have their own buildings. Among the activities that fill the days in addition to ordering, processing and lending books are such activities as supervising library personnel, giving reader's guidance, holding story hours, sponsoring summer reading programs, art classes, ceramics and handcraft classes, monthly Programs of Pleasure, Great Books discussion groups, programs at various organizations, planning program year-books, monthly and annual reports and other projects too numerous to mention. These are the tangible things that appear so clearly before our eyes. What of the intangibles? Perhaps we shall never know the lives that have been touched by the Dale County War Memorial Library. Persons have been encouraged, guided, strengthened and inspired by the bocks they have borrowed from the library facility. Serving on the Dale County War Memorial Library Board in 1970 are Mrs. Spurgeon Howell, chairman; Mrs. Codie Windham, Mrs. W. C. Brown, Kyser Wilson, treasurer; D. G. Barnes. Regional representatives are Mrs. John W. Carroll, Mrs. J. W. Brown and Mrs. W. D.Thomason. Ctaff members include Mrs. Alice M. Doughtie, Mrs. Lydia Parker, Mrs. Lucile Jimmerson, Mrs. Claudene Herman, Mrs. Frances Hicks, Mrs: Mary Gramling and Mrs. Jeanette Sigers. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 11.9 Kb