Published: August 06, 2008 02:30 pm         

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Your local library is invaluable

In mid-July Gannett News Service released an analysis on the nation’s libraries. They found that Tennessee ranked in the bottom five states in funding and in the least-visited libraries.

Those facts were still bothering me when the very next day I read another shocking fact uncovered in a CDC survey. This was another list where Tennessee was ranked as the third-most obese state in the United States! Two other states, West Virginia and Mississippi, share this dubious low and high ranking with Tennessee in both surveys.

The District of Columbia is at the top of the list for funding libraries. They spend $56.62 per person. Tennessee spends $16.32 per person. The average amount spent on libraries across the nation is $31.65 per person. As for attendance Tennessee ranks 32 percent below the national average.

Libraries have been with us for eons. As humans learned to live together in small communities they discovered writing. They thought of this as a magic power that bound members of a group together as a unit. Through writing they could keep records but what to do to keep those records safe is when the first library was born. Early on they were kept inside temples or churches because the clergy was the only literate class

As civilization progressed it still took a long time until libraries evolved in Europe. In the American colonies the first libraries were the private libraries of scholars. In 1638 John Harvard left his 260 volumes to the new college which carries his name. It became the first “public” college. In 1731 Ben Franklin founded the first subscription library in Philadelphia to meet the needs of the debating society he started.

By the 19th century wealth had accumulated for a few robber barons as they were called and they began endowing libraries for free public use. Carnegie was the first such benefactor and his corporation gave $42,665,000 for library buildings in Canada and the United States.

The dream of a library for Crossville began when a dozen women began meeting for a social afternoon in 1898. They called their group the Art Circle and often they discussed and shared books they were reading. Their membership grew to more than thirty and these women all wanted to help their community become a better place for those living here. What better way than a public library?

They found a central place to store the books and established a fee of 25 cents for a three-month use of the library. Staffed by members of the Art Circle it was open several hours two days a week. In 1910 fire destroyed that room and all the books and records.

By 1914 they were established in a new place for which they paid $75 a year. They held fundraisers to pay the rent. During the 1920s the library was moved often and then in 1928 they were offered two lots for $400. Now a real library building was in sight. Fundraising became an even higher priority. By 1938 they had enough money and the Art Circle Library opened in 1939.

In the early 1970s the women of the Art Circle group agreed a new larger library was needed and they signed a contract to sell the old building and give the money to that project. However, the new library would retain the name Art Circle. In 1974 ground was broken for the present building ending the long hours and devotion those women had given to the local library.

Once again a new chapter begins in the Art Circle’s long history. Library Director Debra Hall Kokes said the new building will have 30,000 square feet compared to the present 8,600. At the end of this fiscal year in June the library has had 119,837 visitors and she said library use has gone up during this past year.

The twelve computers in the lower level of the present library have served 27,041 internet users this year. Videos have been loaned to 21,280 and 21,769 audio books. 132,958 printed books were checked out this year. Genealogy users number 2,190. There were 89 children’s programs offered this year and 1,930 youngsters attended. The 59 adult programs offered attracted 1,611 attendees.

The dream of a new library will become a reality one year after the ground breaking is the promise.

Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday. She may be reached at dcb1@frontiernet.net.