Woodville Public Library

HISTORY OF THE WOODVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY

 

June 1985 to Present

 

Prior to 1985, according to Town Councilman, Jim Butler, the need and desire to open a public library was first realized by the town council, Mayor Laddie Hodges and other members of the community.  It became a reality when the Woodville Public Library opened in June of 1985, in the Bob Jones Community Center.  Made possible through the donation of a building to the Town of Woodville by U.S. Congressman Bob Jones.

The building was dedicated in 1984 after more than $50,000 was spent for renovation and furnishings.  Senator Lowell Baron and Representative Albert Hall were instrumental in providing furniture, equipment and other related items needed. 

In the beginning, the library started with approximately two to three thousand volumes of which eleven hundred were donated or purchased from donations by persons who were interested in the library.  It was reported that people from as far away as Texas and New York, with family ties or roots inWoodville contributed.  It should be noted that contributions from Jean and Bill Jones, Press Secretary to Governor George Wallace, made a huge impact on growing our library resources in the early days.  The library opened with a collection of children's books, best sellers, novels, biographies, reference materials and genealogy documents.

Beth Hilliard was Director from 1985-1987 and Judy Page was Assistant from 1985-1987, and was then promoted to Director in 1987 to 1993.  The first Board Members were; Virginia Skelton 1984-1988, Faye Cook 1984, Alice Ruth Page 1984, Nancy Helms 1984 to present, Carol Hodges 1984-1985, Harriet McKay 1987, and James Butler 1988-1989.

In October 1985, Karen Chambers was hired to open the library for Senior Citizens from the community on Thursdays.  She was employed in this capacity from 1985 to 1991. In September 1993, she was re-hired as Librarian and is still currently in that position.

It soon became apparent that more space would be needed to house our growing library so plans were soon underway and in August of 1989, we moved to our current location directly across the street from the Bob Jones Community Center. The Town of Woodville now uses this wonderful building for community meetings and various activities.

During the years we have had a number of assistants or aides who have helped us in so many ways to maintain the library and keep it runnng efficiently.   We remember Elizabeth (Cookie) Eversole, Tara Hodges, Ginger White, and Angie Moses who were here in the early days.   Beginning in the year 2000, Donald Derrick, has given countless hours of his own time to create and maintain the website for the Library.  

Montell Hodges was hired by TARCOG in 1993 and then by the Town of Woodville as an assistant in 1996. She remained with the library until 2003 when she retired due to health reasons.  You can see her artwork hanging in the Bob Jones Community Center, our library and other locations around town.  

Other TARCOG Aides over the years were Dick Reed, Nell McGaha, John Sherrell, Nella Burns and Tommie Boykin, all of which have contributed greatly to our success.

The original library was a small one-room library with shelves reaching from the floor to ceiling.  The new library gave us a three room library with room to grow -- and grow we did! Currently space is limited but there is no budget at this time for expansion.

On January 19th, 2010, after 3 years of planning and hard work, we have successfully transitioned from a paper system to a new computerized book catalog system.  The Woodville Public Library made this goal a reality through the help of many volunteers and necessary funding from Alabama Public Library Service, the Friends of the Library, Senator Lowell Barron and Representative Butch Taylor.

Currently, the Woodville Public Library has nearly 16,000 books with sections designated for Reference, Family History, and Genealogy research.

We have seven modern computers designated for public use and three modern computers for staff.  The library received a 1-Star Standard of Excellence in 1998 and a 2-Star Standard in 1999 and again in 2000.  Woodville Public Library received the BRONZE Achievement of Library Standards on April 24, 2014. The library received a Google Grant in December 2016 to upgrade to 10 new computers, 7 new chairs and Microsoft Office for 8 computers.  Friends provided other software for the computers.

The library has a very successful Pre-School reading hour for young children every Wednesday and a Summer Reading Program for children ages 1-12 during the month of June each year.  We have won two Grants this year to provide funds for both our Pre-School and summer Reading Programs.  Tommie Boykin was the director of these programs. At present time, the library is using volunteers due to lack of funding for our library.

Our Library Board of Directors gives us guidance for long-term needs and direction for future plans.  Members are: Nancy Helms, member, Beverly Cosby, member, Hope Reed, secretary, and Melanie Geiger-president, Joyce Chandler-vice president.

We have an active Friends of the Library organization who are dedicated to supporting library funding for book grants, children's reading programs, pre-school reading, office equipment, and general grants whenever there is a need.  They continually seek new ideas and fun activities to keep the community involved with the library and to help promote local volunteerism.  There are 91 Lifetime Members of the Friends and each year the Membership Drive is held in May.  Membership numbers will vary from year to year. 

 

The Woodville Public LIbrary celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2010 of offering service to the public. The celebration was held in June of 2010. 2018 marks our 33rd year of service to the Town of Woodville and surrounding communities.

​

Lastly, the Woodville Public Library is fortunate to have volunteers from the community who give their time and talents to making this a Library the Town of Woodville can be truly proud of!