We can help our neighbors
Columbia County residents are justifiably proud of our new library - so much so that we continue to call it "our new library" even though it opened three years ago.
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It's big, has huge book and video collections, an incredible computer lab, a children's area that recently received a boatload of new books, and dozens of other features.
It's a lot to be proud of. Compared to Lincoln County, it's an embarrassment of riches.
Judging from the numbers of calls and comments she's received, Shirley Dawkins knows I'm not the only person who read her letter to the editor.
It appeared Monday in The Augusta Chronicle, headlined "Smaller libraries need state help, too." Dawkins, director of the Lincoln County Library, was lamenting state budget cuts that have stripped away funding for new books.
"For the next year, Lincoln County will receive $1,883.85 to buy books for the whole library!" Dawkins wrote. "If it wasn't for people donating books, we would just as soon close the doors."
Book purchases are hardly the latest casualty of the state's dwindling budgets, but for libraries, the cuts are significant. Mary-Lin Maner, the new Columbia County library director, says the state budget published June 26 had $60,215 for new books for her three libraries. The revised budget that came out two weeks later slashed that by 60 percent - to $24,568.
Richmond County took a proportionately large hit. Its funding for books dropped from $127,000 to $49,000.
Dawkins' original funding was $4,600 - still not much, but a lot better than what she's now getting.
"They are cutting programs across the board," Dawkins says, "and we have always been on the low part of the totem pole" in the state.
We in Columbia County love "our new library," of course, but for Lincoln County, the facility isn't just an object of affection; it's vital. The county doesn't have a single place that sells books, so the Lincoln County Library lends them to its fewer than 10,000 residents to the tune of some 6,000 transactions per month. It also provides opportunities.
"Right now it's full," Dawkins said Wednesday morning, referring to her small computer lab. "I've got people in there taking courses and applying for jobs." In a county with a double-digit unemployment rate, that's pretty important.
Books, though, are still the focus. And it's a sign of the community it serves that the largest part of its collection is paperbacks donated from, and checked out by, its own residents. "If it wasn't for the people donating paperback books, we really would be hurting," Dawkins said.
They might be hurting, but we - as in Columbia County residents - can help. Not because of any mandate, or because our library is so much bigger and better funded. Simply because we can.
I wouldn't suggest donating to the Lincoln County Library if our own libraries were in dire straits. We should take care of our own first.
But our county's libraries are doing OK - and so are our county's residents, even those of us struggling with pay cuts and furloughs. We certainly can afford to reach out and help a small-town neighbor.
I also remember, 30 years ago, when this newspaper pleaded with readers to donate money to help build our first library. A few dollars at a time, we helped fund the tiny Gibbs Library.
Look where we are now - and look to our neighbors. You can send a check in any amount to the Lincoln County Library, P.O. Box 310, Lincolnton, Ga., 30817.
You can also drop off donations at my office. I'm planning to drive out to the Lincoln County Library soon, and will be happy to take along books or checks from readers (no cash, please).
Maybe I'll go on my mom's birthday, Aug. 19. She grew up in Lincoln County, so that's why the heartfelt plea from Dawkins was more than enough to soften me up.
Let me know if you'd like to help, too. The patrons of that little library sure would appreciate it.
(Barry L. Paschal is publisher of The Columbia County News-Times. E-mail barry.paschal@newstimesonline.com.)