WATCH: Webb discusses library’s future

Adam Webb demonstrates the remote locker at National Park College, from which library card holders can pick up materials they've checked out. – Photo by Courtney Edwards of The Sentinel-Record
Adam Webb demonstrates the remote locker at National Park College, from which library card holders can pick up materials they've checked out. – Photo by Courtney Edwards of The Sentinel-Record


The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects are still being felt around the world, including at the Garland County Library, which experienced a delay in prospective projects as a result of the virus.

Adam Webb, the library's director, spoke to members of the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club from the Student Commons building at National Park College last Wednesday, addressing the library's future plans, which have now been put back into motion.

One of those future goals is merging the Garland County and Saline County libraries. The goal is not to merge the libraries into one building, but to merge the systems to serve both communities, which would make both libraries a separate entity from the county government.

"The other big thing for me, aside from helping out our county, is the economies of scale," Webb said. "Both Saline County and Garland County pay for the same services. If we join together, we get one bill that we would split."

After a financial analysis, the libraries would save around $200,000 a year after merging, he said.

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Another goal of the library includes building a branch of the Garland County Library in the north part of the county in a few years. The branch is planned to go outside the West Gate toward Jessieville, Webb said.

"We did a survey of our users and sure enough, outside of a 17-minute drive to the library, the number of people that have library cards just falls off a cliff," he said.

In addition to the delivery services the library already offers, Webb said they will have a bookmobile by the end of the year. They acquired a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter to serve as the delivery vehicle.

"Some of our unincorporated territories are pretty rough roads, and this was the only one that was weight rated for those types of roads," he said.

There are also plans to update the property on Malvern Avenue, including converting the vacant lot beside the library into a "book park and community garden," Webb said. This area will include a grassy meadow for outdoor programs, garden beds available for checkout and a small amphitheater.

More planned updates include expanding the library to have a second floor. There is an additional 12 feet from the ceiling to the roof, room for a mezzanine floor, Webb said.

"I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow," he said, noting the plans are only possibilities for now. "But these are the things that we have in motion."

The library is already in the process of installing remote lockers around the community, from which library cardholders can place a hold on materials, have them delivered to one of the lockers and pick them up at any time.

There are currently four sets of lockers, one outside of the library for 24-hour pickup, one at the Hot Springs YMCA, one at National Park College near the college's library and one at the Sunshine Store & Cafe in Royal.

"If the library has something that you wanna borrow, you could either ask one of our fine employees or do it on your own in our mobile app or online," Webb said. "And when you go to place a hold on it, there's a drop-down and you just pick where you want it to go."

An NPC graduate himself, Webb went on to receive a master's degree in library sciences from the University of North Texas. As the only certified public library administrator working in Arkansas, he has been with the Garland County Library for the last 15 years.

Funded through a millage on real and personal property taxes, the library has a $1.6 million tax rate, Webb said.

The "average tax bill for Garland County residents for the library is about $30," he said. "It's gonna go up next year, but what do you get for that money? You get a modern library that's open 60 hours a week. We're open seven days, not a lot of libraries in Arkansas are."

No longer funded through fees or fines, the library also receives funding through state aid to public libraries, bringing its income to $3.2 million last year.

"We got rid of fines very early on in my tenure," Webb said. "All the studies showed that fines were a barrier for low-income individuals and working families to use the library.

"When we went fine free, we told people 'If you bring your stuff back, we'll waive all your fines,' we got about seven years' worth of what we would have gotten in overdue fines just in returned materials."

With more than 100,000 visitors in the first six months of the year, the library has circulated around 400,000 titles between physical materials as well as online materials, the director said.

  photo  Adam Webb discusses the library's future to the Rotary Club of Hot Springs National Park on Wednesday from the Student Commons building of National Park College. – Photo by Courtney Edwards of The Sentinel-Record
 
 


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