Public library started in jail

BY LADONNA RAY
Special to the Times

CORRIGAN -- Once upon a time...as most fairytales begin...a group of local ladies belong-ing to Beta Sigma Phi Sorority had a passion to provide for the Corrigan community a public library! With fi fty dollars for supplies, 200 books from the old Camden school, and a sec-ond hand desk,a library could become a reality. There was still one obstacle--”where to put it?” A most unlikely place was available...JAIL! Yes, be-ing part of a community in which each department is im-portant to the others, seen or unseen, a small room—a closet by today’s standards--above the jail was made available to the sorority and city. Unlike fairy-tales, the library did become reality.An article in the Corrigan pa-per once quoted Jean Reily as saying, “The location proved to be less than ideal!” As library patrons passed by the cell, she said, it wasn’t unusual for the jail patrons to engage them in conversation. A typical one Mrs. Reily recalled went like this, “Ma’am, ma’am, please help me! I’m not supposed to be here. A dreadful mistake has been made!”Maybe true for that poor jail patron, and while the jail was not the ideal hous-ing for the library a mistake defi nitely had not been made for the library patron!In 1972 the Corrigan library, growing through the dedication of volunteers, funding and aid from the City and County, along with grants, gave provisions for a room in the Corrigan Housing Project Community Building. By 1983 the library collection had grown from 200 books to over 14,000. Books were lit-erally stacked all around, as this space was no longer large enough.A new chapter in the story began in 1984 with many Corrigan citizens seeing the value of the library. Mrs. Reily began talking to parents, PTA meetings and informing the community through numerous Corrigan Times articles of the need for expansion. Grants, bonds and donations from local foundations, businesses and in-dividuals, were sought to invest in the future of the community library. All the hard work and investments made the story anything but a fi ction work. In April 1987 the present day lo-cation of the 5,400 square foot library was completed. The Corrigan Public Library was renamed Mickey Reily Public Library in honor of the Reily family’s dedication to the com-munity and commitment to the library project.The current library staff con-sists of three full time employ-ees and one part time employee. LaDonna Ray, Director, Tom-mye Wright, Assistant Director, Monique Bookman Circulation Librarian and Charline Warham library clerk. An employee of the library for nearly 17 years, LaDonna joined the staff as a part time clerk for six months later work-ing full time as assistant di-rector. She was promoted to director in October 2002 upon the retirement of Shirley Cock-rell. The director oversees the library staff as immediate su-pervisor, and analyzes existing library services and works with the assistant librarian and other staff to develop plans for im-provement. The director is also responsible for preparing and presenting a yearly budget to the city manager and city council, ordering books and materials, bookkeeping records, deposits. By incorporating programs like Experience Works and gener-ating additional funds such as the Lions Club supporting the children’s programming keeps the liability to the city as low as possible. The director com-municates to the city manager the Texas State Library require-ments. These requirements state our city government must demonstrate local effort of maintenance on an annual basis by maintaining or increasing local operating expenditures or per capita local operating ex-penditures. Accreditation must be maintained to State Library standards to receive state fund-ing.The assistant director is Tom-mye Wright, who has been with the library 20 years. Tommye worked part time for 10 years before becoming a full time employee in October 2002. Tommye is dedicated to the pa-trons with her knowledge of the books the patrons enjoy. In ad-dition to assisting the director in day to day operations, she helps staff and patrons at the circula-tion desk, plans and supervises children’s programs, and pro-cesses books, audio and DVD materials. Her longevity with the library, as well as being a lifelong resident of Corrigan is very benefi cial to the patrons.Circulation Librarian, Monique Bookman, has served the library for over eleven years. Monique came to the library in 2001 in a part time role and became a full time employee in October 2003. Monique is vital to the operation of the li-brary. She is very knowledge-able with the computers and technology. She is instrumental in serving our patrons by help-ing them with computer skills and issues. Patrons can use li-brary computers for daily tasks such as research, furthering their education, communica-tion, retrieving payroll stubs, banking, bill paying, shopping online and so much more. She has prevented many costly tech calls by being able to assist and solve problems for the staff as well as patrons.Through the Experience Works program, Charline Wareham serves the library as a part time clerk for 20 hours a week, at no cost to the city. She has been with the library since April 2010. She assists the staff and patrons at the circulation desk, with computers, and has been an asset to the library by preparing and leading the sum-mer reading program and pre-school parties.Funding for the library is re-ceived by the City of Corrigan, grants, and donations by in-dividuals in the form of me-morial gifts and honorariums. Donations can be given to the library in honor of someone or in memory of a loved one and books will be added to our col-lection. Donations may also be specifically given to the Trust Fund account for the library. Monies from this fund, along with insurance proceeds, were recently used to remodel the li-brary after water damage. This was the first update to the 25 year old interior.For many people the library is merely a building with a lady with her hair in a bun, peering over her glasses, and a stamp in her hand, who will hang you by your toes if you don’t bring that book back! Or, that all the lady does is sit at the desk all day and stamp books. However, if you have visited a library lately you will find that they have be-come the center of small com-munities for not only reading pleasure and movie watching, but access to personal forms from tax preparation to di-vorce papers, notarizing forms, applying for jobs, colleges, testing, making copies, send-ing faxes, surfing the internet, hunting Easter eggs, playing games, and yes just meeting a friend you haven’t visited with in a while. Last year more than 12,000 patrons walked through the doors, with more than 6,800 questions, using the computers almost 5000 times and approxi-mately 7,000 items circulated. Currently the library houses more than 25,000 articles, in-cluding books, audio books, DVD’s, and periodicals. Tech-nology services, from word processing to internet to his-torical preservation, includes 4 patron computer workstations, 2 laptops used for testing, a lap-top bar in which 6 patrons can sit and plug in their personal laptops using Wi-Fi, and the most recent addition is the Data Collection Center. The Data Collection Center is a shared project of the City of Corrigan and SFA Center for Regional Heritage Research. This com-puter area is dedicated to ac-quiring information relevant to the Corrigan Area History Proj-ect. Patrons scan photos, record audio or video interviews and share personal collections with-out giving up their possessions. The library offers services including: summer reading programs, school visits, pre-school children programs, honor student volunteer hours, and test proctoring, along with fax, copy, and notary services. Library hours are Monday 12 noon -7:00 pm, Tuesday-Friday 10:00-5:30. For more informa-tion contact the library at 936-398-4156.For the ladies in the soror-ity, the Reily’s, and the many countless citizens who rallied for the Corrigan/Mickey Reily Public Library, their dedication and determination proved very beneficial to the education and wellbeing of the community of Corrigan, Texas!(Continuing the City of Corrigan feature, next week will highlight the Corrigan Po-lice Department and Municipal Court. Followed by the Water/Sewer and Sanitation and Pub-lic Works Departments )