National Library Week

Blackmur Library Recorded Busy 2023,
Exciting Events Ahead In 2024

By Joe Gurner
Blackmur Library

WATER VALLEY – The past year since National Library Week in 2023 has been a busy one for Blackmur Memorial Library as well as a year of change.
One of the changes patrons noticed were changing faces at the library. Longtime library assistant Donna Jones retired in August 2023 after more than 16 years at the library. She was replaced by Sara Williams. Also coming back to the library in February was Debra Maynor, who had worked in the past as a library assistant.
The past year also saw the revival of the Friends of Blackmur Library group. The Friends are a support group for the library, much like a booster club for sports or band. They help the library plan and put on programs, raise funds for the library and help spread the word and build community support. Since initially organizing last Spring, the group has offered invaluable help to the library and its staff.

A public library is nothing without its patrons and Blackmur is always looking for new ways we can help provide or improve services to the public. Over the past couple of years there have been big changes in the library’s technology. A switch of Internet provides much faster Internet at a much lower cost. It also allowed improvements in other areas including a faster and more robust Wifi network, which is available to the public during the library’s regular hours.

Remote printing has been offered for a couple of years, but we were able to make changes that make printing easier and accessible to more mobile devices and computers. Most models of cell phones, tablets and laptops can now access the library remote printing network.

You don’t often hear about prices going down these days, but due to a change in telephone service providers, Blackmur Library was able to reduce the cost of sending a fax. The price was dropped from $1 per page to 20¢ per page with a cap of $2 no matter how many pages.

As the library has made changes and improvements to peripheral services offered, the main mission is still to offer our patrons access to books and material for education and entertainment. We add hundreds of new titles every year – fiction and non-fiction and for all ages. During the past year the staff has put together more seasonal and themed book displays all over the library. From Halloween, Christmas and other holiday displays, to Black History, Women’s History, gardening, and poetry the displays feature new and old books alike. Check them out when you see them and you might find a gem that has been buried on our shelves. And feel free to check out any book that’s on display.

That’s what they’re there for and the staff is more than happy to find something to fill its place.

There are big plans in the works for the rest of 2024. Work has already begin on the next Summer Library Program. The theme is Adventure Begins at the Library and it’s scheduled for June of this year. Watch for details to start coming soon here in The Herald and on the Facebook pages for the Library and the Friends of Blackmur Library.
Starting this year, the library has also been offering drop-in crafts for kids. Parents can come by with their kids anytime during library hours and all the materials will be ready to work on an easy and fun craft. There are different themes which change every month or so. The current theme is a library flower garden and there are flowers and butterflies to be decorated. Once finished the kids can take them home or leave them for the staff to decorate the library. Starting in May the theme will be do-it-yourself Mother’s Day cards.

In addition, we have take home activity packets available each month with different coloring or activity sheets based on events or themes for the month. Parents can come by anytime during library hours and pick up an activity packet for April.

Nothing that happens at Blackmur Library happens in a vacuum. Libraries all over are constantly working to meet the needs of their communities as they struggle against budget constraints, changing needs and wants of patrons and technology and situations that are constantly evolving. This is especially true of small town and rural libraries.
Blackmur Library is fortunate to have a long history of strong support from the community, the City of Water Valley and Yalobusha County. It also benefits from the leadership provided by the library Board of Trustees – Calvin Hawkins, Rubye Carr, Chester Buford, Linda Willams and Charmie Weeks. They all work together, along with the Friends of Blackmur Library and the library staff, to help make the library a place to be proud of.

If you have never visited Blackmur Library, or if it’s been a while, come on by and check out what we have to offer. To get a library card, you need to be a resident of Yalobusha County and bring a photo ID. Signing up is quick and easy. Library hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. You can call us at (662)473-2444 or email us at blackmurlibrary@gmail.com.

City Has Been Served By A Local Public Library For Almost 90 Years

For more than four decades Blackmur Memorial Library has served the people of Water Valley and Yalobusha County from its place way up on the hill on Blackmur Drive.
Maybe you spent time there at some point while in school, longer ago than you care to admit, poring through encyclopedias. Or maybe you went through the shelves, book-by-book, soaking in whatever adventure, romance, murder mystery or western you could get your hands on. Or maybe you’re more familiar with the library as a place to get on-line and apply for a job or check your e-mail or even spend a little time keeping up with family and friends on Facebook.

The reasons people come to the library may have changed somewhat over the years, but the library is still there doing its best to meet the changing needs of its patrons and, hopefully, will have a rich future to match its rich past.

Before Blackmur Memorial Library came to be, it was the long-time home of W.E. and Nell Blackmur. After Mrs. Blackmur’s death, the house and property were deeded to the City of Water Valley for “educational purposes, including, but not limited to, the maintenance of a library thereon, the utilization of said property for cultural, literary and artistic advancement…”

At the time, Water Valley’s library was located on Main Street in one half of what is now the Chamber of Commerce building. Though it was small, it still served as a hub for downtown and the community for many years before moving in 1979.

In fact, for almost 90 years, the people of Water Valley and the area have been served by a local public library.

In 1934, as part of the Works Progress Administration, the Water Valley Public Library was established. It was originally established as a “Central Station” for all public libraries in Yalobusha County.

Though the homey touches are carefully preserved, Blackmur Memorial Library still does its best to see that it serves the community as well as any modern library. In the past decade the library’s holdings have almost doubled, reaching around 15,000 volumes – around 99 percent of which are available to be checked out by patrons. The Mississippi Room has research material available for anyone wanting to look into family history, the history of Water Valley or of Yalobusha County.

The Garden Room is a reading room stocked with a table and chairs for those who might want to take a break and read any of the numerous magazines available. It also houses the Garden Information Center sponsored by the Water Valley Town & Country Garden Club. Books ranging from decorating to gardening to flower arranging have been donated by the club to stock the shelves.

If patrons want something a little more high-tech than ink and paper, then the library also offers computers and Internet access. The library has an on-line cataloging and circulation system which gives patrons access to the card catalog on-line and on the library’s computers. Public wifi is also available for those wishing to use their own devices and we have ebooks and audiobooks available for patrons.

While the trappings might change, the mission of the library hasn’t changed. Whether it’s a small town institution like Blackmur Memorial Library or a sprawling big city library with hundreds of branches, libraries still serve as a place where the public can go and access information, research, study or be entertained.
As public library services closes in on the century mark in Water Valley, Blackmur Memorial Library will continue to do its best to try and meet the needs of its patrons.