Never again

Library supporters say move needed after repeat flooding

By Amy Widner

LITTLE ROCK — Williford Library in Sharp County, the smallest public library in the state, has flooded three times in the past two years.

Its supporters have had enough and say it’s time for a new building. But that goal has turned out to be more difficult than they expected.

Now, six months since the last time the Spring River flooded the building, they have no solution. The storms that came with hurricanes Gustav and Ike had supporters on pins and needles - emptying low-lying shelves and ready with their vehicles to rescue the books if the water got too high. Still, about 3,500 books have arrived, bought with FEMA money to replace the previous 6, 000-plus collection lost to the flooding, and the Sharp County Library Board wants to send a computer to the branch.

There’s no sense, supporters say, in restocking a library with expensive goods it can’t protect. But FEMA money can only go toward repairs, not new buildings. And the library board’s response has been that county, regional and even state policy prevents them from purchasing or owning real estate. The library’s supporters will have to raise the money for a new building themselves or apply for grant money that could take months to appear. Meanwhile, the coming fall and winter weather have supporters like Marilyn Bischoff fearful and looking for immediate solutions.

“Morally and ethically we absolutely cannot stay in that location,” Bischoff said. “We’re kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. We need to do something now.”

It’s the kind of red-tape mess that raises Williford old timer Leonard Wiles’ ire, he said. He’s 72 and lived in Williford for years, even during the flood of ’82 that washed away most of the formerly booming quarry town. He said he hates the idea of the library having to move out of its current building, where it was established by local resident Glenna Garner, who has since died, leaving behind a dedicated core of supporters who have pledged to continue her legacy. She donated the building and money to run the library for more than 40 years.

“But it has been flooded so many times something has to be done,” Wiles said. “Us taxpayers pay a tax (a countywide 1-mill property tax) that goes to the Sharp County Library Board. There’s not a reason why they can’t help us. We would need about $20,000 to get a building up there, but they won’t and that’s not right. So what do you do? You do what you can do.”

What Wiles and Bischoff have been doing is exploring their options. After being offered a higher-elevation spot in the local church’s parking lot, they initially went to the board asking for $10,000 and were turned down. Since then they have been raising money in a fund through the city - $6,000 at Wiles’ last count - and are considering any location or existing building, even in the fringes of the Williford mailing address area, possibly along U.S. 62/412.

Any library in the area would continue the spirit of Garner’s original project, said Bischoff, who promised Garner she would fight to keep the library open. Williford librarian Crystal Coble said the library’s biggest users are children and the elderly, some of whom are shut-ins and to whom Coble delivers books. The library offers tutoring and community gatherings in a town with little more than a school, fire station and post office remaining.

Bischoff said the demographics of Sharp County - a long county with fewer than 18,000 residents mostly scattered in rural areas - mean it is important that the county continues to have four libraries: the main library in Hardy and branches in Williford, Evening Shade and Cave City. The library is the closest one for many rural residents, and rising gas prices have increased the need for multiple branches, she said.

“We’re thinking that maybe we’d be serving more of our Sharp County residents if we moved to the highway,” Bischoff said. “We’re determining that what we thought was the only answer is not the only answer. We might have to lower our sights a little bit as far as the location and the style of the building so we might be able to afford it.”

But a common problem they are encountering as they goaround with their hands out is the question, “What does our tax money go toward, if not projects like this?” It’s a hard question to confront, because the library’s supporters are equally confused and frustrated that something can’t be done.

“It’s a given that we are really in trouble because people don’t read,” Bischoff said. “One of the reasons people don’t read is they were never encouraged to, and one of the ways children are encouraged to read is by going to the library. There still are parents who do that, but if the library isn’t available or sufficient, those people aren’t being served.

“When I think that the voters in Sharp County thought this was important enough to improve a millage increase, it causes frustration. I don’t see why the board can’t accommodate those needs - by changing their bylaws, even just on a temporary basis, or allocating money that we could later pay back with grants, whatever - in order to supply library services to their residents.

“I have been asked so many times while I’ve gone everywhere looking for money, asking for money. The first thing people say to me is, ‘What do they do with the money that’s in the library board account that’s our tax money?’ And I have to say, ‘I don’t know.’”

Library board chairwoman Donna Soliday referred questions to White River Regional librarian Debra Sutterfield. The Sharp County library system is part of the White River Regional Library system, which is headquartered in Batesville. Sutterfield said the problem is more complicated than anything the Sharp CountyLibrary Board could do themselves.

“We are part of the state of Arkansas library system,” Sutterfield said. “The way it was explained to me is that millage tax money is not allowed to be spent for the construction of buildings for library facilities. Millage tax money is to be used for the operating expenses of public libraries. That information was based on the Arkansas state constitution and on opinions from previous attorney generals.”

Library board member Jayne Abele - who, like Bischoff, lives in Cherokee Village - said the board’s funds may look like a lot (about $200,000), but that includes the rest of this year’s money plus next year’s budget. The remaining funds, which total about $95,000, is FEMA money that is earmarked to replace Williford’sbooks. She said the board usually uses up all of its money each year on the library interiors, books, insurance, furniture, computers and staff salaries at the four libraries.

It’s not a whim, Abele said. Even if they were somehow able to change the rules, they wouldn’t have the money to give to the Williford case.

“The residents themselves have to want a library bad enough to come up with the funds to provide a building,” Abele said. “I understand their thinking. You would expect maybe this library board could do more, but it’s just not written that way. I certainly don’t mean to be critical of the people who are working to get the new library. They have the interest of the community in mind. But there’s not much we can do.”

The process has also beenslowed because the board meets quarterly. Their last meeting was in July, and the next is Wednesday. Board members suggested last week that Bischoff take her requests to the county judge and re-examine what can be done with the FEMA money. Whatever the solution, librarian Coble said she doesn’t ever want to see the library end up again like it was in the spring.

“I’m not really one for being frustrated,” Coble said. “We have nothing better right now and maybe it was just our year - it was a crazy year for everyone, so maybe we just got our share of that. But when it happens again, and I’m in tears shoveling up the mud, that’s not a good time to ask me. So in order to keep that from happening, we have got to move. We’ve got to do something. If I had $14,000 myself, I’d buy abuilding just like that.”

The library is the smallest in the state when measured by the population of the town it serves, according to the Arkansas State Library in Little Rock, although it is also physically small: 288 square feet.

More information is available from Bischoff at (870) 257-2056 or Wiles at (870) 966-4422.

- awidner@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 110, 113 on 09/28/2008