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The Ashe County Public Library promoted its activities and resources to the public and county and state officials during its Day in the District on March 4. According to Ashe County Librarian Suzanne Moore, the state legislature’s appropriations committees is preparing to draft its 12 annual spending bills to fund the government for the next two years. The Day in the District was held to promote the library’s importance to an ever growing community.

“State aid is what helps us to be able to have access to our resources,” said Moore on March 4. “We appreciate the dedication we receive from our federal and state governments. Today, I’m met with our elected community and state officials and talked about how we appreciate the funding we receive and showed them how we use the money and resources that are provided for us to benefit our library patrons.”

The Ashe County Public Library provided statistics for the current fiscal year from July 2016 to the present day. More than 65,000 books, audio book and periodicals have been checked out of the library since July 2016. The library has also hosted more than 100 programs for encouraging lifelong learning and reading.

The library promotes reading and education through book clubs for adults, author visits and yearlong reading challenges for all ages. The Ashe County public library also offers programs in arts and crafts, music, yoga, recipe swaps and guests speakers.

“I lived in this county for two and a half years and this is a wonderful place to bring kids,” said parent Natasha Moore. “I’ve been bringing my children here two to three times a week every week since I moved here. It’s a good place for kids to learn, play, read and grow. They do so many activities for people of all ages here and I’m a big supporter of books. Of all the libraries I’ve been to, this is probably the best library I’ve found for children.”

In addition to reading materials, the library offers 38 public computers equipped with Internet, Microsoft Office 2016, basic photo and video editing software and other programs.

During Day in the District, patrons and officials had a chance to explore what the library had to offer while enjoying refreshments and a chance to meet the library mascot, Arly the Fox.

State and county officials, including county commissioners Gary Roark, Paula Perry and William Sands and N.C. Rep. Jonathan Jordan and U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx also visited the library and spoke with library directors on the programs and resources offered by the library.

Foxx read a children’s book titled “The Fox in the Library” to children, parents and library patrons.

“Libraries have always been important and are now more important than ever,” said Foxx. “People need information, and our libraries are vital for that. I’m a big supporter of libraries and always have been. They deserve support from all levels of our government at the local, state and national level. I’m a strong believer in a limited federal government, but libraries deserve our support even from the federal government because we rely on an educated citizenry. This is a fantastic library for such a small community, with wonderful volunteers and directors.”

Physical library materials are provided through state funding and supplemented by the Library Endowment Funding for the digital collection. In addition, funding for N.C. Kids is provided by the state in partnership with the North Carolina Public Library Directors Association.

http://ashemountaintimes.com/community/ashe-county-library-holds-day-in-the-district/article_95a065a1-c43b-52ba-a736-a2ef20809425.html