WGRLS News

Lithia Springs introduces Story Stroll program

Lithia Springs Public Library will be hosting a Story Stroll. This is a new program provided by Georgia Public Library Service so libraries can offer fun outdoor programming for their patrons and engage their local community. The pages of a book are displayed on signs and installed along an outdoor path. As you stroll down the trail, you are directed to the next page of the story.

“The Douglas County Public Libraries are extremely excited to offer this type of active programming to our patrons. We are currently working to secure grant funding to install permanent story walks at various locations throughout Douglas County. Including our local parks, senior centers, and all three libraries. Allowing us to expand our services and to better service our citizens with a wide variety of diverse programming” says County Librarian, Lindy Moore.

This family activity combines literacy, light exercise, and nature. The stroll will be available for patrons to view beginning 3/13 through 4/15 and will feature the story Wolfie the Bunny, by Ame Dyckman.

WGRLS’ Kali Dallmier Joins ALA Emerging Leaders

West Georgia Regional Library System is proud to announce that the WGRLS Marketing and Outreach Manager, Kali Dallmier, has been accepted into the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders program. This is a highly selective program that identifies emerging leaders in the library field. Kali will work with a cohort of other Emerging Leaders on a project that benefits libraries from across the country.

 

Kali was selected because of her work with WGRLS’s rebranding, website development, and partnership creation. She was hired at WGRLS’s regional office in August 2021, and, according to WGRLS Director Stephen Houser, ‘hit the ground running just as soon as she started and hasn’t let up. Her work with WGRLS has been greatly appreciated and beneficial to both our library patrons and our staff. We’re very proud of Kali’s selection as it speaks to the quality of her work here.”

 

WGRLS Deputy Director Kristy Greene highlights Kali’s ‘innovation and creativity in the areas of marketing and outreach for our library system. The program will allow Kali to further develop her leadership skills, as well as bring fresh ideas and opportunities to our region.”

 

“I’m excited to be a part of the Emerging Leaders program and I’m looking forward to networking with fellow librarians in New Orleans at the LibLearnX conference,” Kali said. “The project I will be working on will analyze how organizations such as United for Libraries can support statewide

organizations to ensure their success in engaging and empowering their Trustees, Friends, and

Foundations to advocate.”

 

The American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leaders program is a leadership development program that enables newer library professionals from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity.

WGRLS Bookmobile Ribbon Cutting

The West Georgia Regional Library system announces the arrival of its new bookmobile

Last year, WGRLS received funding through a grant from Georgia Public Library Services and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to build a new bookmobile after the last one was retired in the 2010s. This new vehicle will be making appearances at community events, schools, and other locations to provide services for areas that may not have the ability to visit the library in person.

A naming contest for the bookmobile was held at the end of September with the official name of the bookmobile being Bookin’ It West. Andie Brasley, a teacher from Temple Middle School, who came up with the name, shared his thought process, “All in all, the thought process was like this…West Georgia? Hmm. GOOOO WEST. Books? Well, those are amazing. Traveling West for Books? No. We are Bookin’ It (moving quickly) with the bookmobile…So, combine them as a play on words. Bookin’ It West! That’s the winner!”

To celebrate the bookmobile being event-ready, WGRLS will be hosting the official ribbon-cutting ceremony at Ruth Holder Public Library on Thursday, December 1st at 5:30 pm. Members of the public are welcome to attend and check out all of the exciting new things the bookmobile will be offering!

LeRoy Childs Display

Neva Lomason Memorial Library will be unveiling their LeRoy Childs wall display on April 2nd at 11 am. The ceremony will also be live-streamed on Neva Lomason Memorial Library’s Facebook page.

 

This project honors the life and legacy of the former West Georgia Regional Library System Director, Mr. LeRoy Childs. Mr. Childs was the first Black public library director in Georgia and was honored posthumously with the Georgia Public Library Service’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award. 

 

Mr. Childs worked tirelessly to advocate the importance of libraries to state and federal legislators. Before taking the role of Director, he served as the manager of Carrollton’s King Street Branch. In the early 1950s, the National Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (a historically Black sorority founded at Howard University) gifted a bookmobile to the King Street Library. 

 

Mr. Childs relied on strong relationships with the African American schools in the five-county area to secure additional outreach space to bring the library materials and programs where they were most needed. Working with the school libraries, Mr. Childs fostered an environment that also encouraged adults to borrow from King Street’s collection.

 

A fellow director, Mr. Charles Eames, donated funds towards the display and fondly remembers Mr. Childs: 

 

“I was very gratified to contribute to Mr. Childs’s exhibit and grand unveiling.

Mr. Childs was well respected among his library director peers. He was always very cordial to me and I enjoyed sitting next to him at the library director meetings as well as several committees we were on. A quiet, unassuming man but a leader in the library field.

He was a legend in his time.”

 

Current WGRLS Director, Stephen Houser, says “Mr. Childs was with WGRLS for over 30 years, and during that time he exemplified the ideal of service to others. From managing the King St. Branch, to driving our bookmobile all over the region, to becoming the first Black public library director in Georgia, Mr. Childs was a true trailblazer. We are honored that Mr. Childs is part of our WGRLS history, and are happy to be able to honor him as an important part of our community’s history.”