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Friday, November 06, 2015

Rural Alabama county cuts library budget, so library eliminates rural bookmobile stops

Some residents in one rural Alabama county are losing their bookmobile. The Calhoun County Commission approved a 5 percent budget cut to the Anniston library, leading library officials to eliminate 11 stops that a re-purposed, bookshelf-lined van makes to visit mostly senior citizens and children who are unable to get to the library, Zach Tyler reports for The Anniston Star. (Star photo by Bill Wilson: The bookmobile)

The van, which only runs three days per week, had 151 books checked out in October, Tyler writes. According to part-time librarian Linda Levens, the bookmobile burns half a gallon of diesel per hour idling and gets 7 miles to the gallon driving.

"Over the next year, the library will receive $107,065 in monthly payments from the Calhoun County Commission, according to assistant county administrator Melissia Wood," Tyler writes. "The library received $112,700 in fiscal 2015, Wood said, equating to a decrease of $5,635 in funding this year—about $469 less each month." Library, director Teresa Kiser told Tyler, “When the county cuts us, it only seems appropriate that we cut county individuals." (Read more)

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