Brooke Walker takes over Program Coordinator position at Lawrence County Public Library

By Roberta Cantrell

BSN Editor

The new Lawrence County Public Library Director Deanna Farris says no disruptions in programs that the library has in place are expected and going from interim director to full-time director has been a smooth transition.

There has only been one change in employee positions according to Farris and new hiring is not expected at this time.

“We are not currently hiring any new employees. Brooke Walker will be stepping into the Program Coordinators position,” said Farris. “Brooke has been with the library for 10 years now, starting way back in her early years of high school as our very first paid high school intern. She was the former program assistant and is taking the step up into the program coordinators position. I am looking few other staff changes but as of now that is the only official one. I am considering a few staffing options at this time.”

Recently, Lennie Collins stepped away from the LCPL Board of Trustees where he served as chairman and according to Farris a clear reason was not given.

“Lenny didn’t really give a reason for stepping off the board, however he was appointed to fill in an unexpired term of a member that moved from the district. We appreciate all of the time and work our board of trustees put in for the library and their community and Lenny is no exception,” said Farris. “We appreciate him donating his time to serve on our board. There will be a total of 3 board spots coming open on June 30,2025. Whomever is appointed to fill the spot Lenny was holding will only be appointed until June 30,2025 when the original term would have expired. They will then have to be reappointed if they want to continue to hold the trustee position.”

Farris said they will be advertising to fill the upcoming board vacancy’s in early to mid-May. The expiring terms are all on June 30, 2025 and will include Kim Burchett, Susie Chambers and the current vacant spot.

“No changes have been made to programming. Brooke has picked up oversite of programming and things have been running as normal. The science to go program that we were able to host from November through mid-February left us last week. We had a total of 3,500 guests visit it while it was here. The library will be purchasing a few new items for our children’s area so stay tuned for updates on that,” said Farris.

“Any exciting change that will be coming up this spring is our outreach coordinator will be offering notary service out in the county. We will have more information on this service including starting dates and locations soon.

We are always looking to add new programs. We just started the summer feed program process and are accessing what that is going to look like this summer. Summer reading and summer feeding information will be released in May depending on the end of the school year.”