The Adair County Public Library could be one of the county’s most underutilized treasures.
While many pass by its quiet brick exterior without a second thought, inside lies a world of knowledge, creativity, and resources.
From free access to books, technology, and educational programs, the library offers far more than books.
As Adair County continues to grow and change, now is the time to rediscover what this vital community resource truly has to offer.
Library Director Lee Ann Jessee said that in the last fiscal year, which ended on June 30, the library had reached almost 60,000 circulation. This includes anything in the library that can be checked out.
The library has far exceeded being a place to only get books. They offer books, DVDs, puzzles for all ages, games, home-school materials, and activity bags, and that only skims the surface.
“Our home-school area is huge right now. We call it a support unit…it is not to be your entire curriculum, it is to support the curriculum that you’ve chosen,” said Jessee. “Now in saying that, we have chosen a couple of things that would be considered curriculum that can be checked out.”
There are also items to help children with fine motor skill development, a telescope, and a microscope.
“We have a Leapfrog globe that you can punch on there, and it will tell you this is the continent Antarctica, and it will tell you the animals that live there,” said Jessee.
These types of things are available to everyone and can be used for anyone whose child needs extra help in an area or is curious about something. Having these types of resources available have helped the circulation.
“We are here; we are ready to help people,” said Jessee.
The public library offers several online programs that can be used for free from anywhere with a library card.
“And then we’ve got Educate Station which is a huge database of educational materials. All you have to do on that is go online to educate station with your library card and you can pull up worksheets all the way to grade six, science worksheets, math worksheets, reading worksheets. All kinds of worksheets and they have a curriculum on there,” said Jessee.
Other online resources that are available are World Book encyclopedia, Britannica library, and Kentucky virtual library.
For those who use ereaders there are resources such as project Gutenberg which has over 60,000 free ebooks, Kentucky libraries unbound, also known as Libby, which allows you to borrow ebooks, audio books, and even magazines.
There are computers available for the public to use anytime during business hours. The only cost is if something is printed. “The thing that computers are used most for now are job searches, applications, and filling out resumes.” said Jessee.
Wifi is accessible both inside and in the parking lot of the library for use at any time.
“Wifi alone is important. I remember the story of the military mother and it was during covid. She had not heard from her son who was deployed overseas. She had gotten a message that if she could get somewhere where there was wifi then they could facetime. I think she told me that it had been three months since she had actually seen him. So she called here. Of course it was during covid and the wifi is open 24/7 from the parking lot. She came to the parking lot and was able to facetime her son over seas for the first time in three months. It’s important to have those things. It’s not cheap, but the cost of that is nothing when you think about a mom being able to see her kid” said Jessee.
The Adair County Public Library offers a multitude of free services for the community. The funding they receive is only from the county level. Monetary and book donations are always welcomed and appreciated.
“We do take book donations if they are within six months to a year copyright. There is a reason for that. We have limited shelf space” she said.
“We do have people who support us that way [monetarily] and we are very thankful. We call them our book angels. We do have people who do that every year. It doesn’t have to be that big. $5.00 is a lot” said Jessee.
The legendary Book Mobile is in still in operation in Adair County. It first began in 1955 and has been a vital part of the library. Priority on book mobile services is given to those who are home bound and next to families with limited transportation. It also serves the Amish community.
The library also hosts multiple events throughout the year. A summer reading program for youth, a tiny learner’s program and a weekly lap-sit program are hosted by the library. There is one book club with another one starting soon that meet monthly that anyone can join. Classes such as book bling, book tasting, and an upcoming class in September on decoupage pumpkins with book pages.
There are still plenty of books to be found at the library including new releases, classics, numerous genres and best-selling authors. Many of the books are available in large print as well.
The library is open Monday – Friday 8am -5pm and on Saturday 8am – noon. The website is adaircountypubliclibrary.com.
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
