LAHARPE — At barely two months old, the new drop box library in LaHarpe City Hall is growing by leaps and bounds.
In addition to 375 books on loan from the Southeast Kansas Library System, the library also has more than 30 boxes of donated books waiting to be put on shelves.
“Now all we need are the shelves, and people who can install them,” volunteer Evelyn Maloney said with a laugh.
Currently, the only shelving is a pair of shelves donated by Haldex Brake in Iola.
“Not nearly enough for (the books) we have,” Maloney said. “And we’re constantly getting more good books.”
For the time being, donated books are on boxes atop desks and organized neatly on the floor.
The city has some shelving on hand, and that will be installed when city employees have time. “But right now, they have roads and electrical issues to worry about,” Maloney said.
Maloney is eager to get books on shelves because having available tables and desks would provide an inviting environment for youngsters to do homework assignments or read silently.
The library hopes to cater to readers young and old with a large assortment of fiction and nonfiction, western, young adult, mysteries and children’s books.
SEKLS books rotate periodically. Those books come in crates that open to reveal stocked shelves. After six or eight weeks, a new set of boxes replaces the current ones, giving readers a greater variety of reading materials. Over the year, LaHarpe will see more than 3,000 such books.
WITH PLENTY of books on hand, Maloney is eager for more readers.
“We’ve had 21 people sign up for library cards since we opened,” she said. “We need to increase that number tremendously.”
Maloney also would like to see the library acquire more adult-sized chairs. Kid-sized chairs were common in the former elementary school building.
Maloney also envisions weekly story hour sessions and other enrichment activities. “Maybe we could read a book one week, then show a movie the next,” she said.
But that’s putting the cart before the horse, she admitted.
Volunteers have been hard to find as well.
“We’ve had others, and they’ve been sick recently,” said Maloney, who has found herself volunteering 10 hours a day Monday through Friday and an additional four hours on Saturdays.
She could use help organizing books, she said. “I’m not the best at figuring out if something should go in nonfiction or what,” she said with a laugh.
IDEALLY, voters would approve a ballot referendum to fund the library through property taxes, she said.
“But I think the city wants to wait and see how this works before they try to put anything up for a vote,” Maloney said.
The city must decide by February whether to vote on a library tax in April, the next regularly scheduled city election.
If a mill levy is established, the city would qualify for grants to help fund operations, activities, materials and perhaps a computer or two for Internet access.
Library hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
