Guess who just turned 50?
The Justin Potter Library held a two-hour celebration Sunday to mark 50 years of service to the people who live in and around DeKalb County.
You can find it all at the library, from loaning books to computers for public use and much more.
It was a full house Sunday as folks stopped by to see the presentation of a proclamation which State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver presented to the group to honor their service. It was signed by Weaver, State Rep. Mark Pody and Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell.
In addition to the framed proclamation, the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce marked the event by honoring the library with a Milestone Award presented by Chamber Director Suzanne Williams.
The original staff consisted of June Vaughn, Jewel Fowler and Melford Smith.
The 2017 staff is Director Kathy Hendrixson, Amanda Bain, Laura Bauswell, Gretchen Byford, Wendy Crotty, Burgundy Evans, Diane Haberman, Savanna Hershman and Rebecca Maloney.
Justin Potter Library opened in June 1967 with an official dedication and open house on Sept. 17, 1967. It was named for the late Justin Potter, a DeKalb County native and successful Nashville businessman, whose family provided funds to help build the library through the Justin and Valere Potter Foundation.
Justin Potter’s grandson, Justin Wilson, was among those in attendance for the celebration as was Jenelle Pugh, a member of the 1967 original library board.
The Justin Potter Library is also a participant of the Tennessee R.E.A.D.S. program which is a regional eBook and audiobook download system. If you have a library card in good standing, you can borrow books for electronic readers like the Kindle or mobile phones.
You can also download audio books from your favorite author. You get a certain period of time, depending on your preferences, then the book is electronically returned. If a book you want isn’t available, you can put a hold on it so the next time it does you are notified. You can find out more about R.E.A.D.S. and Overdrive here: https://reads.overdrive.com/
Library hits milestone