The Unicoi County Public Library received a big donation courtesy of the Library of Congress and U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger.
Harshbarger presented over 100 books from the Library of Congress’ surplus book supply to the UCPL staff. Town of Unicoi Mayor Kathy Bullen contacted Harshbarger’s office after finding out about the Library of Congress’ surplus book program. Bullen said Harshbarger and her staff worked to pull books from the collection for the library, and Bullen herself was able to travel to Washington last month to select some books as well.
“I went to Diana’s office in the congressional building and went through a bunch of books her staff had already pulled,” Bullen said. “And then one of her staff members walked with me over to the storage area where the Library of Congress has all their books that are duplicates or they are moving on and I pulled a few more.”
UCPL Director Morgan Olson said the library received five large boxes of books including cookbooks, large print books, books about homesteading and more.
“Our materials budget is really small, so whenever we’re able to get a donation like that that’s really high quality and exactly what our patrons want, that’s what gets people coming into the library over and over again,” Olson said.'
Bullen said after selecting the books, Harshbarger paid for them to be shipped to the UCPL. And when Harshbarger came by the library to present the books, she brought two additional boxes.
“It was just a very positive experience and it's just so nice to know that we have somebody in Washington, D.C., who is supportive of our local library,” Bullen said.
Bullen said the UCPL is always working to meet the needs of the people of Unicoi County.
“Our local library has grown in exponential ways,” Bullen said. “They are so user friendly. The staff is so helpful. If you go and spend any amount of time in there at all you’ll see all the different ways that people are benefiting from the services that the library has to offer.”
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://harshbarger.house.gov/media/in-the-news/us-rep-diana-harshbarger-brings-surplus-book-donation-unicoi-county-public