The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
-Gloria Snyder Quill Staff/ Monica Carpenter Library Director
The library was dedicated in l905, a grand event with the majority of the town in attendance.
The cornerstone, which reads l905, still has a time capsule buried in it. The old papers say there are pictures of local prominent people and buildings included in the package.
The library is open 30 hours a week at the present time. Currently there is a staff of two, but they are looking for a third dependable helper.
Recently hired as the new Library Director is Monica Carpenter who has been with the library since August 2000. Monica lives in La Harpe with her husband of 14 years, Phil, who works with Southwest Airlines, and her children Kylen 13, Paige11, and Jordan almost 9.
The library offers many services to the community. They have a faxing service, copy service, free use of the internet, free book loaning from other libraries, videos, books on tape, and newspapers on microfilm from l875.
The library is planning to have several children's story hour/parties in the next few months before school is out.
The summer reading program will start in June. The theme for all Illinois libraries this year is "Reading Rocks".
Erin Nelson, who has recently been hired as assistant director and children's librarian, is going to a workshop to get ideas for the program. She is also going to school at WIU while living in La Harpe.
The library staff encourages people to donate newer paperbacks they have read, hardbacks, video tapes, and books on tape. This allows the library to expand their collection, clear off peoples shelves, and gives them certain media the budget doesn't allot for spending on.
The library will have 2 new computers for public access very soon which are being funded entirely with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This will upgrade their technology and be a great asset to all that use it. They will have the capability to have 4 computers accessing the internet at the same time instead of 1.
People come to the La Harpe Carnegie Public Library from all over doing research on their families. "The genealogy section is very good for a library this size," stated Monica Carpenter. Many people in this community are distant relatives and have no idea who is related to them.
The library staff looks foward to having people come in and they welcome people looking around the facility and asking questions.
Drop in and enjoy the services of your local library.
Director of the La Harpe Library, Monica Carpenter, is busy working at a computer to aid patron Kim Putnam in checking out her books.