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Hancock library, school first in state to establish joint library
Special to the Echo
T}je Hancock County Library System and the Hancock bounty School District are naking history in Mississippi. ?or the first time in the state, a public library system and a :ounty school district are enter-ng into an agreement to provide library services to the resi-lents and students of Pearling-;on and the surrounding immunities.
At a press conference Sept. 21 n the school 'district’s board -oom, members^ of the Hancock bounty Library System Board jf Trustees, the Hancock bounty School District Board of Education and the Hancock bounty Board of Supervisors signed an agreement to estab-ish the Pearlington Public Library.
The library will be located in he school’s library/media cen-er now under construction at he Charles B. Murphy School.
The joint use partnership vill provide library cardholders n the Pearlington and sur-ounding communities access to he library’s collection through he automated computer cata-og and to check out books.
Library users can also place Dooks on reserve, have them de-ivered to the Pearlington Public Library for pickup and •equest inter-library loan tems.
Charles B. Murphy students md faculty will continue to lave the services of a certified school librarian and ;urriculum-related materials.
“We are very excited about ;his unique cooperative effort,” said Prima Plauche', Hancock County Library System director, “that will not only meet the
needs of the children attending Charles B. Murphy Elementary School, but will also provide library and information services to the entire community in a facility provided by the school district and operated by the library system. We are proud to be the first in the state to enter into such an agreement.”
“The school district board of education is also excited about this partnership,” said Terry Randolph, superintendent of education. “Libraries are an integral part of the education process, and combining them at the Charles B. Murphy School is a plus for our students.”
Randolph said the students and adults will benefit from the resources both agencies can provide. Students, teachers and the public will gain vital library and information services. '
He said with the library system’s online database available in the school, students and teachers will have access not only to information about books in the collection, but also to community information, such as public meetings and directories of government and social services.
Plauche' said children will gain access to thousands of titles in the public library’s collection and to current computer technology including magazine articles online, and access to the many resources available on the Internet and the Mississippi Information Network.
Children and adults will have the ability to place holds on items in many subject areas that will be sent on request to the Pearlington Public Library.
The partnership project between the Hancock County School District and the Hancock County Library System is a creative and cost-effective alliance to provide essential information services to an unserved community of children and adults.
THE SEA COAST ECHO—THURSDAY, APRIL 15,1999 f