- April 24, 2024
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There has been an official county public library in Flagler since 1987, but it was just 11 years ago that Flagler County welcomed the building that is known today as the Flagler County Public Library.
The new library was opened in January of 2000 after the old facility, found in what is now Palm Harbor Shopping Center, was outgrown, because of the rapid growth of the county.
The library on Friday, Jan. 7, invited the community to join in remembering the hard work that it took to make this happen.
“To me, not only is it a celebration of the library and what it means to the community, but also to the people that worked so hard to get this new building going,” said Terry Jones, president of Friends of the Library.
One of those people was state Rep.Doug Wiles. Wiles was instrumental in funding the new library.
“The credit goes to Flagler County,” Wiles said at the celebration.
As the county continues to grow, the library must once again look at funding.
In 2010 the library found a new way to generate funding with the opening of its passport center, which has brought in $100,000 in revenue.
This revenue paid for several enhancements around the library, including additional sidewalks and a discovery center in the children’s center, Library Director Holly Albanese said.
In the year to come, the library is looking into some improvements which will make checking out books from the library more convenient.
The new automated system would allow patrons to access the database and reserve materials from home. There will be also be a phone application compatible with iPhone, Blackberry and Android.
In addition, the library has received $10,000 through a crime-prevention grant to purchase of security cameras and a new theft-detection system.
“We have another challenging year ahead of us,” Albanese said. “We are open to ideas of how to generate revenue, but we can not charge for books.”
