Crawford brings books to county
Arkansas First District Congressman Rick Crawford (R-Jonesboro) was in Paragould Friday morning to donate about 250 books to the Greene County Library as part of the Library of Congress Surplus Book Program.
According to a press release from Crawford’s office, the Library of Congress receives more than 20,000 items every day, but only about half of the material is retained for the library’s permanent collection. The remainder is designated for donation through the Surplus Books Program, the release said.
“Once a month, we can go to the Library of Congress and essentially take advantage of surplus books that would probably otherwise be destroyed,” Crawford said. “We can bring them back to libraries in our district.”
Crawford said Greene County Library staff members “initiated the program” by contacting his office. He said once a month, his staff searched through the surplus books for subject matter the libraries had requested. Staff members said Crawford also offered to pay the shipping cost of the books. They said the books helped the library’s book budget as well as allowed its patrons to expand their reading environment.
“It’s always good to get books for our collection — especially when they’re coming at no cost to us,” branch librarian Sandra Rogers said. “[The shipment included] a lot of textbooks that we’ll be able to furnish to students. We normally don’t buy textbook material. This is a great program.”
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