The Friends of the Library (FOL), a volunteer group that supports the library, sells books at the Craighead County Public Library to raise funds for programming and materials. The A-State Young Democrats collected books from students at a table in the Reng Student Union to donate to the FOL Bookshop. 

Christina Smith, a sophomore history and communications major from Cabot and vice president of the A-State Young Democrats, said, “All of these books that are donated get put into the Friends of the Library bookstore and all the books that they sell there, all of those funds go straight to the library to make sure that they are still up and running.”

A vote in the 2022 midterm elections determined the Craighead County Public Library’s budget would be reduced; this measure cut the previous budget in half. This vote sparked the idea for the book drive. 

Stephanie Sweeney, manager of youth services at the Craighead County Public Library, said, “Luckily, since we are forward funded, this year we’ve cut the budget somewhat, so we have a cushion for the next year. It’s next year that we will really feel the bulk of the budget cuts.”

Sweeney said the Friends of the Library helped provide furniture, display cases and other  materials for the library. She said youth services depend on the funds from the Friends of the Library for programs, such as a future book signing with Thanhhà Lai. 

The FOL Bookshop, located inside the Craighead County Public Library, sells magazines and audiovisual materials, as well as books. The Bookshop raises an average of about $1,000 monthly. 

Though not many people stopped by the table to donate, the Young Democrats received over 100 books to donate to the Friends of the Library Bookshop. 

“I was kind of shocked because the only people that came would bring boxes and boxes of books,” Smith said. 

Arissa Farmer, a senior marketing major from Trumann, stopped by the book drive. She said she did not have anything with her to donate, but she asked the Young Democrats at the table when she could donate in the future. 

“I’m vice president of the Environmental Club on campus and we host a very large Earth Day celebration every year. I stopped at the booth and left my email so that if they wanted to come out and do their book drive there they could,” Farmer said. “Even if I didn’t have anything to donate I wanted to give them a well marketed opportunity to get more books to give to our community.”

Categories: News