Library director shares history, future at Homewood Chamber lunch
With Homewood Public Library celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Library Executive Director Deborah Fout visited the Homewood Chamber of Commerce luncheon on June 21 to talk about the library's past and its offerings today.
The library opened in March of 1941 in a small room inside Homewood City Hall. Fout said the library had around 2,500 to 3,000 books, all donated by residents, and an initial budget from the city of $600. Today, by contrast, the library offers around 99,000 books and other items, and the budget exceeds $2 million. As part of the Jefferson County Library Co-op, Homewood residents can check out items from any library in the county.
The library got its first freestanding building in 1952, but arrived in its current location at 1721 Oxmoor Road in 1987. That was the year, Fout said, that she joined the Homewood Library staff.
Fout said that Homewood residents are strong supporters of their library, with 16,000 residents holding Homewood Library cards currently. The library has also been honored with a four-star rating by The Library Journal in 2015 and a statewide Gold Level Award in 2014.
"A city with a great library is a great city," Fout said.
In 2015, Fout said Homewood Library had about half a million items in circulation and around 30,000 visitors per month. There are hundreds of adult, teen and kids programs going on at the library, as well as community meetings most nights. Fout added that the Friends of the Homewood Library play an important role by fundraising throughout the year, raising around $30,000 each year.
Fout said this summer, 973 kids are in the summer reading program. The day of the chamber luncheon was also water day for the reading program.
"Right now, they [the kids] are getting hosed down by the fire department," Fout said.
While books and magazines are the traditional library offerings, Fout said Homewood also offers ebooks, DVDs, video games and movie streaming through Hoopla. She noted that educational programs at the library cover a wide variety of topics.
A sample of the classes include finance, technology, Social Security, science and bartending for adults; coding, sushi making, free ACT test prep, self-defense and robotics for teens; and children's programs for every age. Many of those classes are completely free.
"Libraries fill the gap for lifelong learning," Fout said. "You can learn everything and anything at the library."
Fout closed her speech by taking questions from the audience and reminding them of the upcoming Library Block Party in August. The two-year-old event has already surpassed fundraising totals from previous years. Fout also encouraged listeners to sign up for a library card, saying that the "one county, one card" co-op system makes more media accessible to card holders.
Learn more at the library's website.