Mrs. Bamburg was in education for 33 years in Natchitoches Parish. She retired from the school system on a Wednesday and went to work as the Winn Parish Library Director on Thursday. That was 3 years ago. Working at the library is the best job and they try to make the patrons happy. They are willing to help in any way they can.
The goal of the library is to meet the needs of the people of Winn Parish. They help people with the computer in applying for housing, food stamps and other things that only accept online applications. There are a lot of people in that situation who do not have a computer or know how to use a computer. Some of the websites are very user unfriendly even for people who know how to use a computer.
The availability of e-books and audio books with Overdrive or Libby was shared with the group. Mrs. Bamburg comes from Natchitoches every day and she listens to audio books as she drives. There are over 3000 magazines and 30,000 books available to electronically read or listen to. Our library is in a group with other libraries in North Louisiana to offer this. They are checked out just as you would if you went to the physical library.
When the library staff weeds out the books as they do periodically those books are sold to the public for 25 cents. That is the maximum they are allowed to charge.
Mrs. Bamburg spoke about the fact that schools are no longer having librarians. When the current librarian retires they are not being replaced due to the student-teacher ratio. Winn Parish has a unique system in that there are branch libraries on the school property at Atlanta, Calvin and Dodson. This allows the children access to the library. Due to the fact that the library was paid off early and there was $40,000 left in the budget these branch libraries including the one at Sikes are receiving an outside facelift and the bathrooms are being redone.
The goal of the Winn Parish Library staff is to help people and meet the needs of the people in Winn Parish.
