Libraries are important cornerstones of a healthy community. The Winston County Library gives people the opportunity to find jobs, explore medical research, experience new ideas, get lost in wonderful stories, while at the same time providing a sense of place for gathering.
The Winston County Library reflects the diversity and character, and the needs and expectations of our community. Those needs and expectations are often extensive, and the services invaluable.
The Winston County Library is often the only readily available source of comprehensive information needed by people for personal, family and job-related purposes. Winston County’s economy benefits when business people use library resources to make wise business decisions, employees use it to improve job skills, or the disadvantaged use it to help break the cycle of poverty. During economic hardship, people turn to and depend on the library.
Over summer vacations, evenings and weekends, the Winston County Library is usually the only library available to school children; for preschoolers it is simply the only library available. College students often use the library when they are home for the weekend or for holidays. And the reference resources in the library are unavailable anywhere else in our community.
The Winston County Library is open six days a week, forty-three and a half hours a week, and has a website which is filled with online research collections, downloadable content, reference help, and access to an array of the library’s holdings and information.
The Winston County Library provided over 9,000 free one hour Internet sessions to the people of our county, as well as out of town and out of state visitors, in the past year. The internet has made public libraries more relevant, not less, as some people suggest. Three-fourths of all internet use at our library is for e-mail, job search, research, and on-line college classes.
Junior-high, high-school and college students utilize the library’s free Magnolia database, funded by our state legislature, to access magazines, journals, study guides for GED, ACT, SAT, ASVAB and many more. Magnolia also provides students free access to tutoring in virtually every subject, homework aids, and research tools for student papers and essays.
Over the last year the library circulated approximately 4,850 items a month, including books, DVDs, books on CD and free e-books. Attendance averages 5,710 people a month. We presented programs to over 3,622 school children during the school year, and over 800 children and teens attended our Summer Reading Programs. We had 6,811 computer users in the past year. Librarian Beth Edwards proctored tests or exams for over 200 college students. And we served over 231 patrons with home-book deliveries due to illness or being home-bound.
A wonderful free service from the library is “Hoopla” – patrons can instantly borrow eBooks, audiobooks, comics, movies, music, TV shows and more, 24/7 with their library cards. There’s no waiting, no late fees, and it’s always available.
The Friends of the Library raised over $9,000 for library needs such as new furniture for the Teen Room and Fiction Reading Room in addition to new book display racks in the Fiction Reading Room.
We held many book signings for local and state authors; art shows, cultural and educational programs for students and adults, gardening programs, pet programs and health seminars. Every month sees a beautiful floral display by local garden clubs and florists/gift shops in our lobby. Local quilters also display their quilts every month. Our civic clubs use the library for displays educating the public on their many community services and activities. Dozens of local high school students satisfy required service hours after school and during school breaks by volunteering at the library. Local citizens provide Christmas for many underprivileged area children by “adopting” them from the annual Junior Auxiliary Angel Tree, located each November at the library.
The Winston County Library is part of the Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System, made up of Attala, Leake, Holmes, Montgomery and Winston Counties, with headquarters in Kosciusko, MS. The Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System is also a member of the Mississippi Library Partnership, which brings an additional 3.1 million titles to our patrons for their use.
Your public library is a truly democratic space where all are welcome and where everything inside is available to everyone. Contact us at winston@mmrls.lib.ms.us, or 662-773-3212 or visit our website at www.mmrls.lib.ms.us for information on any of our programming or for questions in general.
Check It Out At The Winston County Library!
MARCH 2019
The following FICTION books are now available for checkout at the library:
Danielle Steel – Silent Night
Greg Iles – Cemetery Road
James Patterson – Detective Cross
Jonathan Kellerman – The Wedding Guest
J. D. Robb – Connections
James Grippando – The Girl In The Glass Box
Sophie Kinsella – I Owe You One
Colleen Coble – Secrets At Cedar Cabin
Joseph Finder – Judgement
James Patterson – Liar, Liar
Thomas Perry – The Burglar
Fiona Barton – The Suspect
JoAnn Ross – Snowfall on Lighthouse Lane
Robyn Carr – The Best of Us
Michael McGarrity – Residue
Taylor Stevens – The Mask
Lisa Jewell – The House We Grew Up In
Carl Weber – Trouble in Rio
Jo Ann Fluke – Chocolate Cream Pie Murder
Karen Harper – American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo
Vanderbilt
Don Winslow – The Border
Karen Harper – Shallow Grave
Stephanie Barron – That Churchill Woman
Madeline Miller – Circe
John Lescroat – The Rule of Law
James Rollins – Crucible
Brenda Jackson – Love in Catalina Cove
Beverly Jenkins – Stepping To A New Day
Check It Out At The Winston County Library!
MARCH 2019
The following NON-FICTION BOOKS are now available for checkout at the library:
The Southern Living Party Cookbook
The Curse of Oak Island: The Story of the World’s Longest Treasure Hunt
– Randall Sullivan
Southern Keto – Natasha Newton
Home Body – Joanna Gaines
The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to the Civil War
– Joanne B. Freeman
Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic & Mystery Illness & How to Finally Heal
- Anthony William
Believe Bigger: Discover the Path to Your Life Purpose – Marshawn Evans Daniels
Small Space Style – Whitney Leigh Morris
Green Clean: Natural Cleaning Solutions for Every Room of Your Home – Jull Schoff
The Instant Pot Bible – Bruce Weinstein
The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump –
Andrew McCabe
Tell Your Children the Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence – Alex Berenson
Mar-A-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump’s Presidential Palace – Laurence Leamer
