Keep the Shamrock Community Library open and operating as it currently is.

On Sept 5, 2018 at a "special" City Council meeting, the possibility of closing the Shamrock Community Library was suggested and discussed. The idea of closing the Library was to help alleviate current financial problems the City is having. While it is understandable that the City is in a financial crisis, the savings of closing the Shamrock Community Library would be miniscule especially when compared to the services the Library provides at a very minimum cost.

The Shamrock Community Library was built and donated to the City of Shamrock in the early 1970's. It was built we funds obtained by local citizens who recognized the need for the Library. Funds were donated by numerous citizens, local organization, bake sales and various other means of obtaining the necessary funds.

The cost of the Library is very minimal to the City of Shamrock. Donations are still the main way that the Library operates. The Library currently receives no funding from the City of Shamrock other than paying for utilities and pay for one part time employee (Librarian) for 20 hours per week. No employee benefits (paid vacation, medical insurance) are paid to the part time employee. Wheeler County does donate $200 per month to the Library for the purchase of books and/or other items necessary for the operation of the Library. All other funding for the Library to purchase books comes from bake sales, donations from individuals and organizations and memorials. Computers in the Library were paid for by accumulated donations. Accumulated donations paid for the replacement of the carpet in the Library in about 2006. The lighting inside the Library was repaired and replaced several years ago, again paid for by accumulated donations.

The Library is used by numerous local citizens as well as tourist passing through town. A great many elderly people borrow books weekly as well as lower income citizens. This in many cases is their only form of entertainment. It was suggested that the Library is no longer necessary as people can now get information and read E books via home computers. Not everyone has or can afford a home computer. Some elderly people can not operate a home computer. Some people prefer to actually read a book.

The Library also provides computers for people to use. Some use the computers to search and apply for jobs. Some use the computers for entertainment while others use them for information. Numerous High School and College students use the Library's computers to obtain information for school reports. Many tourist stop to use the computers to check email while away from home. Some citizens use the computers for filing forms for Government assistance in various ways (health insurance, workers comp insurance, unemployment, job search, applying for jobs online as some companies now require). Many people come into the Library just to print documents needed for various reasons. As stated above, not everyone has or can afford a personal computer. Another service provided by the Library is faxing although the fax machine is presently inoperative. But weekly people come in needing to fax documents.

The Librarian also puts on several reading programs for local children throughout the year. This is done to both promote the Library and literacy with the young children. The Summer Reading Program for preschool age and up goes through most of the summer for the children. A Christmas program is also implemented in December for the children. There is also an End of School Program to help remind the children that the Library is there for them during the Summer. The Shamrock ISD buses the children to the Library for some of these programs. These Reading Program are done in the mornings before the Library's regular operating time. The time spent preparing and putting on these Reading Program is done by the Librarian on her own time and many of the supplies are provided at the Librarian's personal expense.

On many holidays when City Hall is closed, the Librarian will go ahead and open the Library. Again, this is on the Librarian's own time and City is not charged for this time. This is done in part for the elderly and lower income citizens who depend on the Library. It also allows some people who normally have to work and are unable to get to the Library.

The Library is not just a place to borrow books. The Library is a window to the history of Shamrock and surrounding area. The Librarian receives inquiries from all over the world from people wanting various information. Some of the inquiries are about long lost relatives, dates of births/deaths of friends or family, some searching for friends that served in the military with them and a lot of genealogy research. In the last few years, the Librarian on her own initiative, obtained a grant to allowed to have the Shamrock Texan newspapers which are archived at the Library to be digitized. This required a great deal of work both in obtaining the grant and getting the job done. The Shamrock Texan back to around 1910 can now be viewed and searched via the internet. They are also available on micro fish and can be viewed and printed at the Library.

In the past when various work crews have been in Shamrock such as the Electrical Transmission Line crews that were here for several months, many of the employees and their families utilized the library both with the use of computers and borrowing of books. Several oilfield employees temporarily stationed here use the library.

There is more to operating a Library than just checking out books. Trying to obtain the latest books with very little funding is a large part of it. But there are also various State reports that have to filed, statistics to keep up with. Then there is trying to get books returned that have been borrowed. This entails numerous attempts to contact the people to return the books. In some cases, going to the person's home after hours to contact them. This sometimes is not a very safe thing to do.

As stated above, there is more to the Library than just providing books. The Library provides a greatly needed service. And again, while closing the Library may save the City a few dollars, the loss of the Library and the numerous services it provides at very little cost would be a great disservice to the citizens of Shamrock who depend on and deserve to have its Library.