Wakulla Public Library’s director, ‘Library Linda,’ is passionate about her community
By LINDA ANN McDONALD
Correspondent
Public libraries in the United States play an essential role in providing safe, accessible, and 100% free educational resource centers for every member in communities across the country.
At a library, it doesn’t matter how much money you make, because every resource there is free of charge, including books, internet access, and educational and professional training programs. Individuals and families, no matter their socioeconomic status, can count on their libraries to provide them with the resources they need to succeed and the answers to important questions they can’t otherwise find.
Linda Oaks, Director of Library Services, has lived in Wakulla County her whole life. She is passionate about both her community and the services provided by her library. Oaks also serves her community as the secretary of the Rotary Club of Wakulla, helping with Wakulla Chamber of Commerce programs and Leadership programs. Oaks has volunteered with Wakulla Emergency Management and earned the nickname “Library Linda.”
“The mission of the Wakulla County Public Library is to enhance the lives of is residents by providing easy access to information and materials that meet the educational, informational and cultural needs of current and potential library users,” Oaks says. “The Public Library offers a wide variety of materials, programs, technology, and facilities to Wakulla County citizens. It provides easy access to books, videos, DVDs, audio books, public access computers, software, and internet resources to meet the information needs of its current and potential users. The library also offers a variety of programs for children, adults and families, and makes available meeting room space to numerous groups and organizations. Children’s programming includes weekly classes targeting babies, toddlers and older students.”
“Our library is unique; we have a billboard sized Humpty Dumpty in front of the library and we have many animals that make the library a learning space about animals that folks love,” she says. “The staff manage the upkeep of all the animals. Inside we have a large fish tank that was donated to the library years ago, a dwarf hamster named Hamlet, two zebra finches named Romeo and Juliet, two guinea pigs Hemingway and Poe, and a dwarf rabbit named Cinnabon. Families can enjoy seeing the animals in the glass windows of the director’s office and the catalogers office.”
Also unique to the Wakulla County Public Library are its trademark resident chickens.
“The chickens have become a staple in front of the library,” Oaks says. “If any visitors to the library witnesses anything annoying the chickens, we get a phone call. We love that the community looks out for them to protect them. Anyone can come in and purchase meal worms to feed the chickens as a snack for 50 cents which supports the chicken fund for feed and upkeep. We will continue to have chickens because the community seems to love them as much as we do.”
“The library encourages the love of reading with our weekly children’s programs with singing, crafts and reading. Our spring open house which is Dr. Seuss themed, saw over 300 citizens this past year, and our summer programs over the summer was very well attended. Our Star Wars Night was a huge success and we saw many Jedis. Harry Potter night was our biggest attendance at the facility with over 800 citizens, our fall open house Pirate-themed event was over 500 citizens. We love and enjoy seeing families and citizens come enjoy our programs that the staff and Friends of the Library put a lot of work into.”
Oaks and Senior Library Assistant Roxanne Dressel recently attended the Association of Rural and Small Libraries event in Springfield, Massachusetts. The conference was focused on small populations, small staff and rural communication. Ideas the team brought back with them include High School Spirit Week where the library staff will dress like Wakulla High School’s themed spirit week. Themes include soccer moms and barbecue dads, magical memories and character day, golden glitz and glamour-dress to impress and War Eagle Spirit Day.
“I also learned an idea to do paint chip poetry,” she says. “I also learned ideas on starting a teen book club and a teen writing club… a possible crotchet crafters group. I also learned the importance of community partnerships and we are blessed that we have great community partner relationships! Most importantly I learned that we are doing great things and got to network with like-minded librarians to float ideas off of.”
Community Involvement is paramount for Wakulla County Public Library.
“The library loves to be out in the community,” she says. “We have overseen the story boards that are around Azalea Park. The children’s staff is over picking the titles and switching the story pages out. The children’s staff have gone to Wakulla High School for library card sign ups and also visited several daycares to read to the children. We will be getting our mobile library started back up later this year; we will complete a survey to see where the community would like to have it and the time of day and we will do our best to accommodate the results of the survey.”
With the fall season comes a favorite holiday to many, Halloween. Library Linda’s favorite event is the Trick or Treat Story Walk, even though it is not physical held at the library, but rather at Hudson Park in Crawfordville.
“This event was my brainchild 9 years ago and it grows in attendance every year,” she says. “We have all our community partners out and thousands of community members participating. We even bring visitors from outside Wakulla County for this event. There is nothing like seeing all the families dressed in costumes and how all the kids love seeing their library friends outside of the library. This event brings so much joy to everyone and it is the highlight of the year for me. The support we receive for this event is unbelievable and I want to take this opportunity to thank all the community partners that make this event so successful.”
Exciting plans for the library are on the horizon.
“We are at the beginning stages of the planning process for the new library. The library will be constructed on the community center property off Trice Lane and Shadeville Highway. I am blessed to be able to have input in the planning process so that we meet all the needs of the community. There will be updated technology which we will be implementing within the next few months, a telehealth room and community rooms for meetings.”
Oaks finished with “We get to have fun and be educational at the same time. It is not often you hear of a library that is not a quiet library, we are not a ‘shhhhhh’ library. The citizens who come into the library seem to enjoy the fact it is not you typical everyone be quiet sanctuary. While we do not allow speaker phone calls in the public areas, we have a lot of children’s programs that allow families to come into a facility and feel welcomed.”
Wakulla County Public Library is located at 4330 Crawfordville Highway in Crawfordville. The Friends of the Wakulla County Public Library is a volunteer group supporting the youth activities of the library. Anyone can sign up to be a Friend of the Wakulla County Public Library. The Friends of WCPL host the Annual Event Mardi Gras Fundraiser Ball.
