The Town Board gave the club permission to build the library
on town property. It was to be added to the town hall building.
The club raised over $3,000.00 for this project and continued
to raise more after the building was under way. The local
Lion’s Club raised more than $500.00. One donor gave
$1,000 dollars and another large donation came in after the
project was underway.
Others
in the community assisted both physically and financially.
Tommy Dyer, a town board member and local contractor, was
named as an advisor for the construction of the building
and became very involved in the work. The Inola Hardware
supplied the paint. Neil Amerson installed the ceiling.
Harry Riggs supplied the plumbing. Harry Benton’s
dad built the bookshelves. The First National Bank of Claremore
donated the lights. Air-conditioning was put in and the
floor was carpeted. Mrs. Clyde Stout volunteered to supply
the drapes. The Extension Club gathered books for the library
during the time the building was under construction. It
took about two years for everything to be in place.
The
club knew nothing about setting up a library. So Lois Filbeck,
a former Oklahoma Military Academy Librarian, spent several
weeks teaching them how to catalog the books and set up
the library. June 25, 1969, Ordinance No. 68-3, creating
a Public Library and Reading Room for the town of Inola,
was put into effect. In the same year a Library Board of
Directors was established, which adopted by-laws and regulations.
The
club planned to continue the facility, as a club project
and the members take turns serving as librarians, until
the town could afford to hire one. They planned to keep
the library open from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., three days
a week, but the library was ran by volunteers without any
regular hours set for several years. Several librarians
were hired for a short period of time. Then in 1983, Dorothy
Turner, a long time Inola resident, was hired as the Library
Director. She established regular hours.
The
library continued to grow. More than 6,000 books were squeezed
into the 16’ by 30’ room. Something had to be
done. So in 1989, Dorothy applied for and received a building
grant from the founders of the Doctors Hospital in Tulsa
for $25,000.00. The community members once again began to
pitch in to help raise funds for an expansion project. Finally
all was complete and over the weekend an Open House was
held.
In April
of 1998, Dorothy Turner, Library Director, Anne Lawson,
Assistant Librarian, and Sandra Getzfried, volunteer, received
their Certification Certificates from the State of Oklahoma,
as Public Librarians.
Our
Library Director, Dorothy Turner, retired in March of 2000.
Anne Lawson was placed as temporary director. In April of
2000, Connie James, part-time employee and volunteer, received
her Certification Certificate, Level III, from the Oklahoma
Department of Libraries. In May, Linda Shaw was hired as
the new Library Director. She works part-time. Connie James
was hired as Librarian and works five days a week.
The
library, for quite some time had needed office space. The
question was where to find the space and spend very little
money. With the help of the town maintenance crew, our storage
closet and an old bathroom were remodeled into an office
and small storage closet. This is not a very big space but
it’s more than we had before.
Currently
the library houses approximately 10, 763 items. Our circulation
has been up for quite some time. We check out over a thousand
items a month. That is a lot for a small town the size of
Inola. We are open 33 hours a week and have a staff of two.
Most of our patrons read for pleasure so we try to keep
up with the most popular titles.
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