By Emily Loughridge
Contributing Writer
In early June, Canadian County Public Library Consortium members received funds from the Educational Facilities Authority to help fund operations and purchase specialized items.
Canadian County’s four largest libraries – Yukon, Mustang, Piedmont, and El Reno – were allotted shares of the $84,575 given by the county authority (comprised of the three Canadian County commissioners).
Yukon’s Mabel C. Fry Public Library earned the largest percent at 34.5% – which equates to $29,325, according to Librarian Sara Schieman.
Schieman said MCF’s funds will go toward buying new furniture for the library and renewing subscriptions to 16 digital magazines.
She continued to say the digital magazines have an app called Flipster that allows anyone with a MCF library card to access the titles.
“All four Canadian County libraries serve all residents of Canadian County,” Schieman said. “So, any money that the Educational Facilities Authority awards to the Public Library Consortium can be used in service of every county resident.
“In addition, we all communicate regularly and do not duplicate purchases of things like databases.”
Throughout MCF’s summer programs, they will service almost 800 children – from their Early Literacy program through their Young Adult program.
Schieman reports that MCF’s Young Literacy program has 161 children enrolled, the Children’s program has 466 and the Young Adult program has 161.
The enrolled numbers reflect the number of children who register for the READsquared app and are currently logging reading minutes.
MCF serves readers online as well through electronic materials, including print, audio and visual.
Canadian County’s four largest libraries offer free library cards and look to serve every resident of the county, and not just the specific city the library is located in.
Of the approximate $84,575 allocated to the libraries, the remaining 65.5% was divided among Mustang, El Reno and Piedmont libraries.
The trio received 29.5%, 24.9%, and 11.1% respectively.
The distributions are based on a 50-cent per resident calculation.
