Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott's library adopted by one in Illinois

An adoption has occurred in Prescott.

Normally, adoptions aren't newsworthy items, but this is a special case. The new Prescott-Nevada County Library has been adopted by the library at Schaumburg, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.

This occurred because Glen Jones, husband of Shirley Jones, read about the new library and its needs from the Picayune's web site. He told his wife, who went to the library she works at to see what could be done.

The end result was the adoption of the local library by the one in Schaumburg.

The Jones's were in Prescott in June, and given a tour of the new facility by Librarian Joyce Gibson. They brought 10 boxes of books with them then.

According to Gibson, George and Margaret Ivy have known the Joneses for years. Through this friendship, a rapport was established between the two libraries, and this, eventually, led to the adoption.

The Schaumburg library, Gibson said, is in an exclusive neighborhood, where patrons donate best sellers once they finish reading them. In addition, the Illinois library receives books from different publishing companies across the nation. "They wrote a letter to the publishers telling them to send one copy of each book to the Prescott library. We'll be getting books from publishing companies in the future."

The Ivy's recently made a trip to Schaumburg, returning with 27 boxes of books from the library there. Those books include large print, inspirational, westerns, self help and best sellers. "These aren't old books," Gibson said, "they're up-to-date. These are books they would sell in their bookstore."

The Schaumburg library in question is a branch of the main library and employs 300 people, including Shirley Jones, who's been there for 35 years. The Illinois library, Gibson said, has a theater where movies are shown, along with an area where people can check out movies, both DVD and VHS format. In addition, she added, the two-storey structure has a coffee shop and cafeteria.

"They'll be looking out for us," Gibson said. "Our next venture will be videos and audio books. People who travel a lot listen to audio books."

The Prescott library has a few videos, but once it starts receiving them from the Schaumburg library, shelves will be put up with the video shells displayed. The actual videos will be kept behind the counter and checked out like books.

The Joneses were sent an invitation to the library's premier on Oct. 25, and ribbon cutting on Oct. 26, Gibson said, and were thrilled, even though they couldn't attend.

The Ivy's went to Schaumburg earlier this month and returned with 27 boxes of books from that library. In addition to this, Gibson said, the Schaumburg Friends of the Library recently sent Prescott's library 12 boxes of books through the mail.

"Being adopted by the Schaumburg library is the best thing that could happen to this one," Gibson said.