Building Readers at Emily J. Pointer Library

Margaret Murray served the Mississippi Library Commission (MLC) and libraries in Mississippi for twenty years before retiring in 2014. At the annual Mississippi Library Association conference in 2015, the Friends of Mississippi Libraries announced a grant honoring her work in the library community. The competitive grant advances library programming and literacy for Mississippi public libraries through activities sponsored by the local Friends of Mississippi Libraries chapters. Three $1,000 grant recipients are named each year.

Como Branch Manager Amy Henderson receives the grant check
from Del Ann Billingsly, Treasurer of the Como Library Friends.

The Friends group of the Emily J. Pointer Library, a branch of the First Regional Library System, is one of this year's recipients. This library, located in Como, Mississippi, wanted to advance early literacy through collection development. Nearly 50% of children in this area perform below passing levels in language arts. Their goals were to attract and expose preschool age children to the alphabet and numbers in a fun way while keeping with current trends of collection development, especially with the inclusion of books featuring diverse characters. In their grant application, the group said, "By offering an appealing, up-dated collection of books to our young patrons, we hope to aid in the improvement of literacy levels in school age children."

Como Library Youth Specialist Veneda Ruby and Pat Hendren
show off some of the books ordered with grant funds.

Many congratulations to Emily J. Pointer Library and the children of Como, who will benefit from this grant for many years to come. Check back with us soon for more posts featuring this year's Margaret Murray Grant recipients!