Morgan County Public Library director Sarah Drennan (left) and assistant library director Amy Bryan-Chapman.
by Kate Evans
The Morgan County Public Library has a new team of directors at the helm along with several new programs.
New Morgan County Public Library director Sarah Drennan is the library’s former children’s and young adult librarian. She took over as director when former library director Donna Crocker retired in September.
Assistant library director Amy Bryan-Chapman came on board in August when former assistant library director Abbie Brown retired. The library also has two new library assistants — Laurel Thomas and Rachael Canterbury.
New director
Drennan began working at the library as a volunteer in the winter of 2016 and was hired as a substitute to fill in when other staff were sick or on vacation. She then became the children’s librarian before also serving as young adult librarian. Drennan double-majored in English and communications at the College of Southern Maryland.
Drennan said she loves working at the library and enjoys seeing all of its regular patrons and getting to know everyone and what’s happening in the community. She also enjoys ordering new books for the library collection.
“The library is like the heartbeat of the community,” she noted.
Drennan said she’s is also excited to see the kids she works with at the library during the Monday storytime becoming familiar with the library.
Bryan-Chapman spent 23 years in the education system working at Berkeley and Jefferson County Schools and in Morgan County Schools this past year. She has an undergraduate degree in early childhood education from West Virginia University, a Master’s degree in professional counseling from Liberty University and a second Master’s degree in behavioral analysis from Charter Oak University.
Bryan-Chapman said that she and Drennan work as a team and bounce ideas off each other.
“My job is to be her right hand,” she said.
Bryan-Chapman said she enjoys finding out what people are reading and researching and what their interests are. The Morgan County Public Library has a host of wonderful volunteers, she said.
New programs
The library held its first Lego Fun Day on Tuesday, November 6, which is for all ages. Pam Mann donated the Lego table when the Hancock Library moved. Local Lego master Phyllis Crecelius brought her huge Lego collection and oversaw Lego river raft-building.
The next Lego Fun Day is set for Tuesday, December 4 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Its theme is “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”
Drennan leads storytime every week along with an arts and crafts activity on Mondays at 11 a.m.
The Great Berkeley Springs Book Read is running until January 1.
Friends of Library
Drennan said that Friends of the Library volunteers have been moving all the books for sale from the front porch into the library so the porch can be painted.
Their president Barbara Scott hired a painter with money raised from book sales. The group puts a lot of time into keeping the books fresh and rotated and gets extra copies of books to places like the Veterans Administration Hospital.
The library began a book club back in April which has been very successful, Drennan said. It meets on the second Thursday of every month at 1 p.m. Books are provided by the West Virginia Library Commission so no one has to buy them.
Drennan said the library is sharing books with the local Read Aloud program and senior center.
Board of directors chairperson Connie Perry said that she and the board are very happy with Drennan and Bryan-Chapman and how things are going at the library.
Perry said the library wants to do more for kids and work with teachers to get them the books they need.
Library offerings
The Morgan County Public Library offers fiction and non-fiction books for children, young adults and adults along with magazines, periodicals, DVDs and movies, audio books, music CDs, e-books and interlibrary loans.
The library has eight computers available with free Internet access and printing, copies and fax services. Morgan County Historical and Genealogical Society members assist with family and historical research.
Literacy Volunteers of the Eastern Panhandle uses the library for tutoring sessions for basic literacy and English as a Second Language.
The Morgan County Public Library’s website provides links to over 500 free online educational and personal development courses, downloadable video games, online music, computer training, job skill-building, online encyclopedias, health and legal research and many other resources. Their website link is www.mocolibrary.com.
Hours
Current Morgan County Public Library hours are Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 to 1:00 p.m. Perry said the library could resume hours on Thursdays starting January 1, 2019. For more information on the library’s programs and services, call 304-258-3350.
