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Some of Dilley’s many young readers who recently received books to take home

DILLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY NEWS

By Norma Herrera
Library Director
Despite the coronavirus pandemic and the many limitations it has put on a library’s ability to serve patrons in the traditional way, we have persisted in our mission to provide reading material for the many children of our community, so that none of them miss out on learning and reading for their development.
We are pleased to have helped distribute scores of new books to our community’s children recently, and the school district’s Early Childhood Center and daycare facility recently received storybooks for its youngsters.
The facility’s supervisor also asked that we make available some reading material for the children to check out, which we have been happy to do for them.
Staff at the center – which is located in a portion of the former Mary Harper Middle School campus – will be using the books during their regular Story Hour sessions for the children. Staff members have collected a set of 25 books to use with the children for the next few weeks, and when these are returned we will make another 25 available to them.
The Dilley Public Library has a long tradition of fostering partnerships with local nonprofit organizations, businesses, the school district, colleges (SWTJC for questions and other information) and other learning institutions, healthcare, and area service organizations. We have partnered with the school district, the Faith Christian Center home schoolers, community home schoolers, the Lil’ Pups Day Care Center, the MHMR/Camino Real, the Housing Authority, community businesses, the Dilley Police Department, Workforce Solutions Alamo (Teen Summer Programs), Texas Star/Texas Star Plus (Health Plans for patrons in need), Chamber of Commerce (from Cotulla) and Dollar General (donations for patrons) and the Alamo Area Council of Government, which helps with information for caregivers and other service providers.
Through resources of community, facility, staff and partnerships, the Dilley Public Library demonstrates it is “a small library that can.” The city of Dilley’s governing body, Mayor Mary Ann Obregon, council members and Administrator Juan Estrada, have provided the reinforcement that is so vital for this library to continue successfully in its mission during these challenging times.
We also recently sent over a hundred books to Dilley Elementary School, compliments of the city, and the campus custodial staff were kind enough to come and collect the books for distribution to the children. Books were packed in boxes with letters to parents and invitations for the children to fill out applications for free library cards.
Twelve teachers at the elementary school will soon be taking delivery of free reading material for their students, and these will be books that the children can take home to enjoy with their families. Those teachers include the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade staff as well as those in Special Education.
We look forward to helping put more books in the hands of our eager young readers and encouraging all families to promote reading for the betterment of our community’s children.