Public Library

WHAT WE DO

Chris Accardo Director

The Weatherford Public Library (WPL) provides free library services for Weatherford and the Parker County community and informs, enriches, supports and empowers its citizens by promoting lifelong learning opportunities and a love of reading.

PROJECTS COMPLETED

• In November, WPL debuted three new library card designs created by local artists. • In December, WPL began displaying a painting by the late Ronald Thomason, who also sculpted the library’s Peter Pan statue, in the Local History Room. The large egg tempera on gesso painting, titled The

Cattle Baron’s, depicts the historic Charles T. McFarland Home in Weatherford and was completed in 1968.

A private donor gifted the artwork to the library in May 2020. • In March, WPL merged its RBdigital digital magazine collection with OverDrive. Now eBooks, eAudio, and eMagazines are available in one place on WPL’s OverDrive site and through the Libby app. • In May, the library added a patio with a shade canopy to the library grounds and began offering outdoor storytimes. This structure will be known as the Dale G. Fleeger Reading Pavilion. In September, lights and electrical outlets were added to the Reading Pavilion. • In June, the Weatherford City Council recognized author Christina Soontornvat, who grew up in

Weatherford and graduated from Weatherford High School, for being awarded two Newbery Honors by the American Library Association for her books A Wish in the Dark and All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave

Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team. She is the first author to win two Newbery awards in the same year for both fiction and nonfiction. Ms. Soontornvat said she “spent many a lovely afternoon at the

Weatherford Public Library as a kid.” • In July, renovations began on the library restrooms. The project is near completion. • Also in July, WPL also completed the setup of the onsite Parker County Law Library, previously located in the District Courts Building. In addition to a collection of legal reference books, the Parker County Law

Library offers access to legal databases online.

• In August, WPL completed a project to digitize local newspaper microfilm. This provides 24/7 access to the newspaper archive online. Newspapers available include: The Weatherford Democrat (1906-2009), The Daily

Herald (1902-1962), The Weekly Herald (1900-1958) and The Mineral Wells Index (1988-2009). • In September, WPL began installing a self-checkout station. This will allow borrowers to check out materials without waiting in line at the checkout desk. This project should be completed in the near future.

BENCHMARKS

• New materials added to the collection: 10,796 • Physical materials checked out: 349,613 • Digital materials checked out: 47,405 • Total materials checked out: 397,018 • New library accounts opened: 2,652 • Reference transactions: 8,275 • Visitors to the library: 68,726 • Internet sessions provided: 13,356 • Internet hours provided: 16,136 • Number of library-sponsored events: 53 • Attendance at library-sponsored events: 1,194 • Summer Reading Challenge (Youth and Teens) registrations: 1,087 • Summer Reading Challenge total hours read: 23,220 • Adult Summer Library Challenge registrations: 367 • Adult Summer Library Challenge total hours read: 12,509