Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

EDISON – Elizabeth West visits the Calhoun County Library about two times a week to check out books – and do Tai Chi.

The 80-year-old Edison resident attends morning Tai Chi classes twice a week with a group of senior women. They learn moves by following along to a video in a meeting room at the Calhoun County Library here. West said she didn’t even know what Tai Chi was before she started attending the program several years ago.

West said the class helps seniors stay active and improve their strength and balance.

“The exercise is good for us,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to see people in the community.”

Tai Chi is just one of the unique opportunities the library offers for people.

Dianna Carter, the Calhoun and Randolph librarian, said many libraries in rural areas like Calhoun and Randolph counties take on a role that extends beyond the traditional library role.

“Without us, people are going to have problems getting things done,” she said. “We’re no longer a place where you just check out books. We are a service-oriented library. More so, I think, than probably Atlanta or bigger cities.

Carter said the Calhoun Library sees about 40 visitors a day, and the Randolph Library sees about 50. However, she said attendance has slowed since the COVID-19 pandemic as people learned to do without the library’s services. The Calhoun County Library also saw budget cuts from the county School Board upon the opening of the Pataula Charter Academy in 2009, as well as cuts from Edison amid the city’s financial crisis.

“People need to use the library,” Carter said. “It’s the best deal in town. You get your books, your DVDs, your computers and Wi-Fi for free.”

The libraries’ services look different day to day. Carter said she teaches people how to use their phone, helps people fill out job or food stamp applications and even writes letters in English for Spanish-speaking residents who cannot do it themselves.

“One time, I helped a man adjust his hearing aids on the computer,” she said. “He got computerized aids and didn’t know how to use a computer well enough.”

The Calhoun County Library is also a hub for local youths. Carter said each day about 10 students pile off the school bus and come to the library. They play games together or use the computers until the library closes.

During the summers, as many as 30 youths come to the library for summer programs or to watch movies, do crafts and other activities, she said. Many of them walk to the library on Hartford Street from their neighborhoods or the nearby schools.

Carter and other library staff feed the students lunches and other snacks.

“We just do what we can do to keep the kids in the library because I’d rather them be there than outside getting in trouble,” she said.

Both libraries also offer 24/7 Internet access.

Carter said people who work from home or do online school come and sit in the library to use the Internet for hours at a time.

“There is one woman that comes and spends eight hours on the computer because she lives out in the country and does not have good WiFi to do her work,” she said.

Stable internet access is a challenge for many rural areas. About 75% of households in Calhoun County have a broadband Internet subscription, according to the 2022 U.S. Census Bureau.

However, Carter said the library still sees people coming on a regular basis to use the Internet and computers – even sitting in the parking lot after library hours to pick up a signal.

Georgia Rep. Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, said libraries in rural areas are important because many people do not have internet access.

“They use the library for those opportunities,” he said. “They are one of the best resources that we have.”

The representative is an advocate for rural libraries at the state level. When county leaders tell Greene they want a library or could use renovations on current ones, he said he works hard to meet those needs.

“It’s very difficult sometimes for small counties to get a new library,” he said. “But that’s always been a quest of mine – to get new libraries.”

Greene was successful in helping Quitman County, which is northwest of Calhoun, get the funds to build a new library in 2022. Right now, he’s working on a project for renovations at the Westtown Library in Albany.

Greene said libraries are expensive, requiring funds at the state level and matching ones at the county.

Carter said budget cuts and less business in the libraries have created challenges. The library stopped opening on Thursdays, and Carter is able to get less books than before. The crafts the library provides look different also.

“I’ve had to use my imagination a whole lot more,” she said.

The librarian said she had patrons save toilet paper rolls and many have brought in ribbons and other materials to help.

“People pour things into us,” she said. “The support we get in Edison is unbelievable.”

She said the library is seeing less visitors since the COVID-19 pandemic as well. With people using Kindles to read or streaming services like Netflix, they have less need for the books and DVDs in the library. Carter said she used to check out about 60 DVDs a week, and it’s now gone down to about 20.

She said she hasn’t figured out how to get those former patrons back. Carter and the library staff are trying to meet residents where they’re at. Many community members are still fearful of COVID-19, she said. Staff makes book or DVD deliveries or meet people at their car windows. Carter even travels to people’s houses to provide notary services.

“I’m just doing whatever I can do to make people remember that there’s a library here, and we want them back,” she said.

Staff Photo: Lucille LanniganStaff Photo: Lucille Lannigan