Donald W. Reynolds Library
In the beginning, local volunteer organizations maintained a small Library collection. During the 1930s, the 20th Century Club established a volunteer-run Library in the Baxter County Courthouse. A decade later, the local Business and Professional Women's Club managed the volunteer-run Library, which eventually moved from the courthouse to Mountain Home City Hall.
In 1952, the BPW Club backed a successful campaign that culminated in Baxter County voters approving a one-mill tax to support a County Library. The Baxter County Library officially opened in July 1953. Eleven years later, the Library moved to a new, 3,166 square-foot building on Seventh Street. The building was constructed on government-donated land and financed with a federal grant and matching funds. In 1969, a 1,000 square-foot addition was completed with the help of donations and another federal grant.
The Friends of the Baxter County Library, a volunteer group whose mission was to supplement the library's resources, was established in 1980 and took as its first major project raising funds for a 4,800 square-foot addition completed in 1983. From 1988 to 1993, the library opened three branches. They included the Gassville branch, which continues today and is staffed by volunteers.
The year 1993 was marked by the completion of a 3,024 square-foot expansion of the main Library, financed by private donations and a federal grant.
In 1996 a fund raising campaign to "computerize the library" was initiated, and in 1998 Baxter County joined the Information Age with the addition of four public access computers and an integrated library software system.
Realizing that if the library were to continue to grow additional funds were always going to be needed, a small group established the Baxter County Library Foundation, a 501-C3 nonprofit whose mission is to support the Library. Beginning in 2005, the Baxter County Library Foundation worked through a deliberate planning process for a new Library. Those efforts were rewarded in 2008, when the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation awarded a grant of $9.8 million to build, furnish and equipment a 35,500 square-foot Library. Construction began in March 2009 on a two-story building atop Library Hill in Mountain Home. The Donald W. Reynolds Library serving Baxter County opened its doors in September 2010.
In addition to grant funds from the Reynolds Foundation, area resident pledged more than $2 million, the earnings from which can be used to supplement Library programs. That major public commitment was a requirement of the Las Vegas-based Reynolds Foundation.
Today, the Donald W. Reynolds Library serving Baxter County is three times the size of the former Library and has a collection capacity of 75,000+ items. Cutting-edge technology, such as self-check stations, automated book returns, and online library-card accounts, help the staff manage the larger facility. Still, most of the Library's operating revenue comes from the same one-mill library tax enacted by voters in 1952. That means we depend on support from our Friends of the Library, donations and program sponsors, memorials and honorariums to help us stretch our operating budget.
The board and staff of the Baxter County Library greatly appreciate the many years of outstanding community support that have helped us become what we are today. Since 1953, we have grown from a one-room, 2,000-book library with one staff member to the current library with 75,000 books, two branches and 17 full-time equivalent staff.
Explore Related Categories
