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FOLEY - The Foley Public Library has received the Gold Standard Award, presented by the Public Library Division, signifying the library’s good customer service and community relations.

“The award has numerous perimeters, but it’s all about how you serve the community,” said Library Director John Jackson. “It’s certainly about the number of patrons that are coming in and the number of books checked out, but it’s also about how much activity goes on in the library outside of that: events, opportunities for people to come in to attend different things rather than simply checking out a book.”

While the award does take into consideration circulation numbers, it focuses on how much a public library is a community center. There are three levels of standard a library can achieve: bronze, silver, and gold. Libraries are awarded points for a multitude of different categories, from the number of volumes of titles patrons have access to, community involvement, involvement in professional organizations that enhance what the library can offer, a five-year strategic plan, an active board, adequate funding, plus more. Extra criteria categories can be met as well, which include anything a library has done to go above and beyond the average, such as many of the Foley Public Library’s children’s activities.

As another service to the community, the Foley Public Library tries to have big events on a routine basis, with its three largest being Forward City Con, the summer reading program in June, and the Halloween Extravaganza in October. Along with major events, the library has smaller events every month, from speakers and presentations to musical groups, as well as many interactive programs, crafting, and special event days such as “May the 4th Be With You,” coming up on Saturday, May 4. BINGO is offered six months out of the year, intermingled with the other special events. Each special event earns points in helping the Foley Public Library receive the Gold Standard. An application must be submitted to the Alabama Library Association detailing the library’s basic information along with the list of criteria that determines whether a library qualifies for a standard award, and if so what level.

“A couple of things that we added this year that we haven’t done in the past but allow us to get more points as we offer more to the community,” Jackson said, “are added one of the advisory board members to the American Library Association so they could follow national trends, and we did a State of the Library where I wrote a narrative on what we’d accomplished in 2018 and what we’d like to do this year. We published that on our website, and that gave us points.”

Even with all of the events and extra activities going on regularly at the library, Jackson cited one thing above all else as helping to earn the library the Gold Standard Award: the staff.

“They’re all very creative, they’re all very dedicated to what they do, and they’re all very service-oriented people,” said Jackson. “Whether people come in here looking for directions somewhere, or ask for help finding an item on the shelf, or even ask for help starting a job application, we’ve got people here who can take time to help with all of that. People come in to the library not just to check out books, they come here to ask questions that they figure they can’t get an answer to anywhere else, and they’ll come in here and we’ll find the answer for them. We’ve got people that are great at doing that.”

Jackson said in 2000 there were discussions on if libraries would still be around within 20 years, and now today he feels like they are more involved than ever with their communities. From helping people shift through electronic sources and determine which are legitimate to answering questions, finding requested books, and hosting community events to bring people together at the library, the Foley Public Library strives to be a vital part of the community and provide a space and activities for everyone.

“The staff here does a very good job at serving the community,” Jackson said. “The Gold Standard Award doesn’t come from me getting it, the award comes from the staff working for it. I fill out the application, but they do the work for it. And they like what they do, like I enjoy it every day. You can’t get a better job than what we have, because it’s very enlightening, you feel at the end of the day that you’ve accomplished something. You go home with the feeling that you set a goal, you met that goal, and in doing so you’ve helped somebody in the community meet their goal, and that’s why we’re here. We’re not just a building with books in it, we’re here to be a very integral part of the community, and that’s what we do.”

To learn more about the Foley Public Library and everything it has to offer, check out their website at www.foleylibrary.org.