Lauderdale County officials joined community leaders in welcoming a new face to the Queen City as Floyd Council takes the reins as executive director of Meridian-Lauderdale County Public Library.
Council, who is relocating from Jackson to Meridian, has decades of experience in libraries throughout the country including Chicago, St. Louis, Washington D.C. and Birmingham, Alabama. He is also an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar, a program which emphasizes higher education and leadership among minority librarians.
Meridian-Lauderdale County Public Library already has a strong foundation of programs and services, Council said, and its leadership and employees have worked hard to meet the needs of the community.
“There’s so many different things, programs, services. I’m looking forward to working under the direction of our board to look at what we do next and how we continue to improve services,” he said. “We already have amazing things going on. I mean, our system is not broken. Our board has been up to this for a minute, but we want to go from good to better to best.”
The role of public libraries has changed over the years from a place of quiet study to a hub for technology help, events and more, Council said. In the era of smartphones and tablets, the library is where people turn when they don’t know how to use those devices and a home for basic services.
“Libraries used to be a place about being quiet. Now libraries are a place to make noise, to bring your business plan, to use one of our meeting rooms to work on a group that your doing, and for us to help you use resources,” he said.
One under-utilized library resource is its genealogy material, Council said, and he plans to hold future programs highlighting that collection.
Kim Houston, who serves as president of the Library Board of Trustees, said the board looks forward to seeing Council build on the library’s growth and take the facility to the next level.
“We hope that you all would appreciate all of the strides that we’ve taken to make sure that this library is the absolute best library in the world,” she said.