Steve Christo

January 18, 2011

Steve Christo is in his third month as the new director of Putnam County Libraries , but he is no stranger to the operation. Christo is a 30-year resident of Scott Depot. he told Rotarians today, and he is a founding member of "Friends of the Library" and the first president of the support group.

He remembers making book deliveries to the library when it occupied a cramped store space on Second Avenue in Hurricane.

And Christo knows that the library system this year is marking a half century of service to Putnam County.

In 1960, there was not a single recognized library in Putnam when Laeuna Erwin was employed to operate a bookmobile in the county.

A year later, fifty years ago, the first library collection was opened to the public in a rented store front on Hurricane's Main Street and Erwin was named its first director.

"But people could not get to the books," said Christo. "The weight of the stacks had caused the floor to collapse."

When the federal Library Services and Construction Act first, passed in 1962 offered generous matching grants for construction, a group of citizen volunteers began serious fund raising with a variety of activities including quilt raffles, placement of donation jars, and even a community square dance. (Tickets were $4 per couple.)

"a passport to the world"

Construction began in late 1974 with $120,000 from the County Commission, $50,000 from volunteer donations, and $200,000 in state and federal matching funds.

The City of Hurricane pledged to support the existing library site on Second Avenue and it remained in service as a branch operation.

Gov. Arch Moore and First Lady Shelley cut the ribbon in a dedication of the new central facility on February 8, 1976.

As demand for services grew, branch libraries were opened in Eleanor (1978), in Poca (1980), and in Buffalo (1984). The bookmobile tour was discontinued in 1980.

The library collection today has expanded to offer DVDs, music CDs, and audio books.

Yet space is at a premium, and funding is always lean. Putnam libraries operated last year on $12.60 for each person in its service population. The per capita cost for Cabell County was $34.45, and $41.12 for Kanawha. Putnam library levies have been narrowly defeated three times since 1990.

A major part of the new director's job is devoted to coordination of volunteer workers and solicitations to maintain special services such as the summer reading program -- a favorite of children and their parents. The library system also provides inservice training for school librarians and teachers.

Branch libraries at Poca, Eleanor and Buffalo have all been replaced in recent years with attractive, modern facilities through private gifts and volunteer community labor.

Through the library web site, readers now have access to the combined card catalogue for counties in the southwestern part of the state. "From the comfort of your home," said Christo, "you can search, place 'holds' on books, renew books you have on loan and access a number of online data bases." The EBSCO connection includes access to some 1,500 full-text magazines. Other internet resources include an online encyclopedia, a "Learning Express" for children, and a research database on businesses. "Your library card number is your patron identification for login purposes," he explained.

"The Putnam County Libraries offer a passport to the world," said Christo.

Laeuna Erwin, first director Jack Kessler headed citizen planners

Putnam County Libraries (1974), Second Avenue, Hurricane

Putnam County Libraries today