WEBB — The Webb Reading Corner is not a full-service library, but it features hundreds of book titles available now to the community.
Occupying a 340-square-foot room on the northwest corner of the Webb Community Center — formerly the Webb Community House — at 336 N. Laura St., the Reading Corner celebrated its grand opening on Saturday, April 16.
“I’m very excited,” said Antoinette Harrell of New Orleans, co-founder of Gathering of Hearts, a nonprofit organization that two years ago helped to collect more than 3,000 books for Webb.
Most of the books were donated by Community Book Center in New Orleans. Students and staff from Bellarmine College Preparatory School of San Jose, Calif., helped to deliver the books to Webb as part of a summer mission project in June 2014.
At the time, the town government was leasing a vacant 6,000-square-foot building on Main Street which leaders planned to develop as a “community resource center,” and the books would have become a part of its collection.
“We had a vision to start a library,” Ward 5 Webb Alderwoman Denise Calhoun recalled Saturday morning.
When that deal fell through, along with the town’s bid to acquire another building for the project, Calhoun recommended using a storage room in the existing community house.
The idea gained traction, and soon the wheels of progress were set in motion.
“Supporters donated different things, like paint and tables,” Calhoun said. “We used recreation money that we received from other supporters to purchase some things. Town workers painted. It was just a community project and everyone volunteered and made it happen.”
Some old student desks found in storage in the rear of the community house were given new life in the Reading Corner.
The West Tallahatchie High School Building Trades class helped by constructing built-in wooden bookshelves.
Books from the 2014 donation were brought in to stock the bookshelves. Some of the books had been given to R.H. Bearden Elementary School and a local day care center, Calhoun said.
The remaining titles offer a wide range of subject matter.
“We have books that are suitable for students from pre-K all the way up to high school,” Calhoun noted.
In addition to storybooks, available genres include an extensive array of educational materials, including reading comprehension aids, language arts handbooks and workbooks that are available for use at the Reading Corner.
Unlike a traditional library, this one does not loan out materials — just yet.
“We haven’t developed a system where the children will actually be able to borrow the books, but we’re hoping in the future to set something up so they will be able to check books out,” Calhoun said. “Right now, they’ll have to do classwork or read while they’re here. Our plans are to [eventually] allow students, especially high school students who have book reports or other research projects, to be able to borrow books here that they probably wouldn’t be able to get,” Calhoun noted.
Harrell, who praised Webb officials for making the Reading Corner “a reality for the children,” said additional resources, including computing devices for hands-on use, will be introduced later.
“We’re looking at bringing in some art supplies for summer [classes],” Harrell noted. “My colleagues and partners in San Jose are asking if we need musical instruments, computers or iPads, so we can make sure that this is a learning environment for the children and people from the community, as well.”
Because of limited room, Calhoun said, “Right now we don’t have the space to set up computers, but hopefully we’ll be getting those iPads.”
The only expense the town will incur for operating the Reading Corner is for the added cost of electricity at the building, Calhoun said.
“Right now, it will be solely based on volunteers, myself included, among other town board members. We have other community participants that are willing to volunteer,” she noted.
Initially, the Reading Corner plans to open for an hour, 5-6 p.m., three days a week — Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, Calhoun said.
“In the summer, we’re hoping to extend the hours,” she added. “…We look forward to making this a success.”
Donations are welcome, and Calhoun said checks may be made payable to Webb Town Hall, with “For the Reading Corner” written in the memo line.
For more information about the Reading Corner, including how to help, call Webb Town Hall at 375-8164.
IN THE PHOTO: Neighborhood children and other residents of Webb, as well as benefactress Antoinette Harrell (far right) of New Orleans, pause for a photo with Ward 5 Alderwoman Denise Calhoun (yellow shirt), Ward 3 Alderwoman and Vice Mayor Chiquita Jones (red blouse with scissors) and Ward 1 Alderwoman Marilyn Gibbs (red blazer) during the April 16 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Webb Reading Corner, located in the Webb Community Center. (Photo by Clay McFerrin)
