County library reports digital-inclusion grant, circulation and plans for temporary relocation during expansion

Mary Anne Black, library director, told the Swain County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 5 that the library received a $75,000 digital-inclusion grant from the Southwestern Commission and used it to purchase devices and hire digital navigators to help residents with technology. Black said the grant bought 20 Chromebooks with 20 paired hotspots and 20 additional hotspots for community circulation; the devices circulate for three-month terms. The funding also paid for three digital navigator positions who split time between the library and the senior center and offered one-on-one help and six-week digital-literacy classes. "We purchased 20 Chromebooks and 20 hotspots to go along with those Chromebooks and then 20 more hotspots just to circulate into the community," Black said. She reported the navigators assisted 177 people with basic account and device help. The library director described ongoing programs — story times, STEAM, community music jams, low-impact fitness and blood drives — and said library staff served 266 families and 719 individuals countywide in the past year through basic-needs assistance and referrals (reported by a separate Family Resource Center presenter). Black also said juvenile "limited" cards began May 1, allowing parents to restrict a child's checkouts to the children’s section through age 16 if they choose. Black outlined operations during the library expansion: the first construction phase will require moving youth services into a temporary area; during the second phase the library will operate out of a roughly 1,200-square-foot community room for an estimated four to six months with limited shelving and holds pickup available. Black also said the library’s Wi-Fi was heavily used during Hurricane Helene — 1,700 logins over three days — and that blood drives have yielded 711 units across 31 drives since 2019. She said NCWorks has used library space twice weekly since 2022 to provide employment services. Commissioners did not vote on the expansion during the work session; Black asked only to inform the board about operations, programming and the grant-funded digital-inclusion activities.