LEANNA ALEXANDER

“Bringing Books to Bremond” was the result of reading a small article in a local newspaper about a group of people in Bremond, TX forming a committee to establish a “first ever” library committee in their little community of 830 people. As Leanna loves to read, it was hard for her to grasp the thought of any town not having a library.

Leanna contacted the president of the Bremond Library Committee with the thought of helping collect books. In her initial contact, Leanna learned what they really wanted to do is establish a charter to become part of the Central Texas Library System. A building to house the library had been acquired and they had already collected 3,500 books. Now all they needed was 4,000 more books to reach the required number of 7,500 books to meet the minimum standard of the Central Texas Library.

Through her advertising efforts at several churches and organizations, to date Leanna has sorted, catalogued and delivered more than 6,300 books. On the reverse side of her flyers requesting books, she also listed a brief questionnaire to try and learn ore about the descendants of the original settlers of Bremond, TX. With the response that came back on these simple flyers, Bremond has now formed a committee of citizens that are looking into the possibility of creating a separate Historical Museum for the town of Bremond.

As a direct result of Leanna’s efforts, the number of individuals using the facilities of the library has tripled. The children’s collection and the resource books have been expanded greatly. More importantly, because of the tremendous response, the library has been able to secure additional funding through various foundations to expand its facilities and obtain more shelving. The Bremond Library has received a three-year provisional membership from the Central Texas Library System, having reached three of the four criteria’s required. The last criteria is to be able to afford and hire a full time librarian.

Leanna learned to use her time and resources wisely in order to get everything completed. She says that her most important intangible aspect was the joy and pride she felt when she saw the empty shelves gradually filling up with books. Leanna learned that success could be measured on a little girl’s face reading a new storybook for the first time or an old man’s helping hand on sorting day.