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Who We Are

Library Budget Narrative FY 2015

The Library Director, Hope Cain, who was hired by the City Manager and approved by the City Council, is an employee of the City.  The Director is primarily responsible for the continued management and administration of all aspects of service operations for the library, from enforcing the policies and procedures of the day to day operations of the library, to managing the collection, budgeting, annual and program planning, gathering statistics, to public relations.

In addition, the Director develops long and short range goals to ensure effectiveness of the library in meeting community needs. 

The library, at full staff, employs 1 part time children’s program assistant, 1 part time technology assistant, 1 full time adult services specialist, 1 full time youth services specialist, and 1 full time circulation services/employee supervisor.

In FY 2015 over 50,000 patrons visited the library, and there were 12,019 cardholders.  With over 46,000 items in the collection, the Fiction collection (Adult, Intermediate and Juvenile combined) encompasses 70% of the checkouts at the library. The continued focus on emerging literacy has led to partnerships with local schools and programs for the younger children of Hopkins County.  After moving to a more user friendly online catalog, ATRIUUM, the library has seen an annual online catalog usage of 27,014 lookups which was not easily available with the previous catalog.

As FY 2015 comes to an end, the library has seen the addition of eBook access through Overdrive which offers an additional 80,000 digital items to choose from.  As the digital content has become more accessible, the online content offered at the library has increased as well, with the addition of language learning, study guides, job search assistance, driver’s handbooks and practice tests. 

The library houses, a World War II memorabilia collection generously donated by Katie Sinclair along with her collection of Kinkaid paintings that hang in prominent places throughout the library and the St. Clair Music Box Collection that was digitized through a grant from Texas A&M Commerce. The music box collection was showcased on the PBS TV series The Daytripper with Chet Garner. There are also samples and displays of local artists’ works on permanent display.  Additionally, the Hopkins County Genealogical Library moved into the large meeting room of the library to better serve a larger number of patrons.

This library is more than just books. It is a place of information, offering people free access to a wealth of information that they often cannot find elsewhere, whether online, in print or in person. Libraries are the experts of information, selecting books relevant to the community, creating helpful programming and connecting people to information.  “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers.  A librarian can bring you back the right one.” – Neil Gaiman, Author

Our Mission Statement

Sulphur Springs Public Library serves to:

  • Provide the information needed to succeed at school, at work, and in personal lives;
  • Furnish the reading, viewing, and listening materials and programs to enhance patrons' knowledge of the world and improve their quality of leisure time;
  • Promote the joy of reading and love of learning;
  • Increase accessibility to electronic information resources; and
  • Encourage the community's use of the Sulphur Springs Public Library resources and services.

Vision Statement

The Sulphur Springs Public Library is committed to serving the public as an information center to inform, enrich, and empower every individual. The library promotes lifelong learning. It is a center for culture, recreation, and information in all of its forms.