Library Supporters Approve Building Plans

Members of the Shamokin and Coal Township Library Association approved plans for a library building on May 1, 1941. The decision appeared in the July issue of Pennsylvania Library and Museum Notes, bringing news of the local effort into the state library's round-up of community activity.

The association's treasurer reported that the initial campaign had brought nearly $7,000 in cash receipts and pledges. Shamokin Borough Council had appropriated $1,000. The report described a building fund being assembled through gifts, commitments, and municipal support.

The report counted thirteen hundred people who had given a dollar or more. That detail gives the campaign a human scale alongside its total: the proposed library drew support from many contributors, not only from one large gift or the borough's allocation.

The association anticipated another drive in the spring of 1942 and hoped to secure WPA assistance. Building-plan approval was therefore part of an undertaking still being financed. Supporters had agreed on a construction proposal, while another campaign and possible outside help remained ahead.