With more than 19,000 card-carrying patrons depending on her, Donna Janky meets big challenges every day.

An average of 250 to 350 people a day visit the Judge George W. Armstrong Library in Natchez, each one with different expectations, said Janky, library director.

From the pre-schooler who attends story-telling programs to the retiree who comes to read newspapers and periodicals, the library hosts a diverse group taking advantage of library programs and collections.

&uot;We get many people who don’t come particularly to check out something but they come for some kind of information,&uot; Janky said

&uot;And of course we have children all the time. Pre-schoolers come from the day-care centers. With so many working mothers today, that works out very well.

&uot;We see almost all the kindergarten groups, and we have the Head Start children about 60 at a time,&uot; she said.

Nothing warms her heart more than to see children come – and then come again, Janky said.

&uot;Encouraging the children is a big part of what we do. Later this month we’ll have some McLaurin School sixth-grade accelerated readers who have earned a day out; there probably will be kids we know, who have been coming to the library for years.&uot;

Moving up with school children as they mature as library patrons, Janky and her staff provide after-school assistance to students who come to do homework.

&uot;We have two people from the school system, both with library backgrounds. They come after school for about two hours and one of them is here on Saturday mornings,&uot; Janky said.

&uot;We don’t consider ourselves a school library but we are an extension of what students can use to do their assignments.&uot;

The diversity of library patrons springs partly from the different opportunities available at Armstrong and the other two libraries in the Homochitto Valley Library Service which Janky directs.

Small libraries at Woodville and Centreville make up the rest of that system, and funding for those two comes from Wilkinson County, a total of $64,000 annually.

The Natchez facility receives $255,000 from city funds and no funding from Adams County. Occasionally the state library system has funds for book grants; otherwise books and other materials come from the local budget, which is enhanced by a $93,197 state grant for personnel and about $12,000 collected for photocopies, fines, fees and donations.

At Armstrong, there are five full-time and 2 part-time employees in addition to the director. At the Woodville and Centreville facilities, a total of five part-time workers are employed.

Janky will present a proposed budget for Armstrong Library to the city by June 1. &uot;Each year we ask for more in our budget,&uot; she said. &uot;We will hear back in September about what we will get.&uot;

The library budget includes utility costs, which have risen dramatically in recent years, especially during the past winter; and insurance premiums. Until a few years ago, utility costs and insurance were paid by the county.

Costs of operating the building leave much less than Janky would like to purchase new books and other materials. She budgets about $33,000 a year for new adult fiction, non-fiction and children’s books, and $9,000 for book contracts that update such items as reference works and others.

&uot;I’d like to double the book budget,&uot; she said. &uot;But still, since the beginning of the fiscal year in October, we’ve added 2,442 items to this collection.&uot;

Book prices have risen as fast as energy bills, with many of the new, most popular books averaging about $30 a book. Even children’s books have become very costly, she said.

Despite budget constraints, Janky takes pride in what the library offers and the many needs it meets. Patrons may use three microfilm readers, four copy machines and six Internet-active computers.

She divides library sections into five general areas: genealogy and local history; children’s books and services; reference books; fiction and nonfiction for books; and periodicals.

Armstrong Library board member Beverly Aldridge, herself a former librarian, said she is amazed when she stops to think about the various reasons she goes to the library.

&uot;Just this past week, I went there to make copies of something, checked out a book on tape for a trip, checked out a book to read, used the vertical file and read some periodicals,&uot; she said.

&uot;And I really enjoy taking my grandchildren to the programs for children.&uot;

The library is keeping up with technology, as well, Aldridge said. &uot;We’re a fully automated library, and Donna has done a wonderful job with that.&uot;

Janky said the automated system is user friendly, providing a quick look at whether a book is on the shelf or checked out. &uot;It helps us, too, by giving a report each morning about what books are overdue and what books are on hold for patrons who want books when they are returned.&uot;

Genealogy and local history materials are popular with Armstrong patrons, and donations from organizations have increased that collection in recent years, Janky said.

Friends of the Armstrong Library, a group who raises funds to assist the library in many ways, has been one of those organizations donating to the genealogy collection.

Aldridge said the library depends on the Friends group in many ways. &uot;They are so active. They come up with new ideas and they raise money for the library,&uot; she said. &uot;When the library needed painting inside, they are the ones who paid for the paint and for new carpeting. We couldn’t have done it without them.&uot;

What dreams does Janky have about the future of the Armstrong Library?

&uot;I’d love to have more space, for one thing,&uot; she said. &uot;I love this facility, but there is nowhere to go to grow.&uot;

She also hopes one day to have the funds and personnel to increase the library hours. &uot;I’d especially like to be able to increase the Saturday hours and be open in the evening.&uot;

With all the patron interest in research, she would like to increase the genealogy collection. And a big dream is to add at least another professional librarian to her staff, especially a children’s librarian.

Janky hopes one day to be able to offer more programs for adults, to provide computer classes, for example.

Meanwhile, she looks forward to another summer, when children literally will fill the library to attend story-telling sessions and special programs.

&uot;The whole idea is to keep them reading and keep them coming to the library.&uot;