Wanza Taylor has been appointed Librarian for the city of Grand Junction. She has spent over 40 years in the Hardeman County system. “I will do whatever it takes to motivate people to read,” she said in a recent interview with the Bulletin Times.

Wanza Taylor appointed Librarian for Grand Junction

“My main objective here is to develop a love of reading in children that will follow them and impact their entire lives,” said Wanza Taylor, librarian for Grand Junction. Taylor was appointed to the post by the mayor and board of aldermen at their June meeting.
Taylor has been involved in the Hardeman County system for about 40 years. Her career began as a volunteer at the Bolivar Library where she helped her mother-in-law, Betty Taylor, director. In that role, she did everything needed, from planning meetings to working on the circulation desk.
She became librarian for the city of Middleton in 2004. While in that post, Taylor was able to obtain automated circulation software which eliminated the old hand stamping method of borrowing books. In 2005, she moved back to Bolivar as the director. During her three years there, Taylor obtained two grants used to improve and modernize the library. One grant paid for a new microfilm reader which allows the customer to print the frames they are viewing. The other was a grant to purchase movies and large print books for senior citizens.
“After the stint in Bolivar, I thought I had retired to garden and help raise grandkids. I was wrong on that count. In 2011, my husband and I partnered with one of our sons to purchase the grocery store in Saulsbury now known as Taylor’s Foodrite. I was supposed to be the bookkeeper,” Taylor said. As it turns out, she also became the cook, checker, and librarian. Yes. The librarian at the grocery store. Somehow through talking with local caregivers, the store wound up with a shelf full of books. Borrowing them is on the honor system. Caregivers, primarily, take books home to their shut-ins. Just take the book, read it and bring it back. The problem is, the number of books returned exceed the number checked out and now another shelf is needed.

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