The Van Zandt County Library hosted guest speaker Kathy Deerr on Thursday Sept. 15 for a presentation on her Family Place Libraries program, which the Van Zandt County Library was inducted into following the presentation. Deerr discussed her initiative, which focuses around helping children and their parents by providing them with various resources, devices, and toys at their local libraries.

“We are an initiative that helps public libraries turn into early childhood and family support centers, starting at birth,” said Deerr. “Our goal is to connect these families with all the experts and resources in their community that will benefit them.”

“This library has done a beautiful job,” Deerr continued. “They received a grant from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and they got the funding to buy all the early-learning tools and toys for the children. The money is obviously necessary to do this, but it’s the staff and volunteers [of this library] that make all of this really work, so we are just thrilled to present them their banner and recognize them as an official Family Place Library.”