RW cuts ribbon for new library

County Councilman Moses Bell, Board Member Polly Phillips, County Administrator Jason Taylor, Circulation Manager Beth Bonds, Branch Manager, Chrishonda Gaither, Assistant Library Administrator Mike Poole, Board Chairman Paul Dove, Town Councilman Dan Martin and former County Councilman Dan Ruff | Darlene Embleton

RIDGEWAY – A new Ridgeway branch of the Fairfield County Library opened on Wednesday with a ribbon cutting and open house hosted by the Friends of the Library at the new 235 S. Palmer Street location. According to Fairfield County officials, the location will serve the community until a more permanent location can be found at a later date.

Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green, Town Councilman Dan Martin, County Councilman Moses Bell, former County Councilman Dan Ruff, Board Chair Paul Dove, County Administrator Jason Taylor, Chamber Director Chris Stephenson and County Councilman Neil Robinson.

“This new branch, is nearly twice the size of the prior Ridgeway location and can accommodate nearly twice the number of books and computers,” said Fairfield County Library Director Eric Robinson.  “Our services include resources duplicating those at our main library.  We can provide access to SCLENDS, a 20-library consortium that shares books through a lending program (accessed at fairfieldcountylibrary.com), on-site printing, copying and scanning,” Robinson said. Color printing is not yet available at the branch.

There will be seven computers for accessing library resources.  Four offer Microsoft Office and three have internet access.  Wi-Fi is available.

Circulation Manager Beth Bonds, left, Branch Manager Chrishonda Gaither and Assistant Library Administrator Mike Poole. | Barbara Ball

Chrishonda Gaither will be the Branch Manager for Ridgeway.  Branch hours will be Monday and Wednesday from 9 am to 1 pm and Tuesday and Thursday from 2 to 6 pm.  The Bookmobile will continue to serve Ridgeway on an as-needed basis.

“The Library Board would like to thank Fairfield County for the refurbishing and getting us up and running,” Robinson said.  “We would also like to thank the Ridgeway Town Council and former County Councilman Dan Ruff for helping us secure this site. We are very happy to once again be able to conveniently serve the people in the Ridgeway community.”

The new location has on-site parking.  For more information, call 803-337-2068 or fax 803-337-0529.