ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- Tis the season for getting into the spirit of giving and showing appreciation to those around you. In that spirit, the Baldwin County Library Coopearative held its annual Christmas breakfast on Wednesday in Robertsdale.

BCLC Director Liz Reed said the event began after the opening of the Library’s new 7,000 square foot facility, located at the Baldwin County Central Annex (the former Vanity Fair complex) on Palmer Street in Robertsdale.

“We started it as a way to show off the nice facility we have here,” she said. “From there it continued as a way to show our appreciation to the people who work here, and it just kind of expanded from there.”

It has now become an annual event for staff, Board members and County Commissioners, Reed said.

“We owe a lot to our County Commission,” she said. “We could not operate without them.”

The Baldwin County Library Cooperative operates its facility year-round and is funded on a per capita basis by the Alabama State Legislature, Reed said. State funds are then matched by the Baldwin County Commission.

Funding for the County Library is based on rural residents, Reed said. The Library System also coordinates funding for Baldwin County’s 12 municipal libraries, the Bay Minette Public Library, Daphne Public Library, Fairhope Public Library, Foley Public Library, the Thomas B. Norton Public Library in Gulf Shores, Lillian Perdido Bay Library, Loxley Public Library, Orange Beach Public Library, Robertsdale Public Library, Oscar Johnson Memorial Library in Silverhill, the Marjorie Younce Snook Public Library in Summerdale, and the County’s newest library, the Magnolia Springs Public Library, which opened last year.

The Baldwin County Public Library in Robertsdale houses about 22,000 books and coordinates the distribution of more than 300,000 books countywide, Reed said.

“We coordinate the county’s bookmobile and we have drop-off centers located in area retirement communities where books are rotated about eight times per year,” Reed said.

The BCLC also coordinates the county’s courier service, Reed said.

“In Baldwin County you can check out a book from any library and return it to any other library in the county,” she said. “We use a courier service to ensure the books are returned to the proper library.”

Reed served as assistant library director under Ann Johnson for several years, then two years as bookmobile coordinator before becoming library director seven years ago.

“She’s the one who spearheaded this library facility,” Reed said, “and now we are reaping the benefits from her hard work.”

For more information on the Baldwin County Library Cooperative, contact Reed at 251-970-4010 or e-mail bclcdirector@gulftel.com.