Oxford Library Requests $500K+ for 2024 Budget; Named Top 10 Busiest in State

By Alyssa Schnugg

News editor

alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

The Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library is one of the 10 busiest individual library branches in Mississippi, according to the Mississippi Library Commission.

The library is under the umbrella of the First Regional Library system, which was named the most-used system in the state by the MLC.

Lori Barnes, director of the First Regional Library, submitted the library’s annual budget request to the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors on Monday.

She presented some statistics on the number of times the library was used and the programs it offers to the community.

According to Barnes, the library has had 54,409 visitors since Oct. 1, 2022. There were 99,295 items checked out.

The library offered 207 programs, of which 4,574 people attended. Visitors used the computer 4,582 times and there were a total of 228,782 Wi-Fi sessions.

“That’s available 24/7,” Barnes said. “People can just pull up to the library outside at any time to use the Wi-Fi.”

Barnes said the library was requesting $538,890 for the fiscal year 2024. The fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

“That’s level funding from what we asked for last year,” she said.

The supervisors are finalizing the annual budget that will be presented to the public at an upcoming meeting. They must approve the budget by Sept. 15. They took no action Monday on the library’s budget request but will consider it with other budget requests while approving the entire budget.