Missouri Secretary of State John R. “Jay” Ashcroft came to Fayette August 17 for a visit with Howard County Public Library Director Chris Kloeppel, as part of a two-day tour of libraries in towns as far-flung as Boonville, Vienna, and Fulton. 

Ashcroft has taken an interest in the role libraries play in their communities, and the Missouri State Library, a division of the Secretary of State’s office, has distributed more than $6 million in federal CARES and ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) grant funds to Missouri libraries over the past year. 

“I love the idea of libraries being the new town square,” Ashcroft said to Kloeppel during his visit. “People don’t go to the courthouse like they used to, but we need some place where we come together. I’d love to us use them better to bring government services closer to people.”

As part of his visit, Ashcroft brought the library’s official certification as a Wolfner Talking Book and Braille Library certifier and demonstration site. 

The Wolfner Library provides free services for visually or physically impaired Missourians who are unable to use standard print materials. Wolfner Library materials may be mailed to and from the library to patrons, postage paid. 

Among these materials are audiobooks recorded here in Missouri as part of the Wolfner Library program. Ashcraft explained that a special provision exists to allow for this in spite of copyright law, as long as materials are only provided to people who meet the visually impaired requirements.”

When a patron requests particular materials, they can be recorded onto flash memory and installed into cartridges similar to 8-track cassettes, for ease of use. 

“We can send you 10, 20 books on a cartridge,” Ashcroft said. This is better than services such as Libby or Audible because of the cost of those services, he explained. “Audio book publishers are really trying to raise the prices for libraries. They’ll say, ‘You can buy our book, but after you’ve loaned it out 10 times or 20 times, you have to buy it again.’ That’s really happened in the last few years.” The program is also not limited by what’s already available on the market; volunteers record audiobooks as requested by patrons in Missouri.

According to Kloeppel, the last census showed that Howard County has 171 citizens with visual impairment. The Wolfner  Library program currently serves 15 patrons.