I would like to take some time this week to highlight a, perhaps, little-known service offered by Pocahontas County Free Libraries.
If you are interested in getting a contractor’s license, but don’t want to spend money on the text books you need for the exam, be sure to give McClintic or Green Bank Library a call. We have contractor’s manuals in our collections which we will loan out. If you have ever priced these manuals, you know how expensive they are; being able to borrow the manuals from the library is a huge plus.
Given the high cost of the manuals, we do ask for a cash deposit when you check out the materials. We typically ask for about half the price of each book checked out. Your money is held at the library and returned to you when you return the manuals. We lost quite a few books before we instituted the cash deposit, and this is a great incentive to return the manuals for someone else to use.
Two years ago, I had just finished filling out our collection of manuals. We had the books for a general contractor’s license, a remodeling license, and a few others. So when I recently took a phone call from someone wanting the manuals for an excavation license, I was ready to check into which books were needed, and to purchase them for loan.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the company which administers these exams for the West Virginia Department of Labor had changed the text books. They had updated some editions, and some were completely new books. I was basically at square one with my collection.
Did I mention how expensive these books are?
To do a basic upgrade so that I would at least have manuals for the excavation exam and the general contractor’s exam was going to cost me just over $500. That’s a big chunk of my annual book budget that I wasn’t planning on spending on just five books. Plus they also updated the West Virginia Business and Law study guide, which I would now have to purchase as well.
Then – a miracle happened. Or good luck. Or serendipity. Whatever you want to call it.
The Marlinton Woman’s Club unknowingly came through and saved the day.
The very day after I learned this depressing news, the Marlinton Woman’s Club sent McClintic Library a donation in the mail; a check for $500.
It was perfect!
I now had a way to fund the purchase of these new manuals.
The members of the Woman’s Club not only helped the library out of a tight spot, but their very generous donation is also helping anyone who needs to take a contractor’s license exam. With this boost, I was able to update our collection once again to the brand new editions of these test manuals.
So, I have to give a big thanks to the Marlinton Woman’s Club – we couldn’t have done it without you.
