Library makes space for indie authors on local shelves

“I would like for our library to have the largest collection of Texas indie authors around.”
It’s a big goal for Lee-Bardwell Public Library, and it starts with some significant restructuring of the stacks at 312 W. Pacific Ave.
That began this week.
According to library director Brandy Winn, from Aug. 4-9, “We will be shut down so that we can shift things around.”
Large Print books will move to shelves where that collection can grow while simultaneously making space for a new section devoted to indie authors, particularly local and Texas writers.
Winn recently attended the Texas Author & Reader Con in Irving, returning with 175 tomes, the tip of the iceberg that’s to come.
“Some of them are not necessarily Texas authors, but they loving coming to the Author & Reader Con. It started out as horror authors, but it’s expanded to all kinds,” Winn said. “Independent authors, especially the local ones, they don’t have a lot of their books in libraries. A lot of libraries won’t take them because ‘They’re not popular.’
“Well, you don’t know if they’re going to be popular until somebody reads them. Why not give them the chance to put their books out there as well as give people options?”
Some outdated books will get the axe in the restructuring – mostly nonfiction items that are rarely, if ever, checked out.
“Most of it is obsolete anyway – computer information that went out in the ’90s. It’s not even history, just a blip in technology.”
The goal is to diversify the local library’s stacks even more, ensuring there’s something waiting for everyone who drops by, not just mainstream writing.
“It’s just time to reassess exactly what our library is doing as far as being accessible to everyone.”