With assistance from an advisory committee, Elta Johnston has been quietly at work as president of the Jackson Friends of the Library since 2019.
Last year, she wrote a letter to Rea Hederman, a native of Jackson and publisher of The New York Review of Books since 1984, and asked if he had any books that he publishes he could donate to the Friends of the Jackson Library, a nonprofit organization, for the shelves of the Jackson-Hinds Library System.
“He wrote back and said, ‘I will send you all of the books that I publish’,” said Johnston, a lifelong Jackson resident.
Hederman did just that, relying on The New York Review of Books book-publishing division, New York Review Books. It publishes NYRB Classics, The New York Review Children’s Collection, NYRB Kids, New York Review Comics, and NYRB Poets.
“Last October, we got over 800 books,” Johnston said. “They’re world masterpieces and treasures. I don’t know of any other library system that has this collection. It is a singular collection.”
Hederman, a Murrah High School graduate, earned an MBA from the University of Virginia and a master’s in journalism from the University of Missouri. He joined the staff of The Clarion Ledger, which his family then owned, in 1973 and served as city editor and managing editor before becoming executive editor in 1980. Under his leadership, the paper turned away from its conservative roots to execute “one of the most dramatic turnarounds in American journalism,” as described by the Washington Post.
Johnston appreciates Hederman’s acknowledgement of her request.
“Rea stepped up in such a generous way,” Johnston said. “He has been involved with the New York Public Library. He understands the importance of libraries. He cares because he grew up using the library. He said he and Richard Ford, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who grew up in Jackson, used to go to the library after school.”
Each of the books features a label inside the front cover that notes it is a donation from the publisher of the New York Review of Books to the Jackson Friends of the Library.
Kimberly Corbett, who was then acting executive director of the library system, assisted with the donation, Johnston said.
Seven hundred seventy-five of the books have been catalogued and are available for checkout and as an interlibrary loan within the state, said Floyd Council, who became executive director of the system in March.
Sixty-one of the 775 books have been checked out since March, he said. A list of the books is available on the library system’s website.
A longtime community volunteer, Johnston said the main goal of the Friends is to attract donations to its book fund, which provides resources for the library system. The Community Foundation of Mississippi holds the funds in an account named the Jackson Friends of the Library Book Fund.
In recent years, the Friends have donated funds to the library system for the purchase of Ezra Jack Keats Award-wining books, Johnston said. Those books can be found throughout the system’s libraries.
The Ezra Jack Keats Award celebrates new authors and illustrators of picture books that reflect the universal qualities of childhood and the multicultural nature of the world. The award, named for children’s book author and illustrator Keats (1916-1983), is given annually to an outstanding new writer and new illustrator by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation in partnership with the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.
The Friends have also replaced and added books to the Wells Collection that were lost or damaged. Phyllis Wells, a Jackson resident and avid reader who died in 1998, left $25,000 to the Friends.
“Every year the Wells Collection is updated with prize-winning books not already in the library’s holdings,” Johnston said.
A three-ring binder at the Morris Library lists books in the Wells Collection, Johnston said.
The Friends have also provided $1,000 for the system to purchase graphic novels and contributed $500 to buy anti-racism books in conjunction with efforts of the Mississippi Humanities Council.
“We’ve bought furniture for the children’s area at the Medgar Evers Library,” Johnston said. “We do all sorts of things. In the last two years, we’ve donated a total of $1,500 to support the summer reading program.”
The Friends “does not see itself as the future of the library system,” Johnston said, but as providing resources for the system.
“What we’re hoping is that the library system will be re-energized and revitalized and have a new branch and that will bring new, young people who will become the future of the library,” she said. “We look forward to working with Mr. (Floyd) Council. He has a challenging job, and we want to support his efforts going forward.”
Johnston said a “terrific group of people” have assisted her, including Lynn Evans, secretary; Dick Turner, treasurer; Seetha Srinivasan, director emerita of University Press of Mississippi; and writer and editor Marion Barnwell.
Johnston said she welcomes questions about the Friends and its book fund. She may be reached at eltapjohnston@gmail.com.
Even in the age of digital communication, libraries are still needed, said Johnston, who grew up in Jackson and fondly recalls walking to the former downtown library after attending class at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, which was then located on North State Street.
“That fueled my energy and relentless appreciation for librarians and the public library,” she said. “I know that libraries are changing, and they have to keep up with the changing needs, but they are still important.”
