Librarian M.T. Allen celebrated 20 years of service at the Peachtree City Library with a reception last week in the Floy Farr Room.

Those in attendance included longtime friends and family as well as current librarians from around the country and city staff.

Mayor Bob Lenox was on hand to commend Allen for her dedication and hard work and present her with a 20-year pin for service to the city.

The library was in the old City Hall building, which is no longer in existence, when Allen began her employment there in April 1979. Since then, she has witnessed enormous growth.

"When you stop and think about it, we've moved three times in the past 20 years," she said. "It's really incredible!"

During the early 1980s, the library was literally bursting at the seams with new patrons and a growing collection of books. The library eventually moved into a larger space in the Aberdeen Shopping Center.

Allen said the addition of three schools McIntosh High, Booth Middle and Huddleston Elementary ­ put a strain on the library at the Aberdeen location.

She faced many challenges during this time as the facility struggled to keep up with students' needs, she said.

In July 1987, the library relocated to its current address at 201 Willowbend Road. The new building was constructed specifically to house a library, with 10,000 square feet of space.

The staff had to "come up with creative ideas to move the 20,000 books we had," according to Allen. Those ideas included encouraging patrons to check out as many books as possible before filling up boxes with the remaining books and taking them to the new location.

Since that move, there has been a 10,000-sq. ft. addition to the building, making room for new technology. Allen said the primary issue facing library services today is the increase in demand for materials in an electronic format.

"Who would have thought we'd have so many computers for public use?" said Allen. "Many people come to the library for the sole purpose of doing a resume or typing a paper. We need to continue to provide these services."

The library is doing that with the help of 15 computers (14 PC's and one Macintosh) for public use. The PC's are equipped with 15 CD-ROM programs, including Encarta 99, EBSCO FullTEXT MAS Elite (magazine database), and SIRS Researcher and Government Reporter. Microsoft Office also is available for use at the workstations.

The library is currently awaiting its high-speed fiber-optic Internet connection through Newnan Gas Light that also will be available on all workstations in the next few weeks. The staff has been undergoing training every Wednesday morning since March to bring them up to speed on all the new technology.