After 20 years with the county, Campbell County Public Library Director JC Morgan is retiring next month.
Following retirement, Morgan will assume the role of the first state director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Kentucky after championing the program in Campbell County since its implementation in 2019. The Campbell County Fiscal Court surprised Morgan with a citation of achievement during Wednesday’s fiscal court meeting for his accomplishments on the job.
“It’s been a good career,” Morgan said. “Lots of interesting things that I’ve been able to do with a library that I don’t think even most librarians get to do.”
Since coming to the library in 2003, Morgan has overseen the construction of the Newport branch, renovations at the Carrico/Fort Thomas and Cold Spring branches, and the addition of the Alexandria Branch in 2018.
“I know the circumstances weren’t always so wonderful because there were people sniping from the sidelines who wanted to say that the time for libraries has come and gone, but you maintained the relevance of libraries and actually enlarged the scope of what libraries had to offer to the point where you know, it’s a fabulous, good deal,” Campbell County Judge/Executive Steve Pendery said.
As Morgan exits his role, he leaves behind the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program that sends children a free book every month—a program Morgan said has been successful.
The Imagination Library estimates reaching a 30% saturation of the target audience in one year; however, Morgan said they got it in three days, with 1,700 kids signed up. After the first year, they reached 50%, and he said they have hung around a 55% registration since. He said they have about 3,080 kids registered out of approximately 5,500 0–5-year-olds in Campbell County, according to the 2020 census.
In his new role, Morgan is tasked with increasing the Imagination Library’s state participation rate from 35% to 70%. Only seven counties out of 120 in the state do not have the program.
Aside from that program, Morgan helped to create the Drop Your Drawers annual campaign, which aims to meet the need for emergency supplies of socks and underwear stocked at Campbell County Public School’s family resource centers. Since its implementation in 2015, over 65,000 pairs of socks and underwear have been donated, according to the library’s website.
Nontraditional methods of getting books in people’s hands that the library has done under Morgan’s direction include the Book Bus and express library locations in Melbourne, Silver Grove, and the Northern Kentucky Scholar House in Newport.
The library’s Book Bus travels around the county and gives out free books primarily for children ages newborn to fifth grade and has a smaller supply of books for teens and adults.
Express libraries are convenient ways for people who don’t live near a library branch to access library materials. Those interested in checking materials out from a library branch can place a hold on library materials, which are then delivered to the express locations. The items are placed in a lockbox and accessed by a library card. Returns can also be made to the units.
The express library units in three of the county’s cities were first introduced in 2017, with the most recent added earlier this year.
“We want to extend as a fiscal court our heartfelt gratitude for his lasting impact and offer our best wishes for his continued influence in Kentucky,” Pendery said.
Morgan said he’s not going anywhere; he will work remotely, allowing him to stay in the county and travel around the state.
“I love Kentucky and love to travel in it,” Morgan said. “The opportunity to help facilitate the expansion of the Imagination Library while seeing more of the commonwealth is a double win for me.”
