By Monty Siekerman
Amanda Bennett, director of the Ada Public Library for the past four and a half years, has tendered her resignation, effective Friday, April 21.

She will be moving to suburban Chicago where she has accepted a position as library director of the Sandwich, Ill., Public Library.

A wedding is also in her future plans. She is plans to be married in October to Scott Carr, an engineer who works in Chicago.

At a farewell party on Tuesday, Connie Fleming, Ada library board chair, said, "Amanda has implemented many new programs and has been very active in the community. She will be missed. We wish her the best."

Amanda said, "My time in Ada has been full of many learning opportunities, and so much joy. I am so extremely grateful that everyone took a huge chance in hiring me and entrusting me with the management of this small-but-mighty-library.

"I’m so proud of all of the hard work that we’ve done at the Ada Public Library, and am so thankful that I leave behind a very dedicated and extremely competent staff, and a board of trustees who has been integral in my development as a library director."

How busy has the Library been?
Here are some stats from 2016---
• 32,947 Patron Visits to the Library
• 79 Family Storytimes with 1,064 in attendance
• 119 Kids Programs (Birth-5th Grades) with 3,779 in attendance
• 108 Teen (6th-12th Grades) Programs with 714 in attendance
• 108 Adult Programs with 1,199 in attendance
• 46 School Visits with 2,425 in attendance
• 5 Preschool Visits with 97 in attendance
• 524 Participants of all ages in our Summer Reading Program '16