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North Carolina man’s donation puts 5,000 new books in hands of Carter Countians

By Ashley Rader

During just two weeks, more than 5,000 books found new homes throughout Carter County after a donation was made to the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library with the specific goal of getting more books into the hands of local readers.

Children’s Librarian Ashlee Williams worked to distribute books donated to Carter County by Bob Ingles, owner of High Country Publishers. She said the donation was made up of 23 different titles set in the Appalachian area, by mostly local authors. A majority of the books were adult and juvenile fiction and Christian fiction books. Some of the authors included were Lila Hopkins, Charles Price, Albert Bell, Marian Coe and Maggie Bishop.

While the library kept one copy of each title, the rest were handed out in the community, based on Ingles’ wishes.