VIDALIA — The past month has been very busy at the Concordia Parish Library, and the library staff wouldn’t have it any other way.

The library recently received two bits of good news when it was awarded a $1,000 grant from Entergy and it also received the Arts Awareness and Education Award from the Arts Council of Central Louisiana in Alexandria.

Library Director Amanda Taylor said the $1,000 Entergy grant will go toward purchasing new children’s books for the facility.

“This is going to be very helpful for us,” she said. “Anytime you can get new materials that are bright and colorful and educational for young readers, that is very significant.”

With high illiteracy rates in Louisiana and Mississippi, Taylor said the new books will be a tool in helping encourage reading.

Taylor also said the new books will be a great addition for the library’s summer activities, which include their recently award-winning community concert series.

“We write an art grant for the Division of Arts in Louisiana,” she said. “And through this grant we put on a series of concerts throughout the year to the public.”

The library received the Arts and Awareness Education Award for its work with the concert series, a program that Taylor said has hosted more than 130 concerts in it’s 15 year existence.

“We have had over 30,000 people come to these programs over the years,” she said. “And they are all free and open to the public.”

The award was given for the library’s efforts in promoting art to the parish, and Taylor said the library staff was honored to accept the recognition.

“Living in a rural area, there is not a lot of art for people to enjoy,” she said. “This just provides residents with a wonderful opportunity to come out and see some very fine artists.”

Taylor said it took support from the community to help get the concert series to where it is today.

“We have good participation from the entire community,” she said. “We have worked very hard to provide these concerts to the public, and we are very honored and pleased to that we got it, because it is a compliment to them.”

The final concert for this season is already scheduled, and Taylor invited anyone interested in guitar and piano duets to mark their calendars for 7 p.m. June 16.