Library Consulting Services
At various times over the past twelve years, Jim has served as a volunteer, board member, and attorney for the Westbank Community Library, and has been President of the Board of Trustees of the Westbank Community Library District, since its inception in 1998. Jim has teamed with Beth Wheeler Fox, a widely recognized authority on community libraries, to form Beanstalk Consulting, Inc., a company that offers consulting service and advice to non-profit libraries and community library districts across the state. Jim and Beth were both active in the enactment of the legislation allowing the creation of library districts with taxing authority and in the creation and growth of the first library district in Texas, which now supports a 15,000 square foot, state-of-the-art, community library.
Beanstalk Consulting, Inc.
Expertise in Growing Libraries
Beanstalk
Consulting, Inc. is a Texas corporation, owned and managed by Beth Wheeler
Fox and Jim Bannerot. It offers consultation and advice to community
libraries across the state. The name "Beanstalk" derives from
the fact that the one common element of all community libraries seems
to be rapid growth.
Beth Wheeler Fox has served as the library director for the Westbank
Community Library since 1983, when it was a mere seed of an idea in
the minds of two visionary ladies. By recruiting literally thousands
of volunteers and contributors, Beth nurtured the growth of the nonprofit
Library, starting with a few donated books displayed in a leaky back
room, to a 5,000 square foot stand-alone building, with annual budget
of $200,000 in contributions and grants. Then, in the lofty reaches
of the Texas Legislature, she helped battle the red tape giants to facilitate
the enactment of the law that allowed creation of local library districts.
Using this golden opportunity, in 1998, she led the campaign to create
the first community library district in Texas. The Library, now tripled
in size and enhanced to the state of the art by a solid tax base, is
recognized as one of the best community libraries in the country. Beth
efficiently manages a paid staff of 11 employees and more than 100 volunteers
per week who volunteer their time.
Beth's degree in library science and her extensive experience in public,
special, and college facilities, have provided the education and ground-level
experience needed to grow a successful, community-supported library.
She somehow has found time to write two books, published by the American
Library Association: The Dynamic Community Library focuses on
building community support for small and medium-sized libraries, and
Behind the Scenes of the Dynamic Library tells how to set up and
run an efficient library. Beth has presented numerous seminars and conference
programs around the country and is widely recognized as an authority
on community libraries and library districts.
In 1989, Jim Bannerot volunteered to help Beth move books from the
leaky back room to the stand-alone building and has been unable to break
the habit. After garnering extensive library experience by screwing
shelves together and toting head-high stacks of books, he was entrusted
with the position of President of the board of directors, another short-term
job that now has lasted more than five years. Jim has participated in
a variety of fund-raisers for the Library, from organizing the annual
5K fun run to embarrassing himself by acting in "original"
plays. In the course of providing official and unofficial legal services
in the Library, Jim has developed expertise in the formation and operation
both of nonprofit libraries and community library districts.
