While receiving their first library card at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library, first-graders at Clark Elementary also heard the story of “The Enormous Potato,” read by Selma Mayor George Evans.

Library director Becky Nichols said students were excited to come to the library and receive their card and hear a story.

“We’re always excited to have Mayor Evans,” Nichols said. “He brings a real dignity to any event and makes kids feel especially important that he would take the time to read to them.”

Nichols said “The Enormous Potato” is read to first-graders every year because of the valuable lesson it teaches.

“It teaches the kids whether you’re small or large, sometimes big jobs take us all working together,” Nichols said. “And I don’t think there’s a better message to deliver than that.”

In an effort to get every first-grader in the city and county to be a library member, Nichols and the rest of the library staff have launched a program to register every child.

Tuesday was the first day for the city kick-off.

“In the next three days we will register all the rest of the city schools and at the end of this campaign we will have 649 brand new, card carrying, library members,” Nichols said.

Prior to the city kick-off, more than 300 children were registered in Dallas County.

Evans said, as a former educator, he enjoyed coming out to read to the children.

“They responded very well and so I enjoyed it very much,” Evans said. “The library has so many resources they can learn from and reading is so critical in their lives in terms of how they learn.”

He added that he’s proud of what the Selma-Dallas County Public Library has to offer, and he thinks the campaign to register every first-grader in the city and county is great.

“It’s worth every single minute of the huge amount of work that it takes to do the campaign,” Nichols said. “Because when you see those first graders come in at the end of the day with their library cards so excited to read, that’s worth a million dollars.”