Bartlett resident Felicia Knox, a former Rhodes College librarian, was named the new director of the Bartlett Public Library as the suburban branch prepares its split from the Memphis system.

Dana Braccia, chief librarian and director of client services with Avenu Insights & Analytics, made the announcement near the end of a recent Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting. The Tuesday, June 25, meeting also featured an announcement of a new emergency warning system for the city’s residents.

Knox, who was the public, research and technology services librarian at Rhodes, joins the Bartlett library located at 5884 Stage Road just as the city is set to officially take over direction of the facility Monday, July 1.

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“Felicia brings just a wealth of experience both in public libraries, and she joined us recently from Rhodes College,” Braccia said. “She also served as a teacher in a number of school districts.”

In January, the suburb’s BMA voted to break away from the Memphis Public Libraries and go with Avenu, managers of the Germantown Community Library. Prompting the change was a substantial amount of undelivered materials in 2023.

Starting Monday, Avenu will manage the library, and residents will be able to get their new Bartlett Public Library cards.

“We’ll be able to get the books and materials that we pay for,” said Alderman Robert Griffin, a library proponent. “We’ll see more responsiveness to requests for books we don’t have. We’ll have access to a larger digital catalog on the same Libby app, and with our advisory board, we’ll have a lot more say over operations and programming than we did previously. All of these are good for Bartlett.”

Braccia has promised the library will continue to offer a variety of free programming and partner with Bartlett City Schools to host summer reading programs and school-reading events, sponsor cooperative programming and promote collaborative efforts.

The meeting also included an announcement from Bartlett Police Department Chief Jeff Cox regarding the launch of Connect Bartlett.

He said how one year ago, one of the worst storms on record came through the city.

“Thousands of our residents were without power, and there was no way for us as a police department and emergency services to contact them and give them information,” he said.

The new text-messaging system will inform citizens of natural disasters as well as other public safety situations like active shooters or bomb threats.

Cox is asking citizens to sign up here. The city will begin a campaign next month to get residents on board.