Staff at the Dawson County Library have honored the work of a late children’s librarian by adding something fun for the kids at the local branch.

Dollars raised through a memorial fund allowed the library to purchase a play cottage in memory of Betty Bean, a longtime librarian who worked in the children’s section.

Bean worked at the Dawson County Library from 1996-2006. On April 19, she died at the age of 85.

Jackie George, a librarian who worked with Bean, said she was “a wonderful, wonderful lady and storyteller. The children loved her.”

George said the cottage was a fitting memorial to Bean.

“The fact that the children love it ... she loved to be around children, and she would want them to be happy,” George said.

Branch Manager Stacey Leonhardt said the children, indeed, love the new cottage.

“It’s been quite popular,” Leonhardt said. “We have parents who have a hard time getting their kids away from the cottage. They don’t want to leave the library.”

Library staff also added a hop-scotch board and books to the children’s area with the $500 raised through the memorial fund.

For more information about the Dawson County Library, call (706) 344-3690, or visit www.chestateelibrary.org.