Photo: Retiring First Regional Library Public Relations/Marketing Coordinator David Brown, Executive Director Lori Barnes, and new Public Relations/Marketing Coordinator Brian Lentz. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
The man charged with telling the stories of all the stories, magazines, research material, etc. found at the branches of the First Regional Library System (FRL) in Northwest Mississippi has retired. While celebrating David Brown’s retirement after 32 years with FRL Friday afternoon, the new person tasked with informing the public about the programs and resources of the library was introduced.
The new person on board at FRL is Brian Lentz, who has been the Sports Information Director at Northwest Mississippi Community College. Lentz has been in charge of promoting the Rangers and Lady Rangers since 2018 and was the assistant SID for three years before that.
Brown is leaving the library system after a distinguished career, where he’s also served as an interim manager, department head, and curator selector since the late 1990s.
David Brown
Executive Director Lori Barnes said between designing summer reading program T-shirts each year since 1995 and writing news releases and providing other information, Brown was most notable for creating a promotional campaign called “My Two Cents” in 2018.
“It impacted libraries all across the state of Mississippi,” Barnes said. “It was not the First Regional thing, it was not an MLA thing. It impacted libraries all over our state, and David was the one who created that whole dynamic.”
Lentz has won several awards in promoting 14 athletic programs at Northwest and has been in volunteer work for various sporting events, including Southeastern Conference and other NCAA events, including the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, the South Regional (Sweet 16/Elite Eight) of the 2017 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament and official stats for select ESPN/SEC Network broadcasts.
