KNOX — Liam Hanley, a Boy Scout in Troop 1079, has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Scout project, he built and installed three Take-A-Book, Leave-A-Book Libraries — one for each of the towns of Berne, Knox, and Westerlo. The libraries are located at each of the town halls.

The rank of Eagle Scout is the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve. Only about 5 percent of all Boy Scouts earn this prestigious award.

Hanley graduated in June as salutatorian of his Berne-Knox-Westerlo class and will attend the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

He is the son of Tami and Daniel Hanley.

Three libraries

The goal of the three libraries is to help promote reading by making it easier for community members to obtain books. There are no check-out procedures or time limits on the books in these libraries.

Community members are welcome to look through the books in each location and borrow as many as they choose. They can then either return the books to the library that they borrowed them from, or they can leave other books in the library in their place.

It is hoped that the libraries in each location will have new books to offer to community members as people donate new titles when they are borrowing others.

Each library has been filled with books for all age levels, from early readers to adults. The books offer a wide range of materials across a variety of genres, including both fiction and nonfiction. All of the books for the three libraries were donated by the Berne Public Library from its annual book sale.