When Amy Dodson and her small staff members at Pine River Library decided to apply for Library Journal’s annual award for Best Small Library in America, they thought they were doing it for the experience, or maybe even getting a shot at being a finalist.
When they learned at the end of December that they had actually won the award, they were shocked.
And now they’re really, really proud and pleased, as well, and a bit richer – the award includes a $20,000 prize from the Gates Foundation. “I was just ecstatic,” said Judy London, president of the library’s board. The award, she said, confirms the staff members’ aspirations for a “living library.”
“The staff deserves it,” she said of the library’s 11 full-time and part-time employees.
Dodson, the library’s director for the past year, is quick to share credit.
“It’s the board, the volunteers, the Friends of the Library and the community,” Dodson said.
The library is featured in several pages in the February edition of Library Journal. Among the innovations at the library noted in the article are:
More than 50 laptops, GPS devices, e-readers and more available for checkout.
Teen and youth programming.
Free movies and documentaries shown to the public.
Community classes and events, including yoga, book groups and more.
A partnership with the Bayfield School District to provide children’s programming for the district’s late-start days.
Dodson and London are proud of the library’s physical space, as well. A 4,000-square-foot addition was completed in 2013, bringing the interior’s total to 13,000 square feet of meeting rooms, computer and book areas, and children and teen spaces. Then work started on the Living Library, a community garden and outdoor space constructed last summer with the help of a lot of volunteer labor.
Southwest Ag donated a backhoe and equipment time, and BP provided gas-field pipe that was recycled into fences and bridges by local artist Kelly Hurford. Most of the plants for the Living Library came from Native Roots Garden Center, High Plains Nursery and Durango Nursery. The plants were both in-kind donations and purchases by the library.
There were many other donors, as well as the taxpayer fund that keeps the library open and growing, London said.
Inside, a fireplace and cozy reading chairs purchased by the Friends of the Library have made it one of the most popular places for people to sit and read or surf the Internet, Dodson said.
London said the library’s success and beautiful facilities didn’t come about overnight. It took a lot of work from the previous boards, including financial planning by past trustees Dan Ford, Don Magill and Valerie Borge, she said, adding other people helped before that.
The library’s history extends far into Bayfield’s past. Volunteers from the Bayfield Study Club, longtime board member Lavenia McCoy and others built the library over the years when it had through two staff members, including longtime director Donnalee Baxstrom, and stacks of books in cramped space on Mill Street.
The district’s annual funding has grown to a budget of $582,000, or $66.52 per capita for district residents. That brings in a lot of people: The library has a circulation of 111,638; along with 217,896 virtual visits and growing attendance at community events.
The article in Library Journal can be found online at the district’s website, www.prlibrary.org.
London said the board hasn’t yet decided how to spend the $20,000 prize money, but it will fulfill the library’s mission of education “and serving as a catalyst for community activity.”
An earlier version of this story contained several errors. Artist Kelly Hurford’s last name was misspelled. Also, the library’s recent addition was 4,000 feet. Most of the plants for the Living Library came from Native Roots Garden Center, High Plains Nursery and Durango Nursery. The plants were both in-kind donations and purchases by the library.
