In a time of digital access, digital books, and well, just about digital everything, is there still a need for libraries?
Yes, definitely, says Marcia Vining, the director of the Ignacio Community Library.
In 2016, the library checked out 27,709 books, CDs and videos, plus another 2,651 digital items.
While e-book use grew in this decade, use has now steadied as lots of people still check out old-fashioned books and magazines.
Libraries also provide knowledge about what people are looking at, and where and how it was written. In a time of fake news, that's important, Vining said.
To celebrate decades of community service and 10 years in their current location, the library is throwing a party from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday.
All are welcome, including those who have never visited the library.
On Tuesday, the library was a hive of activity for multiple generations. Students at Hope Community Christian Academy were taking a class to learn research methods, while the school's younger students enjoyed story time in the children's area.
An art group was meeting downstairs, while upstairs, knitting group members were making fiber creations.
The library also is a home for local artists and their works.
On permanent display are "Storm over Navajo Lake" and "Sun and Moon," by a premier painter of Southwest landscapes, Stanton Englehart.
Also among the library's prized holdings is a collection of books and materials on Abraham Lincoln, donated by Elbert F. Floyd, His Lincoln Collection includes over 300 books as well as a cast of Lincoln's hands.
The library also preserves local history.
An oral history of the area was compiled a few years ago by Shelby Smith, a gifted interviewer who was able to elicit many interesting accounts of early settlers. These are preserved in a binder available for checkout or purchase. In addition, the library is scanning copies of the Ignacio Chieftain, a newspaper that was published until 1970.
Last year, the library received a grant from the American Library Association to preserve and collect Latino stories. Fifteen oral histories have been recorded, and now the project has expanded to include anyone in the community.
Bruce Clark is the current president of the Friends of the Library and said the Ignacio Community Library fills an important niche in the town's educational and cultural development.
While the library is often alive with kids' activities, particularly after school, there are adult-only areas for those who need to concentrate on reading or computers, including a quiet nook upstairs.
The McClanahan Community Room hosts hundreds of community meetings, as well as 55 library workshops in 2016. It is named in honor of Butch and Jean McClanahan.
She is the library's longest-serving volunteer, wrapping new books in plastic covers and labeling them before they go on the shelves.
According to a history from the library's website, a group of Ignacio residents began meeting in 1987, forming a Friends of the Library group.
Voters approved creating a library district in 1990, and an old furniture store was renovated in 1991.
"Their planning and foresight was pretty incredible," Vining said of the original library board. In 2007, the old library was demolished to make way for the current 11,000-square-foot library.
Today, there are 6,000 cardholders in a town of about 600 people. That shows the interest library users have in the Ignacio, Bayfield and Durango libraries, Vining said, and the districts work not to compete with each other, but share resources and patrons.
