ARLEE — Sequestered inconspicuously in the basement of the Arlee Community Center, the Jocko Valley Library is necessarily hard to find. It’s an issue that Kimberly Folden, the director of the non-profit, would like to address.
The library has an entrance in the rear of the Brown Building, with a chain link gate kept locked except for library hours. To access the stacks, users must traverse a dark stairwell.
Once inside, “You forget about the stairway,” said Folden.
“It’s such a wonderful space we have here.”
“It is so inviting. The books just surround you and put their arms around you, or their covers you might say. Once you get here, you forget about the gate.”
Still, the stairway is an obstacle for some patrons.
“We lose a lot of our elderly and handicapped patrons because they can’t make the stairs,” Folden said.
Plus, the community center is in dire need of repair.
“The Brown Building is rapidly decaying,” Folden said, and “the library is seeking a new home” because of it.
Despite her definitive statement, Folden said the reality of a library move is, nonetheless, “a lot of wishful thinking right now.”
Hoping to make at least a few wishes come true, Folden recently received a $10,000 grant from the Stranahan Foundation. She applied for the grant last year, and received news in December that the library had been selected for the award.
The money is earmarked for technology, furniture, reading programs, books and other little things, Folden said. A portion of the funds will go into a rainy day fund that might be used to try to find a more accessible and visible location for the library, she said.
“I want a store front with the door facing out and a sign saying Jocko Valley Library, highly visible,” Folden said.
The almost-invisible present location does limit the number of walk-ins that use the library, Folden believes. Currently, the library serves about 55 patrons per month, year-round. That number could easily increase with an improved setting, Folden feels.
“I love this community,” Folden said. “We’re a very proud community. I think if we were more visible people would be proud of our library too.”
Folden’s wishes for the library include expanding the holdings and expanding programs, especially those that serve youth.
“In the summer,” Folden said, “there’s a program where the kids go (from Arlee) to UM and swim. They meet Griz players,” she said. At the end of their day, the youth are bussed back to Arlee, and dropped off at the Brown Building.
“The kids would come use the library afterward,” Folden said. To keep them interested in reading, Folden offered them a deal.
“For every half hour the kids used the computer they would have to read a book for half an hour. They were willing to do it,” she said.
Folden believes libraries must serve youth.
“The libraries are here for children because they need to learn how to read and appreciate books,” she said. “Libraries really aren’t for adults because we already know how to read.”
“The kids are what we have to do it for.”
The Jocko Valley Library is run on love, and dedication to instilling a love of reading in others. The all-volunteer corps includes a board of directors, eight volunteer librarians and one library director.
“None of us are paid,” Folden said. With the library’s budget, salaries are out of the question. Funding for the bibliotheca comes from only a handful of sources. The board holds “one major fundraiser: an annual book sale in conjunction with the Firemen’s Fourth of July pancake breakfast,” Folden said.
“Last year is the first time the board ever remembers making over 100 dollars,” she stated.
The library also receives half a mil levy from the Lake County commissioners.
“It’s a gift,” is Folden’s description of the approximately 3,000 dollars the library is granted each year by the county. In addition, Folden said, “We have a jar to receive donations.
“We don’t get much,” she laughed.
The current board works amicably, Folden said.
“It’s a big family.” They have room for more members, though. The board, which should have five to seven members, currently has just four. They are actively seeking one new volunteer. Interested people can contact Folden at the library, she said.
Folden’s move to director evolved from her own volunteer time at the library. In 2003-2004, the library was short-handed, and Folden volunteered “seven hours a day, just to keep the library open,” she said.
Use has declined in the years since then, but Folden isn’t sure why. It could be the limited hours the library now offers. The doors are open when it best suits the volunteers’ schedules, she said. She is contemplating opening for regular, set hours, and finding volunteers who could match that schedule. That could increase awareness of the library’s offerings, and get more youth to use the facility.
Folden has also been querying students at the high school as to what they like to read, because she would like to get teens to use the library more. The director said she will use some of the new grant money to expand the library’s collection to include materials popular with teens.
“We want to give them their own section, away from the little kids,” Folden said.
Kids still use the library, though. “The Moritz books are very popular,” Folden said. Because the author and his dog are from the region, the books draw more interest. “They had a book signing at Hangin’ Art,” Folden said. “The kids were nuts about that.” After the signing, Donna Mollica, proprietor of the gallery, donated a couple of signed copies to the library, Folden said. They still check out regularly.
And, like everywhere else, Harry Potter is enticing young readers. When the final book came out six months ago, Folden made sure the library’s copy arrived as it hit the bookstores by preordering it through Amazon.com.
“We have a corporate account through Amazon,” Folden said. “Sometimes we can order books without paying for shipping. We get a much better deal thru Amazon than buying retail,” she added.
Still, Amazon doesn’t carry everything readers want, so one or two times a year the board takes a buying trip to Missoula, and visits Barnes and Noble, Costco and The Book Exchange.
“A good percentage of our patrons ask for paperbacks,” Folden said. “The men especially want paperbacks. People don’t seem to want to read the hardbacks as much,” she said.
“You can’t be as comfortable reading a hardback,” Folden said, pantomiming having to prop open a large heavy book. In contrast, paperbacks can get tossed into a purse or backpack or briefcase and taken to work or on the go.
The exception is the Potter books, which Folden said check out better as hard covers.
Other offerings at the library include book on tape and CD, music CDs, DVDs and videos, and of course, a range of books form Native American history to fiction to cooking to children’s titles to nonfiction of all sorts. Audio books are gaining attention, but are hard to come by, Folden said. “They’re very popular,” she said.
“We’re trying to get more books on CD but they’re very expensive,” Folden added.
Folden said the library accepts donations, but due to the cost of audio books, purchasers rarely part with them.
The library also accepts book donations, but can only take books published later than 1980.
“One morning I came in and there was a stack of boxes outside six high,” Folden recalled. After spending her time sorting through the vast collection, Folden said, she had to toss them all, due to the shape they were in and the fact they were outdated.
“You’d be surprised how many self-help books there are from the seventies,” she chuckled.
Folden wants the Jocko Valley Library to be timely, and to that end has recently added new computer terminals for patrons to use.
Folden purchased two towers, three flat screens and a printer for patrons’ use through a library technology grant, and Blackfoot Communication donates monthly DSL service.
Folden also forgave overdue fines at the beginning of last year, and reworked the library’s lending policy. “I think it’s helping a lot” in returning books and materials, Folden said.
The new policy instates a five-week checkout period for books,
five days for movies, and five weeks for audio materials.
“People are more appreciative of more time (to utilize the materials),” Folden said, “especially if they have little children. It takes longer to watch a movie” when you have kids.
In addition, Folden has minimized fines, with the exception of movies. “Renting them is free, but it’s a dollar a day if they’re late,” she said of videos and DVDs.
For many families, Folden said, the movie rentals provide affordable entertainment. Having a shorter turn-around period, and a substantial fine in place ensures the films will be available for more people to use.
The Jocko Valley Library is open year round, with the following current hours:
Mondays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Tuesdays, noon til dark
Wednesdays, 4 to 6 p.m.
Thursdays, varies with volunteer schedules
Fridays, noon to 4 p.m.
Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
The library is closed on Sundays.
In order to achieve more of her goals for the library, including increased hours of service, Folden will be taking grant-writing courses on line this winter.
“That is something I can give back to the library and help us reach some of these goals,” she said. She plans to take three courses over an eight-week period.
“We have tried to find grant writers and sometimes they don’t want to mess with the little piddly things (like a small library),” Folden said. “So if I can help the library that’s awesome.”
To Folden, “Everything centers around getting a new location so we could offer more family events, like a community movie night.” The director would also like to have local artisans and crafters come teach workshops.
Folden’s vision includes a more visible location, more books, more hours of operation and many, many more events for the public to come utilize the facility, especially as a family.
“The books need to be used to where they’re wearing out,” Folden said of her dream.
“Once we get rolling we’ll need the funding to keep things going,” she said, “Then the sky’s the limit as to what we can offer.”
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