Boundary County Library nominated Top Small Library in USA

BONNERS FERRY — Our local Boundary County Library has been nominated for an award for the top small library in the United States. Its extensive children’s section, young adult section, large print section, and an array of books for all ages — as well as the Fab Lab and other programs offered — makes the library a perfect candidate.

The library was nominated by Gretchen Casserotti, director of the Meridian Library. Craig Anderson, the director of the Boundary County Library, was contacted by Idaho State Library Director Ann Joslin regarding the nomination.

The children’s section offers kids books, audio books, magazines and safe gaming computers. They offer story time every other Wednesday, as well as educational live-feed video on the Poly Com.

The Poly Com system is a live feed video system that is connected to cameras, showcasing live feeds of all kinds of animals in their natural habitats, as well as scheduled programs showcasing zookeepers from around the world, who feature different animals in live face-time feeds.

NASA is also involved in conducting these educational interviews. In July, NASA will be conducting a face-time event about the sun, and in August there will be a live stream of the solar eclipse.

“We bring the world to the kids of Boundary County in a safe learning environment,” said Anderson

Anderson was a teacher at Bonners Ferry High School for 32 years before becoming the library director.

“I got the whole love of books and learning from the library, my mom, and my dad,” Anderson said.

In the past, the library was located in the building the First National Bank once occupied, next to the late Huckleberry Variety shop. With the bank vault still in place, the front of the building was the adult fiction, non-fiction and educational book area. The vault itself was home to the magazine section. Through the vault, toward the back of the building, was the children’s section. Needing a bigger area, they worked out a deal with the museum to occupy its current building.

Sandy Ashworth, previous director of Boundary County Library, had big ideas for it.

“I want to turn this into an educational center that everyone can take part in,” Ashworth said.

According to Anderson, Ashworth went on to obtain grants such as the Idaho Gem Grant and the USDA Grant to support her ideas. She raised $90,000 to fund a remodel of the downstairs to accommodate a meeting room and the Fabrication Laboratory, also known as the Fab Lab.

Anderson and Ashworth attended a Fab Lab Foundation Symposium in Milwaukee, Wis., to obtain a better picture of what kind of gear was needed in order to bring Boundary County a Fab Lab. They found the minimum requirements were to acquire a 3D printing machine, laser cutting machine, CNC machine, vinyl cutter, and a milling machine.

The concept of the Fab Lab originally came from MIT and that idea sparked the formation of the Fab Lab Organization. Dr. Neil Gerchenfeld, a professor at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) is the inventor and creator of Fab Labs. The idea was to implement academic progress by providing a facility with the equipment to support innovative solutions to common problems using modern technology.

MIT directors promoted the idea and proceeded to fund the opening of several Fab Labs around the world. Ashworth supported this idea as well and sought to bring a Fab Lab to Boundary County. Library officials backed Anderson’s and Ashworth’s idea, and created a budget in order to make their dream come to fruition.

The original plan was to apply for grants and budget accordingly, in order to build a larger, more modern building. The plan was to house, not just the library, but to add ample space for the Fab Lab, as well as meeting rooms, a better computer lab, a kitchen for culinary arts classes, and a coffee shop run by kids to encourage entrepreneurship. Anderson and Ashworth also planned to invite the Boundary County extension of North Idaho College and the Northern Idaho extensions of the University of Idaho to share the learning facility.

Due to lack of proper funding, the new building was not approved. The shortage of funding, however, did not stop Ashworth and Anderson from achieving their initial goals. They were able to remodel the current building and expand the library’s selection of reading material as well as offer classes through Linda.com. Anderson and the library staff were also able to create a curriculum to provide certification classes for the Fab Lab and the equipment in it.

Linda.com is affiliated with Microsoft and offers thousands of online classes. People with a library membership are able to take any online classes through this website for free. Anderson hopes people who don’t know what they want to pursue with schooling, or have a family and a job locally, and would like to expand their knowledge, come to take advantage of the opportunities the local library has to offer.

“The whole idea of this is that — and I’m waiting for the day, I think it’s coming soon — when someone walks in here and uses our machines to make a prototype of something, like an invention that hasn’t been seen before, and then they are going to start a business and hire people, and I hope that happens here in Boundary County. Economic development was Sandy’s (Ashworth’s) dream and it’s my dream too. Being able to do that stuff for free here is a great way to get started. I hope they keep their ideas in the community, to help the community,” Anderson said.

For further information and a schedule of upcoming events, visit boundarycountylibrary.com