Jocko Valley Library seeks community help to stay open
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ARLEE — It’s easy to get lost in here. Meander down the back steps of the old Brown Building and you’ll enter a quiet basement full of portals to new worlds: the Jocko Valley Library. Crack a book’s cover and before you know it, you’ll be miles, even years, away from Arlee.
“The library in Arlee is a very important place. It’s kind of like a heartbeat,” board member Maureen Talbert said. “We just help anybody who comes in — we help introduce them to a world past Arlee.”
But now it’s time for the community to help the library, as several retiring board members explained at a community meeting last week. Since the basement of the Brown Building isn’t handicapped-accessible, the library doesn’t meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and can’t be designated a public library.
“That’s our biggest downfall,” former library director Kim Folden said.
Therefore, she explained, the library isn’t eligible for public funding and is supported entirely through donations, grants and an annual “gift” of half a mil levy from Lake County (about $3,200). And without more volunteers, both on the governing board and as librarians, Arlee could lose this underground sanctuary, Folden said.
“Do you want the library?” she asked the 30-odd people gathered to discuss the issue. “To me, it would be devastating not to have a library. I think it’s vital … If you want it open, we need your help.”
Folden’s been involved with the library for six years, serving as director for the past four. She started volunteering when Millie Cooper, a woman in her 80s who’d been a librarian for decades, had to cut back on her hours at the library.
“Before I knew it, I was volunteering five or six days a week,” Folden said.
While the past four years have seen the library bloom under her leadership, with improvements from revamping the entire collection to redecorating its home, it’s time for someone fresh to take over, she explained. Folden, the three other board members who recently resigned and the four volunteer librarians — Talbert doubles as board member and librarian — need a break.
“They’re tired, and I’m tired,” Folden said.
With only four volunteers to work in the library, its hours of operation have dwindled to nine a week, plus two on the first Saturday of each month. And with no extra volunteers, if someone’s sick or can’t man the library for some reason, there’s no choice but to remain closed — a choice the public doesn’t react to very well, volunteer Cherie Garcelon said.
“People do use the library, and they do notice when we’re closed. We just wish they would notice more when we’re open,” she said.
Hearing complaints when the library’s closed during scheduled open hours is the worst part of the job, former board member Jo Crawford agreed.
“Other than that, it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience,” Crawford said. “This library has so many things to offer the community.”
Those offerings include free Internet and computer usage donated by Blackfoot Telecommunications, newly-released bestsellers that can be borrowed for free, technical assistance from librarians with things like job searches and resume-building, and social interaction — some people come to the library just to visit with a friendly face, Talbert said. More than that, the library is a safe haven for children, mom Sue Carney said. Her kids can ride their bikes to the library, and “I know they’re safe,” she said. “I can call and make sure they arrived.”
“When the library’s not open, many of our kids don’t go to Missoula to the public library,” added Susan Black, Arlee Elementary’s librarian — and when school’s out, there’s no library available in Arlee.
People do use the Jocko Valley Library regularly, Black added, and she thought more community members would have attended the public meeting if they realized the seriousness of the situation.
“I don’t think people realize how close it is (to closing),” she said.
But as Talbert put it, “it isn’t all gray clouds, and it isn’t all bad news. (But) if we don’t get help, it could be bad news.”
Some of that help came after the community discussion — three people volunteered to join the board, and everyone agreed to pass the word around to friends who might be interested in helping. But to really brighten the library’s future, more people will need to get involved, Arlee Community Development Corporation board member Donna Mollica pointed out. With enough support, the library could eventually move and become a public library, but that can’t happen until a lot more people show interest. The CDC sent 1,097 letters to community members inviting them to the Oct. 20 public meeting, Folden noted, and only about 30 attended.
“If there was the community will, there is funding,” Mollica said.
Anyone interested in volunteering or otherwise supporting the Jocko Valley Library should contact the CDC at 726-5550, she added.
