The Boundary County District Library Sandra Ashworth Director May 5, 2011

Where Boundary County, Idaho Northern most county in Idaho Bordering Canada, Montana and Washington The ancestral home of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho

What 75% of the county is publicly owned, with multiple endangered species listings Natural resource-based economy Current population: 10,962 Current unemployment rate: 15.2% Strong historic culture of collaboration to meet community needs—from natural disasters and individual tragedies to emergency medical services and a wide variety of important community resources

Who and how For example: The Boundary County District Library Founded in 1913 by a newly formed Readers’ Club as a volunteer city library in Bonners Ferry, the county seat, with a wheelbarrow full of donated books In 1956, community-wide campaign to establish Idaho’s first countywide taxing district for a public library In 1974, the current library building (8000 sq feet) was built for the district

Who and how, continued Community Connections: making a difference through an integrated network of collaborative partnerships to meet critical community needs 2002 National Award for Library Services from IMLS for library’s Community Connections Growing role as “door to the world” for county residents; 77,230 library visitors in FY

Why: Community Connections and WMS Connectivity issues at the “end of the road” for our library and too many other rural libraries Information as a commodity—the “haves” and the “have-nots” Leveling the geographic and economic barriers Proactive tech change to meet local needs —providing local service with a global reach New applications creating new ways of doing business

Why: Community Connections and WMS, continued WMS is giving us the ability to participate in the shaping as shareholders/stakeholders –member driven—to meet common needs Serving the digital natives Maintaining user-friendly access to library services and resources for the non-digital natives All about relevancy and usefulness—all about connections