As you read in the Star News we received $25,000 from Friends of The Donnelly Library.
Donnelly library gets $25K for expansion
BY DREW DODSON
The Star-News
A $25,000 donation received this week by the Donnelly Public Library District will help launch a
campaign to expand the Library, Library Director Sherry Scheline said.
The $25,000 came from private donations and fund-raisers collected by the Friends of the Donnelly Public
Library, a nonprofit organization that helps support the library.
“We have come to a place where an expansion is needed immediately,” Scheline said of the
existing 1,000-square-foot library at 150 E. State St. in Donnelly.
“All you have to do in Donnelly is walk in and see that we are out of space,” she said.
An expansion committee headed by library trustees Berea Thompson and Heather Larronde
are leading the campaign to expand the library, Scheline said.
The committee is currently gathering community comments to incorporate into expansion
plans and working on preliminary designs with Epikos, Scheline said.
In 2020, the district doubled the size of the library property by buying a lot adjacent to the
library for $75,000 to allow more flexibility with expansion plans, Scheline said.
There is not currently a cost estimate or a timeline for the expansion project, she said.
Overall, programming alone at the library served nearly 5,700 people in 2021, according to data from
the Idaho Commission for Libraries. (I think this stat is incredible only when in comparison to McCall and Cascade’s #)
An after-school program at the library is regularly at capacity and serves students from
Cascade, Donnelly and McCall.
“We are the only after-school program in Valley County that consistently serves all three
communities,” Scheline said.
The library currently relies on two tipis erected on the 0.3-acre property to double the capacity
of the program from 16 students in the library to 30 students overall.
“The tipis get cold when the sun sets, but they have served us well,” Scheline said. “We use
them five days a week.”
Combined, the tipis total over 850 square feet of usable space. The larger tipi is 28 feet across
in diameter, compared to 18 feet across for the smaller tipi.
The larger tipi has a custom canvas floor that is flame resistant, while the smaller tipi has a floor
of wood chips donated by the City of Donnelly. Both floors are covered by rugs.
The two tipis were funded using a $15,000 grant from the City of Donnelly’s local-option tax,
which levies a 1% general sales tax and 3% tax on motels and short-term rentals.
The current library also does not include office space for the library’s 5 staff, Scheline
said.
The lack of private office space means that the library cannot receive grant money from the
state for telehealth, which allows patients to meet with doctors for online appointments.
Expanding the library was the top priority identified in a strategic plan the district’s board of
directors adopted in 2019.
The district was formed by Donnelly area voters in November 2017. It took control of the
library’s operations from the City of Donnelly on July 1, 2018.
The library and the land it is on were donated to the city in 2009 by Donnelly residents Lenox
Milam and Willis Johnson, who are both now deceased.
The library has a total of 2222 memberships. Members have access to about 15,000 (14,792) books, DVDs
and games as well as nearly 50,000 e-books and audio books through the Idaho Digital
Consortium. 2022 year end is 2222 instead of 872. 14792 and 49,420 available ebooks / audiobooks
Story published in the Star News January 5th, 2023 hwww.mccallstarnews.com/
Above is Berea from our Board of Trustees accepting the check from the Friends of The Donnelly Public Library.
The Friends of The Donnelly Public Library meet the first Thursday of every month at the Library. Come join them at 6:00 P.M. and get plugged in. For more information about the Friends of The Library click here: Friends
