Board hears library plan

By MIKE RICHESON

Bigfork Eagle

The Bigfork advisory park board heard a proposal from library proponents last Tuesday concerning the use of Potoczny Park as a suitable location for a new library.

Kim Crowley, Flathead County Library director; Laura Long, library board member; Dave Hilde, Bigfork’s library board representative; and Paul Mutascio, president of the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork, offered their views on why the board should support building a new library with open space on the Potoczny site.

Crowley presented the planning history of the Bigfork branch and discussed space needs to suit Bigfork for the next 20 years. The current Bigfork library, which is located next to the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center, is about 1,400 square feet. The new library would be 4,000 square feet.

The vision for Bigfork’s library is comprised of three main components:

1. Crowley stated that studies show people want a place for the community to gather. A library should be the “living room” for the community.

2. A library should have current titles addressing the important topics of the day. Residents should find a variety of books, magazines, films, etc., to satisfy their curiosities and become lifelong readers.

3. A library should be a resource for literacy. Residents will learn the skills to find, evaluate and use information in a variety of formats.

Of particular concern to Crowley and other library supporters at the meeting were comments made by advisory board member Janie Cantrell during a Jan. 23 meeting. According to the minutes, Cantrell is recorded as saying that the library board “isn’t the first group I’ve run into with an anti-kids mentality.”

“We’re not anti kids,” Crowley said, pointing to the Kalispell library’s numerous programs for children every week. She also said that studies prove that children who participate in summer reading programs do much better in school and retain more information from the previous year’s schooling.

About four years ago, the library board hired a professional consultant to address Flathead County’s library needs. For Bigfork, the Potoczny site kept coming up as the best possible location, especially since the land was already owned by the county, and the county Park Board was looking at surplussing the ball field.

“We really feel improvements to Potoczny, which includes a library, would be a win-win for the community,” Crowley said. “No, there wouldn’t be a ball field, but there would be an improved park.”

The proposed library would take up 4,000 square feet - plus parking - of the available 2.3 acres, which would leave more than an acre for other park amenities.

Bigfork’s current library receives about 1,500 people per month and checks out 2,000 items per month. The library is only open four days per week. Crowley said that any time a community builds a new library, attendance and circulation usually double. Plus, she said, many mothers take their children into the Kalispell library for story times. A new library in Bigfork would allow area residents to stay in the community for children’s programs.

Dave Hilde and Paul Mutascio stressed the sense of urgency for Bigfork’s new library due to the fact that when Flathead County Library moves for a revenue bond to build a new main branch in Kalispell, the Bigfork library needs to be a part of that bond.

“There is a sense of urgency,” Mutascio said. “If we take too many steps backward, or if we get behind on the bond issue, Bigfork just won’t get a new library.”

“The impetus is on us to get going so the Bigfork library can go in with the Kalispell library,” Hilde said. “Two bond issues probably won’t work.”

The advisory park board did not make a decision concerning Potoczny at the meeting, but chairman Mike Pedersen stated that this issue is at the forefront of the board’s duties.

The advisory park board, while not having official status to make decisions, exists to act as a liason between the Bigfork community and the County Park Board. Other than the issue of Potoczny Park and the library, the board is looking at all the area parks and looking for ways to preserve improve the spaces.