Research project derailed by county library

Eleven years ago, I began a major project researching the history of Flathead County. This effort has again been derailed by the Flathead County Library System. A detailed complaint lodged with the Flathead County Commissioners regarding this matter has gone unanswered.

The focus of my research turned to legacy volumes of Flathead County newspapers on microfilm about the time that the Whitefish Library broke away from the county system. This was extremely disruptive because the microfilm machine was removed from Whitefish and was not available for quite some time. The nearest machine was at the Columbia Falls branch, which I was able to visit only once a week.

Finally, we were able to get the Whitefish machine back online, and for almost a year now I have been able to prosecute my research at a significantly accelerated rate, having reels of microfilm sent to Whitefish from Kalispell for review.

Besides being local, the Whitefish microfilm machine is much more efficient and has a higher rate of availability than either the Columbia Falls or Kalispell machines. This is very significant because of the enormous volume of material to be reviewed.

The Whitefish Library was recently informed that the Kalispell library, a supposed “partner” library, was no longer willing to share their microfilm. The reason being, apparently, that the Kalispell library is too busy to occasionally place a reel or two of microfilm in the inter-library container which, I understand, is exchanged daily.

I would venture to say that there is an entirely different motive behind this change. The director of the county library system suggested it would be just fine if I came to Kalispell to review the microfilm there. This suggestion is thoughtless and extraordinarily arrogant.

With more than 100 reels of microfilm yet to review, commuting to Kalispell would cost me thousands of dollars in fuel, maintenance and valuable time lost. In addition, I am over 55 with health issues that make this kind of effort impossible. Trying to work in Kalispell or back in Columbia Falls would require many additional years to complete the project, years I do not have, and so is not going to happen.

Because of the reprehensible attitude displayed by the county library system, my research efforts on behalf of Flathead County will now likely never be completed. It would appear that the ImagineIF mantra of working “to transform vision, dreams and desires into reality” will need to be amended to include “unless you live in Whitefish.”

As a Flathead native, I am embarrassed by such childish behavior on the part of county management which will serve only to cause harm to many of us who had no part in the library system feud.

Kevin McCready lives in Whitefish.