Library board contemplating big changes
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| Jim Marx and Sandy Ashworth accepting a national library honor from First Lady Laura Bush in 2002. |
It was just a little over 10 years ago that library director Sandy Ashworth and board chairman Jim Marx travelled to Washington, D.C. to accept the prestigious Institute of Museum and Library Services 2002 National Award from First Lady Laura Bush, an award that recognized the important role a library plays in the life of a small town community, and recognizing the innovative ways the Boundary County Library, working with a budget a small fraction of that of most, fulfilled that role, and stretched the limits in defining what that role could be.
Now, Ashworth, Marx and board members Wendy McClintock, Rhoda Wilson, Lee Haarstick and Judith Mace are again turning their thoughts to how much our little library can mean to Boundary County, and their vision is awesome in its scope.
"A Vision for the Future - Boundary County Library Central," is an amazing compilation of what our library could very well look like in the not so distant future. While it will undoubtedly take a lot of sweat and effort, it is possible if the community supports a center of life-long learning.
"These ideas pull together a lot of things the county needs in one place," Ashworth said. "By making this more than a library, we can go after additional funding; block grants and economic development grants, to save taxpayer dollars."
Under the concepts being considered, the Boundary County Library, which has averaged an astonishing 79,000 visitors each year for the last two, would be home to much more than a library ... it would be a world-wide learning center bridging the gap between education and application.
Already, design work is being done by University of Idaho students as a class project, which shows expansion "out and up" over the library parking lot, including what could be Boundary County's first covered parking facility.
While the plans are impressive, and practical, what's even more exciting is what's being proposed to fill the new space.
New space for the U of I Boundary County Extension Office, bringing two fonts of information in the county together under a single roof. To expand educational opportunities, the North Idaho College Bonners Ferry campus, offering professional and technical education, research and development, business support services and more. A Business Development Center and the Boundary Economic Development Council Office, offering entrepreneurial assistance, forming a bridge between education and the local workplace.
What's even more exciting, though still in the early stages of consideration, is the possibility of an MIT (yes, that MIT, the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Center for Bits and Atoms Fab(rication) Lab.
MIT CBA Fab Lab for short.
MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms is an interdisciplinary initiative exploring the boundary between computer science and physical science. CBA studies how to turn data into things, and things into data. It manages facilities, runs research programs, supervises students, works with sponsors, creates startups, and does public outreach.
CBA was launched by a National Science Foundation award in 2001 to create a unique digital fabrication facility that gathers tools across disciplines and length scales for making and measuring things. These include electron microscopes and focused ion beam probes for nanostructures, laser micromachining and X-ray microtomography for microstructures, and multi-axis machining and 3D printing for macrostructures. These are supported by instrumentation for processing and characterizing materials and devices. CBA's tools are available around the clock for its users working on projects that integrate these capabilities.
According to Ashworth, MIT has extended the Boundary County Library an invitation to establish a FAB Lab right here in Bonners Ferry, bringing cutting edge technology and innovation that can be used for local applications.
Heady stuff!
"We're in the very initial stages of consideration right now, but it certainly looks like all this is possible," Ashworth said.
Thus far, she said, local public support has been positive, but the board still wants to hear more; concerns, ideas, your "vision of the future" of the Boundary County Library.
A flier outlining the idea for the expansion of the library and creation of "your hometown center for world-wide learning and hands-on innovation" is available at the library, 6370 Kootenai Street. To find out more, call (208) 267-3750.