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Community Library to Open Doors on a Mountain of Books
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Monday, July 16, 2018
 

STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Jenny Emery Davidson reached down and pulled up the zipper on a heavy plastic curtain separating the Community Library’s lecture hall from the rest of the library.

Then she ushered in Greg Carr and his nephew Gavin, tiptoeing over electrical cords in use by construction workers as the trio looked up at a lattice ceiling designed to offer the feeling of being nestled.

“Look!” she told Gavin, as she pointed to a pyramid-shaped bookcase in the back of the lecture hall. “That’s going to be a mountain of books with a movable ladder. This mountain of books was inspired by Baldy. It’s meant to pay homage to the alpine community in which we live.”

Librarians will begin moving that mountain of books into the lecture hall this week as they prepare to reopen an expanded room featuring state-of-the-art technology.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Adam Johnson, who is appearing at the Sun Valley Writers Conference July 21-24, will welcome back the library faithful with a conversation about his books “The Orphan Master’s Son” and “Fortune Smiles” when the lecture hall reopens at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 19.

The lecture hall will feature two double door entrances and 70 additional seats, bringing seating capacity to 190.

There will be a state-of-the-art glass screen at front with things projected from behind so people can stand or sit in front without casting a shadow on the screen.

Livestreaming technology will be embedded so that technology director Brad McClane no longer has to set up a camera tripod in the sink in back. The new capabilities will be akin to moving from the Dark Ages to the Space Age, said McClane.

An enhanced sound system will deliver customized sound to hearing aid wearers with t-coils, and there will be enhanced capability for translating lectures in different languages, as well.

The hall will open out on a new courtyard for receptions following readings. And when the hall is not in use for lectures, there will be tables that patrons can read at or members of nonprofits and other organizations can hold meetings at.

“Too many times we’ve had to turn people away. I’m looking forward to being a bouncer no longer, as that’s the least favorite part of my job,” said Carter Hedberg, the library’s director of philanthropy.

This is the first renovation for the library since it was built in 1976, with the exception of the addition of the children’s library in 1996.

It was sorely needed, judging by the telltale sound of the raindrops and snowmelt that dripped through the ceiling.

Librarians set out countless buckets to collect rain and snowmelt but still the unwanted water destroyed some of the library’s book collection.

Floors were deemed inadequate to hold the weight of the books, should there be an earthquake. Parts of the library didn’t have ventilation.  The mechanical equipment had reached the end of its lifespan. And bathroom toilets were continually getting clogged.

“Imagine if you bought a home and nothing had been done for 40years,” said Carter Hedburg.”We’ve got a lot of books and we want them to be safe.”

The first major capital improvement—the replacement of the asbestos-laden wood shake roof—started in 2016. The library recently opened ADA-accessible, energy-efficient, gender-inclusive restrooms that sport solar tubes to allow outside lighting in.

And the basement that had served as storage for the Gold Mine thrift store was remade into a climate-controlled archive to store artifacts from the Ski and Heritage Museum, the Hemingway House and other regional history collections.

Now the west end of the Main Collection Hall is being reinforced with concrete footings and upgraded with energy-efficient  LED lights that will be suspended closer to the shelves for enhanced lighting.

“What we’re doing was informed from a process that began five years ago with community imput on what they wanted to see in their library,” said Hedberg. “We received more than 2,000 comments. Our  architect Dennis Humphries said he’s remodeled a hundred libraries, including libraries in Jackson Hole and Denver, and he’s never received that many in any other city.”

The library will be only 8 percent larger when it’s all over, with an additional 2,000 square feet bringing the building to 28,643 square feet.

The reimagined library is being built like a patchwork quilt, with pieces being added as funds become available.

So far, $10 million has been raised for the library remodel and infrastructure improvements at the Hemingway House and Preserve, which the library oversees. About $2.5 million more is needed, as the library emerges from “the quiet phase” of its capital campaign to the community phase this month.

The Community Library, which receives 125,000 visits a year, is unique in that is receives no tax dollars but instead raises its operating funds through revenue at the Gold Mine Thrift and Consign stores and private donations.

“The library facility is used heavily, day in and day out, all year round,” said Reuben Perin, who chairs the library’s board of trustees. “We want to be good stewards of it and modernize it for the 21st century.”

Greg Carr, a philanthropist involved in restoring Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, and Teresa Heinz and the Heinz Family Foundation provided leadership gifts that helped get the project off the ground.

What used to be the regional history room has been named The Betty Olson Carr Regional History Reading Room in honor of Greg’s mother, who is about to turn 97.

Betty Olson Carr worked at Sun Valley Resort in 1937—just after it opened as America’s first destination ski resort.

“My home economics teacher from Idaho State University got the students jobs at the Challenger Inn,” Betty Carr recalled. “I made beds for the movie stars who came there. I remember the Main Street of Sun Valley was real pretty, and we got to ski on our days off.”

When Betty turned her attention to raising seven children, she read to them each night before they went to bed.

“My mother taught me to love reading and it’s remained a passion of mine throughout my life,” said Greg Carr.

“This renovation is all about the things that magnify the literacy of our community,” added Davidson as she listened in. “We have 42,000 books in our adult collection--80,000 books, if you count the children’s collection and 100,000, if you count the DVDs. We have many times the number of books you would expect in a community of this size--communities twice as big have half the number of books we have.”

In addition to renovating the inside, the library is eyeing ways to create outdoor spaces to take programming outside.

An outdoor plaza will take the place of the small west side parking lot next to the children’s library, which is considered a safety hazard for children as cars pull in and back up. A historic interpretation element will be installed as part of the 4th Street Heritage Corridor.

There will be three big Oakley stones for people to sit on, as well as benches made from redwood planks reclaimed from a water tank that once sat above Sun Valley Resort.

There will be a nook with a fire pit that groups like the library’s guitar circle can sit around and play. And Wi-Fi will be increased so people can sit outside and use their devices.

“We think the outside will be a magnet,” said Davidson. “It’s going to attract people who don’t want to come inside. And it’ll be a place for the community to gather, a place for community conversation. There’ll be places for people to land when they run into a friend.”

The library is expected to be finished in 2019. Here’s a look ahead:

  • The stacks will be reconfigured so that a person walking in the front door will be able to see all the way to the children’s library on the other end. A blue carpet will help with way finding.
  • A modernized circulation desk will be situated on the side of the entrance to allow room for displays featuring new books and artifacts from the regional history department .
  • The space between stacks will be widened to make it easier for people using wheelchairs or crutches to navigate.
  • The Young Adult Room will sport window seats kids can sit in while looking out onto a contemplative garden. A computer lab, media pods and better software will allow teens to edit film and code websites.
  • The Reference Room will become a Learning Commons with digital cloud-based digital resources replacing many of the printed resources, just as written books once replaced papyrus scrolls. There’ll be a bank of public computers and small study rooms with enhanced technology so that users can stream classes from other locations.
  • The Children’s Library will be enhanced with a maker space featuring concrete floors that can be easily cleaned up after messy projects like slime making. A new reading and programs space--The Treehouse--will look out floor-to-ceiling windows towards Baldy. And a whimsical tree will interject atmosphere.
  • There’ll be heated sidewalks. And both the front entrance and the entrance to the children’s library will have overhangs to protect people from rain or snow.

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