STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Hailey Public Library has received a Community Enhancement Grant from the Idaho State Historical Society.

The library was one of 13 organizations on the receiving end of $25,000 in grants made possible through the support of the Idaho State Legislature. Also receiving a grant was the Sawtooth Interpretive and Historical Association in Stanley.

Others receiving grants included the Historic Wallace Chamber of Commerce, Basque Museum & Cultural Center in Boise and the Museum of Idaho in Idaho Falls.

The Community Enhancement Grant program began in 2008 and has awarded more than $415,000 in the years since in an effort to make history essential and accessible. Want to know more? Visit www.history.idaho.gov

WHAT’S MORE….

The Hailey Public Library also has received a $16,600 in funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The funds were granted through the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Idaho Commission for Libraries.

The funds will be used to purchase audiovisual equipment to livestream children’s and adult programs, enhance outdoor programming and fine tune video editing. Funds will also be invested in website design and functionality.

“We are so grateful to receive this funding which will help the library build on needs identified during the pandemic,” said Library Director Lyn Drewien. “We learned how valuable virtual programming is to our community and how live streaming supports that.

“Outdoor programming expands our footprint, essentially creating a new ‘room’ for us.  We also learned that while our website is workable, its overall design hinders our ability to communicate effectively with our community and, thus, it needs to be revamped and updated.”

Forty-eight Idaho libraries--public, school, academic, special, and tribal--received ARPA funding through a competitive grant process.