Residents Check Out Library District Group Hopes Bookworms Outnumber Tax Haters

Proponents of a library district for Stevens County hope to find out Monday whether there are more book lovers than tax haters in the county.

Anyone who is interested in a library district is asked to meet at 7 p.m. at the Library of the Lakes, in the old Loon Lake School building.

“The meeting will determine the level of interest and where we proceed from there,” said Lorinda Travis, president of the Library of the Lakes Association. “I’m hoping to get volunteers from the entire county but, if not, at least from the southern part of the county.”

Travis said library fans in the Loon Lake area were frustrated in 1991 by a state law that required library districts to encompass an entire county. She said residents of the northern part of the county didn’t want a district because it was easier for them to get service at Colville, Kettle Falls or Chewelah, which have the only public libraries in the county.

“It’s difficult for our students to have resource materials for their schoolwork,” Travis said.

The Library of the Lakes, established in 1991, operates as a club. Family dues of $20 a year barely cover the rent, and reference materials are limited, Travis said.

Resources are even more limited in Hunters, where schoolteacher Barbara Wass and a few helpers operate a library in the local Grange hall. The library is open only from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and when the Grange meets.

State law now allows formation of a library district in just part of a county. If approved by a simple majority, a proposed district could collect a property tax levy of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

The process will be explained Monday by Jodi Reng, director of the Pend Oreille County Library District, and two representatives of the Washington State Library.

, DataTimes