Our family loves our local library. We have only been to ImagineIF in Kalispell, but we have always been a library-going family … in all of our communities. ImagineIF is different, though. It is by far the warmest, most accessible, enjoyable, best stocked library we have every used. The librarians are friendly, patient, helpful and enthusiastic. Our kids have been able to take a full basket of books out of there every other week for years and have never been disappointed. Talking to librarians has been an important experience for them as they work to gain real people skills – not using a device but talking to a human to find the books they want and being treated like what they are interested in matters.
The folks I’ve worked with at the library have also been engaged and invested in the larger community. When I was working with the Free the Seeds group, Megan and Deidre were an important part of getting the library involved and using it as a way to reach more folks in our area. It worked.
It would be a shame, worse than a shame, to lose these people – and the quality of our library – because of pay cuts or undervaluing their education and experience. I really hope the Library Board and other “powers that be” decide to provide a living and competitive wage for these folks. Their morale and quality of life matters as much as everyone else who is getting paid more and more in this employees’ job market. Finding (and keeping) folks who care and are invested and engaged is not easy to do, and they deserve to be paid for what they bring to the table.
Tawnya Rourke Kelly
Kalispell