Library board contemplating big changes
|
|
April 3, 2013 |
 |
|
Jim Marx and
Sandy Ashworth accepting a national
library honor from First Lady Laura Bush
in 2002. |
From a fledgling service in 1913 that saw
volunteers pushing wheelbarrows loaded with
books to a modern facility housing over 35,000
books, a computer center, audio, video and more,
the Boundary County Library has enjoyed a long
history of growth, but perhaps nothing as
impressive as what might lie just ahead.
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. |
|
Questions or comments about this
letter?
Click here to e-mail! |
|
|
|
|
