Swan Valley information hub celebrates 40 years of service
November 21, 2019
SWAN VALLEY – This November, the Swan Valley Community Library celebrates 40 years of serving the Swan Valley. While the building has been updated and faces have changed, it remains a hub of information and resources while serving as a meeting place for residents and visitors. The community is invited to stop in and celebrate the 40-year milestone with refreshments and door prizes Nov. 20 and 22 during regular hours.
The Swan Valley Chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) presented the dream of a library in the Swan Valley March 1976. They initially proposed moving the Smith Creek School to the Swan Valley Community Hall site. However, after closer inspection, the schoolhouse, built in 1917, was not structurally sound enough to be moved and used as a library.
The AARP chapter, under the leadership of Paul and Pearl Morton, collected more than 200 signatures in support of the library. They began fundraising to build a library raising $3,500 through an Auction and bazaar in September 1977.
While the newly formed Swan Valley Library board engaged the community, the Missoula County Commissioners and the Missoula County Public Library board, the proposed library was not without controversy.
Swan Valley resident Robert Newman and his wife Geta led the branch library opposition. They supported bookmobile service to the Swan Valley instead of building a new library.
Newman was quoted in the Aug. 3, 1978 Missoulian article "Condon Library Begun Despite Controversy," "I think [the library board members] are shooting for too much. If the library falls on its face, there'll be a building there that's an added burden to the community."
Morton and other supports saw no danger of the library failing. They felt this would allow the valley to better access the library services that all property owners had been levied for since 1917. They also felt it would be a more viable option than the bookmobile that required a truck, driver, traveling librarian, books and would only be available during daylight hours limiting access for the "working man and school children."
Director of the Missoula City-County Library William Snyder agreed with Morton telling the Missoulian in the same article that a bookmobile traveling to Condon would cost considerably more than a branch library because the driver would have to stay overnight.
The decision to have a bookmobile versus a branch library appeared on the ballot in the June 6, 1978 primary. The Aug. 3, 1978 Missoulian article reported a vote 67-62 (documented as 64-60 in the City-County Library of Missoula Board June 1978 minutes) in favor of bookmobile service over a branch library. However the Library Board broke ground for the new library building July 17, 1978.
The Newmans told the Missoulian they felt that the democratic process had broken down.
"We called Snyder and told him we wanted a bookmobile. But the other side went ahead with petitions and got permission to build the library. What they were up to was kind of a secret until we got it out into the open," said Newman in the Aug. 3 Missoulian article.
While the City-County Library of Missoula Board of Trustees voted to create a branch library in Condon at their June 1978 meeting contingent on the community providing the building, Snyder expressed budget concerns in the Aug. 3 Missoulian article that if realized would require shorter hours, fewer employees and diminished services in Missoula.
The question of funding did not deter Morton and other supporters. They continued construction of the new library on the county-owned property adjacent to the Swan Valley Community Hall. Newman ironically had deeded the land to Missoula County in 1974.
The Rustics of Lindbergh Lake donated the labor and expertise to build the 26-foot by 32-foot building. The community reimbursed them for the cost of the logs and donated the time, materials and money through various fundraisers from 1978-1980 to furnish the library.
"I wouldn't dare try to guess the value of the donated time and materials. The men worked on the building after they put in a full day at their other jobs...They put the roof on in a snow storm," Pearl Morton was quoted saying in the Aug. 8, 1980 Missoulian article "Work of many hands builds Condon library." Morton continued, "There was no generation gap here. When we worked, we had 78-year-old grandmothers and four-year-old boys."
The library opened September 1979 run solely by volunteers. Susie Cox, a former Las Vegas library worker, was the first librarian. She volunteered for six months after which the Missoula City-County Library came up with enough funds to hire Cox. The Swan Valley Library was the first branch of the Missoula Public Library.
The library included a large reading room, conference room, storage room, carpeted floors, pine shelving and standard library checkout counter. It was connected to the Swan Valley Community Hall to ensure access to restrooms.
Paul Morton served as the first president of the Swan Valley Library Board. The first trustees were Del Pockrus, Barbara Seaman, Loretta Cooper, John Eickman, Dale Jackson and Helen Emerson.
The purpose of the library was to supply the general public, schools and clubs with books, records, films and research materials, as well as current best sellers. When it opened it featured a selection of 3,000 books. They were continually rotated from the Missoula County Library. Programs included films and puppeteers for the grade school. The building was also available for small public meetings.
The library circulated 226 books its first month of operation. By March 1980 circulation nearly doubled with 534 books being checked out. The momentum started to dispel skeptic's prediction two years prior that the library was "very apt to go kaput."
By 1987, the Swan Valley Community Library served 200 people each week. In addition to a summer reading program, weekly story hours throughout the winter and various special programs, the library welcomed local artists to share their work as a way to decorate and offer a public place for display.
After 10 years as the librarian, Cox resigned and moved to Arizona. Fern Kauffman, who started working at the library in 1983, became the Swan Valley branch librarian in May 1989. Claudia Kux, who had been an assistant since 1984, and Ellen Williams worked as library assistants.
Cox was quoted saying that in 10 years, the library had grown and the demand for books increased. However, the budget continued to decline.
Despite county budget cuts, the Swan Valley Library raised support through raffles, bake sales, donations and various fundraising events.
One of the long-standing fundraisers includes the annual used book sale started as part of the Fourth of July celebration in 1988. Part of the intent was to allow people an opportunity to learn more about the library and the services it offers. More than 30 years later, donated books are still collected for the sale and all proceeds support the library.
By 1996, the Seeley Swan Pathfinder reported that the library housed more than 5,000 books serving more than 300 families monthly. They expected to be the first public facility in the Swan Valley to get DSL Internet service in 1997 and introduced "scan checkout" in the winter of 1997.
Kauffman reported that while bestsellers were always a draw, Swan Valley residents also enjoyed various How-To books and others that taught them skills, the reference section, current newspapers and magazines. Local history and reference books, purchased by the library through memorial funds, were also popular.
Kauffman retired in 2016 after more than 30 years serving the community. Swan Valley resident for the past 46 years Colleen Kesterson was hired as the librarian.
While a new porch was built with a handicap accessible entrance and the orange carpet was replaced in 2005, the first major renovations of the building took place during the summer of 2017. The Missoula Public Library funded $100,000 of the $140,000 project with addition support coming from the $30 million dollar library construction bond.
The exterior of the building received a new roof and the logs were sand blasted, stained and caulked. Inside the library the electrical was brought up to code and the light fixtures replaced. A split pump heater and air conditioner were also added. In addition, the interior received new carpet and shorter shelving so the staff can see who is in the building at all times which increases the safety for everyone.
"We were able to provide a better environment for people to meet their information needs," said Honore Bray, Missoula Public Library Director.
"It has an open and friendly look," said Kesterson. "The shorter shelves made the room seem more open and welcoming. New lighting and colorful mobile chairs added to the look."
All of the Swan Valley librarians agree that the library has served as an information source for the valley. Kesterson and Bray agree that the 24-hour Wifi service is a big draw. Residents and visitors alike come in with their laptops as well as sit out in the parking lot or at the picnic table when the library is closed and use the Wifi connection.
Because it is a branch library, patrons can request any book through sharing with partner libraries. The library offers current and relevant books, classics, books on CD and DVDs that are shared with several partner libraries offering a wide variety of material. Patrons also have access to various web-based subscription services including Ancestry and Family History Search.
"Libraries are where access to information is provided to everybody no matter what their economic standards are," said Bray. "It does not just provide a service only to our Missoula County residents, it provides library service to everybody."
The library continues to offer the summer reading program, weekly story time, monthly book chats and hosts special programs. Salmon Prairie students also visit monthly.
"It is a real social hub here," said Kesterson. "I think it covers a lot of bases."
Current library board member and frequent patron Dennis Hawver has only lived in the Swan Valley for a few years. After spending his life traveling all over the world, he said he has never seen or met a community of people as kind, loving and caring as the people in Condon.
"The valley would be much less pleasant and enjoyable without this library," said Hawver. "The community is greatly benefited by having this library and having Colleen run it."
Currently hired part-time, Kesterson is grateful for all the volunteer support that keeps the library going. She also thanks the community for all their support and use.
"We hope that the Swan Library will be there as long as Missoula Public Library exists," said Bray. "It is a great service for the community and basically for anyone that wants information and is traveling through. We are really happy that Colleen has continued with the great service that Fern gave the community for so long and has expanded on services. It's been really fun working in the Swan Valley community."
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