BOISE, ID – In some of Idaho’s more rural communities, a public library can be the only source of reliable internet, a free meeting or study place, or the only place to get a book without having to order online.

But to build or renovate a new library can be a herculean task when relying on a limited pool of funding from the small population. A few Gem State towns are celebrating, or getting ready to soon celebrate, the accomplishment of this task thanks to the support from their communities and library grant funding.

Kendrick, Inkom and Fernwood are a few recent examples of small communities that got a new public library.

Kendrick’s new library to serve Juliaetta too amid closure of old building

The north central Idaho community of Juliaetta had hosted and strongly supported a public library for years, but the more than 100-year old building was small and inaccessible to many people, according to Latah County Library District Director April Hernandez.

“It’s been an issue for a long time,” Hernandez said. “We had a lot of patrons who couldn’t access the building.”

Talks began to find a new site or building more than 20 years ago, she said.

“The library board, especially at that time, felt that Juliaetta had supported the library so well, they didn’t want to move it out of town, and so they spent 20 years looking for an alternative in Juliaetta to use,” she said.

About three miles away, in Kendrick, an old bank building came on the market. The district bought it in November 2024.

The city of Juliaetta had sold a park and raised donations for a new library amid the start of the search for a new building 20 years ago, Hernandez said. The district received $22,000 from that account and about $10,000 in a grant from the Latah County Library Foundation. In total, the district garnered almost $43,000 in grants and donations.

The new library, located at 501 Main St., opened earlier this month.

The single-floor building doesn’t require a ramp and is much more accessible, Hernandez said. It also has a meeting space with a kitchenette. The library district is in the process of widening the building’s Wi-Fi so it’s usable in the adjacent park.

“I think that’s one of the big things for those areas, is connectivity, because cell service isn’t always real great down in the valley … and then Wi-Fi is expensive and hard to get in some locations,” Hernandez said. “So having that available in a wide array around the library, I think it’s important for a lot of people to be able to have any access to Wi-Fi at all.”

Inkom library branch opens in response to population growth in area

Inkom, located just southeast of Pocatello, has been experiencing a lot of growth in recent years, but well before that, former South Bannock Library District Director Marcy Price had been working to open a branch in the area, according to the library district’s current director Megan Short.

The town had only been served by a bookmobile previously, according to a past commentary piece in the Idaho Capital Sun by Michael Strickland.

Multiple deals fell through, but a land swap with the Marsh Valley Joint School District finally provided an opportunity for Inkom to get its own library, Short said.

In 2023, the library district received a $500,000 grant from the Idaho Commission for Libraries, through a federally funded grant program. In 2024, the community voted in favor of a special plant facilities reserve fund levy with just over 60% of the vote, East Idaho News reported.

The levy is expected to generate just over $1 million over 10 years to finance the rest of the construction project.

The district also used unexpended savings to cover costs and received some donations. The library itself is filled with many book donations, Short said.

“The community support has been overwhelming,” she said. “So many questions everyday about when we’re opening, what’s going on, and what we’re going to have here.”

The library, located at 321 Holstein St., is expected to have a limited opening in early January, with a grand opening in the spring.

The new building will have printing services, 24-hour access to Wi-Fi in and just outside the building, a private telehealth or study room, a meeting room, and computers with accessible keyboards and a large screen, Short said.

The printer and internet access seem to be particularly valuable to rural patrons, Short said.

Community around Fernwood rallied in support of construction of new library

The Fernwood Library of the Tri-Community Library also serves Santa and Emida, but librarians say they’ve had patrons travel from 40 miles away to visit, State Librarian Stephanie Bailey-White said at an August Idaho Commission for Libraries meeting.

The library had been located in a building built in 1905. Like the Juliaetta library, it had small rooms and was inaccessible to many patrons.

Many of the residents of the northern Idaho communities are at least 20 miles from medical services, so the Benewah County Free Library District wanted to prioritize a place for telehealth visits in a new location, Bailey-White said.

A library team was formed to start fundraising, and they garnered about $50,000 and around $240,000 worth of local in-kind contributions.

“They had tremendous community support,” Bailey-White said.

In 2023, the state library commission awarded the district $500,000 for the new Fernwood branch. Ground broke in 2024 on the new building and the exterior was completed in June.

The new library, located on Isaacson Street across the highway from the Fernwood Merc., was planned to open in the fall.

The library director for the district could not be reached for comment.

Latah and South Bannock libraries say they’ve largely evaded challenges under Idaho’s ‘library’ law

Libraries had been the center of hot debate in the Idaho Legislature between 2022 and 2024, culminating in the passage of House Bill 710 in 2024.

Idaho Legislature passes bill requiring Idaho libraries move ‘harmful materials’

The law allows children or their parents to file lawsuits against public or school libraries if they obtain materials deemed harmful to minors due to the presence of “sexual conduct.”

Short and Hernandez said their districts had received no formal complaints since the law went into effect.

Hernandez says sometimes people don’t like what they see on the shelves, but that these complaints are also usually met with explanations about why the materials are important to others in the community.

The district’s policy includes a requirement that the patron read the entirety of the material they plan to complain about.

“People don’t like some of this stuff, but there’s still people in their communities that relate to these diverse materials,” Hernandez said.

Short also said she’s gotten complaints, but no formal requests to move books. When questions have been raised about materials in the library, they usually are resolved with a discussion, she said.

“Fortunately, my whole district has been very supported by our community,” Short said.

One conversation centered on the classic Mark Twain novel Huckleberry Finn and its inclusion of the n-word. She explained to the concerned patron the book’s importance in America’s literary history, and that the discomfort the reader felt was part of the point.

“She understood why we had that book in our collection,” Short said, “and kind of became an advocate for the library after that.”

Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.