Arrowhead Library System and Itasca County

Weeks after the turnout in support of the Grand Rapids Area Library, with over 300 people showing up to the Itasca County Commissioners board meeting, Mollie Stanford of the Arrowhead Library System presented the board an overview of the program and what it does for all the libraries and residents of Itasca County at this week’s commissioners board meeting.  All libraries in the Arrowhead System contribute to resource sharing to ensure that even the most rural residents have access.  The executive director pointed out Keewatin and Marble public libraries as being major participants in this program, sharing significant chunks of their inventory with other libraries.  She spoke to the excellent relationship Coleraine Public Library has with Greenway Schools and the benefits that extend to their students.  Looking at the Itasca County library visits at all six libraries in the county per capita, in her own words Calumet Public Library comes out on top.

Arrowhead Library System is the largest regional library program in the state, covering more than 17,000 square miles across seven counties.  They have 16 bookmobile stops in Itasca County alone to help ensure coverage for all residents and she highlighted a new bookmobile stop this year in Deer River and that they are looking to expand to a new location in Taconite.

Itasca County is a member of the Arrowhead Library System through a joint powers agreement, which extends to all residents of Itasca County.  The Itasca County state mandated minimum level of support for library services is just over $340,000, and Itasca County currently provides approximately $50,000 over that minimum level.  All of that money is used for library services for everyone in the county.  Stanford pointed out that the money Grand Rapids Area Library receives does not come directly from the county, instead it is funneled through the Arrowhead Library System, which is common practice across the region.

As part of a 1987 agreement between Grand Rapids Area Library and the Arrowhead Library System, Arrowhead must send the tax levies from the cities of Grand Rapids, La Prairie, Warba, and nine surrounding townships to the Grand Rapids Area Library, which is the only library in all of the Arrowhead Library System to received funding in that manner.  

At the next governing board meeting for the Arrowhead Library System, they will be reviewing the membership agreement with the Grand Rapids Area Library.  Executive Director Stanford pointed out how there are set hours that the Grand Rapids Area Library is to be open to the public, which is to be 49.5 hours a week in the winter months, and down to 40.5 hours during the summer months.  In plain and clear language, she stated that the Grand Rapids Area Library was out of compliance when it came to operating hours.

From a Facebook posting that went viral in our small neck of the woods, to the packed house of support for the Grand Rapids Area Library at the May 27th commissioners meeting, stay tuned for more updates on funding for the Grand Rapids Area Library.