Dear Editor:
I wanted to add some information regarding the “New Library Coming to Denio” from the April 22nd article in the Humboldt Sun.
The current actual library space is 282 square feet. The library is located in the Denio Community Hall and uses their space for daily and long term storage. Book and video carts as well as outreach materials are stored in the hall while the library is open. When the library is closed three carts, numerous boxes and outreach materials stored in crates on a hand truck fill the library space. If there is an event happening at the same time as the library is open there is no daily storage available.
Some of the funds for the library expansion are also coming from the sale of property that was donated to the Denio Library. Earl Dunsmore, a long-time resident of Denio, willed his five acres which included a home, shop, storage bays, landscaped yard and agricultural area. The Jackson Mountain Homemakers just raised $1,405.00 at their recent Basque Dinner for the Denio Library. The Friends of the Denio Library will run the concessions at this year’s Denio Barbecue arena events as a fundraiser for the expansion. Other fundraisers are planned as well. Denio and the surrounding areas (which we consider a 50 mile radius) are asking for a new library in Denio. We are not expecting a new library from Humboldt County without coming to the table with contributions of our own.
Our community may be small but they deserve a library where more than three people can be comfortably in the building at the same time. The children need the room to browse and not have to wait outside or in the hall when they are done checking out because there is not enough room in the library.
Now is the time for a Denio Library Expansion. We have the willed property monies, we have an interested party willing to sell us land near the Denio Community Hall which is in the center of town and across the street from the school (the perfect location). A Denio Library expansion has been discussed and researched for about ten years. Previously no property was available to purchase, location was a problem even with the willed property. A recent survey of Denio and surrounding areas support a new library and the need for “more room/space”. Positive changes are in the air at the Humboldt County Libraries, let’s make the Denio Library expansion one of them.
Sincerely,
Sherry Ranf
Denio Librarian
