History
The Clark Fork branch of the East
Bonner County Free Library District opened its doors in January
1985. It has been a community project, conceived by a group
who wanted to move the private library started by Emma Rathbun,
owner of the Clark Fork Mercantile (sadly no longer in business)
out of the Mercantile basement and into a facility where it would
be more accessible. After meetings with the library Board,
who gave the go-ahead for a branch library, the group arranged for
the vocational carpentry class to build a library on property
provided by the City of Clark Fork. Fundraisers of all kinds
were planned, materials were donated or made available at cost, the
land was prepared, and construction started in October
1984.
Upon completion of the construction, the building was deeded to
the City of Clark Fork. In January 1985, the doors were
opened with a grand celebration featuring Paul Croy and Pat
McManus. The collection that was on the shelves included some
of the books from the "on-your-honor" library that operated out of
the basement of the old Mercantile as well as many more items that
were moved to the new library branch from the main library in
Sandpoint.
In the ensuing years, the branch has grown by leaps and
bounds. It has become computerized, and in 1995 the length of
the building was increased by eight feet. When the expanded
building was reopened, usage quadrupled! They moved into the
new building at 601 Main Street in October 1999, and usage
continues to increase dramatically.
The branch provides 8 public use computers for accessing the
Internet, doing word processing or other projects using Microsoft
Office, color and black-and-white printing, and more, with one
computer dedicated to use by children. Services include children's
Story-time (during the school year), Youth Summer Reading, help
getting acquainted with computers, and limited Outreach
services. They also offer public meeting rooms for community
use. The new facility allowed room for an expanded collection
of all types, from books to periodicals to audio-visual
materials.
NOTE: For those who've wondered what became of the former branch
library building once the new building was occupied, the existing
building has reverted to the City's ownership.
http://www.ebcl.lib.id.us/ebcl/
Library
staff knows about the cache but the muggle patrons do not, so be
wary of watchful eyes!!
You might want to be real quick to snag and sign the log only
cache.
OH and please place it back so as to not be
obvious.