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Bozeman Library wins deserved recognition

By Chronicle Editor

One would almost have to live in a cave not to know that the Bozeman Public Library is an exceptional component of this community.


 Now the library has garnered some deserved national recognition for its accomplishments in the form of a $10,000 National Award for Library Service from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services - one of only three awarded nationwide.

Our library is far more than a repository of books. It sponsors or co-sponsors events of all varieties that are free and open to the public. It conducts classes on computer and Internet use. Programs for kids and families abound that are there for the taking.

And its strengths are not wasted on the community. Bozeman and Gallatin County outpace other major Montana communities in per-capita library use. The library loaned out nearly a half million books and other materials last year alone.

But library personnel and advocates aren't nearly satisfied with that. A $14 million campaign is under way to build a new and much larger library at the old Milwaukee Road depot site on East Main Street. And the community has wholeheartedly bought into the plan, passing a $4 million bond issue by a 2-to-1 margin last year to get things rolling.

The Chronicle has pledged $100,000 toward the new library campaign in the interest of promoting our own medium - the printed word.

A public library is the intellectual heart of a community. The vitality of our library and the level to which the public patronizes it speaks highly of the literary sophistication of our area's population.

Bozeman is widely noted for its quality-of-life attributes: ski hills, trout rivers and wide-open spaces. But the library and its many and varied resources rank right up there with those natural amenities as another potent drawing card to immigrants and visitors.

Congratulations to the library and its staff for winning this very prestigious award. And congratulations to the city of Bozeman for the kind of library patronage that supports such an exceptional institution.

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