Hi-Line Living - Library thrives with support

The Havre-Hill County Library has been a place for people to enjoy community, books and family-friendly events for the past 33 years.

"I love libraries," Friends of the Library first-year President Denise Haugen said. "I have always loved libraries. I think books should be accessible to everyone no matter how much money they make."

Former librarian and chair of the library foundation Bonnie Williamson said that she was originally hired in 1982 as the library director for the former Hill County Library originally located in the Hill County Courthouse, she said.

Williamson oversaw the consolidation of the Havre City Library, originally located in the Old Library Gallery building, and the Hill County Library. Williamson said that after remodeling, the consolidated library opened in its present location as the Havre-Hill County Library in 1986.

Williamson served 30 years as director of the library, retiring in 2012. Since then, she said, she has been involved with the library foundation.

Library Director Rachel Rawn, who took the librarian position after Williamson, said both the foundation and the Friends of the Library play a big role in the library being what it is today. The difference between Friends of the Library and the foundation is that the foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a board of trustees and accepts donations, she said. The foundation handles all the donations, such as memorial money or personal donations, and is able to give people receipts for donations.

"They pay for bigger stuff," she said.

She added that the foundation last year helped to pay for the installation of the new carpet  as well as helping pay for the doors of the building to be redone. The foundation does mostly building projects, she said. The foundation also paid for the robotics used for the Lego Time event the library holds every Thursday from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

The foundation will be holding its annual meeting in April, she said, where they will unveil a keyboard the foundation purchased for the library. The keyboard can be used by people to practice playing the piano, she said.

The Friends on the Library have a smaller budget to work with, she said. The Friends of the Library is an organization that doesn't need a board of trustees, Rawn said. The Friends are able to raise money to help pay for a variety of events at the library, such as reading programs, book signings and concerts.

Haugen said she has been a member of the Friends of the Library for three years, adding that it was the first organization in town she wanted to join after moving back to Havre.

All the money that the organization raises, she said, goes directly back to the library, with a large portion of it being used for the summer reading program and winter reading series.

Friends of the Library member and former president Jean Scofield said she joined the organization in 2002 and the Friends of the Library was already in existence for a long time before that.

She said the organization was created to pay for things at the library that are not included on the budget, such as reading programs and purchasing licenses to pay movies for movie nights. She added that if it is needed, the Friends will also pay for items like cleaning at the library or purchasing new books and microphones.

The Friends of the Library has two fundraisers every year, the Valentine's Day Pie Social and the used book sale during Festival Days, she said. For the book sale, people come by all year round, dropping off books that they no longer want or books from an estate, she said, adding that these are the books that are being sold.

"It has always been $1 for a bag of books," she said.

It also costs only $1 to become a member in the organization, she said.

"We are an easy club, I think," Scofield said.

She added that they meet September through November and January through May at noon on the third Thursday of those months. If they don't have something special thing to discuss, Scofield said, they will talk about books or have a guest speaker at the meeting.

"We need new members," she added.

Haugen said they have 30 total members, with 18 to 20 usually appearing for each meeting.

"We've been lucky - the community so far, really do support us," she said.

She added that she sees the same people come back every year for the organization's fundraisers.

"And not just Havre people, they come from all over," she said.

Haugen said the summer reading program is a big portion of where the money goes. Friends pays for the prizes and activities. She said children and adults can do the reading program and earn things.

Her grandson did it one year, she said, and he got a nice book at the end and enjoyed the drawings for the raffle. Craft activities are usually held with the event, she said.

The program begins in June, Scofield said, and has activities planned until the end of the summer. Each year, she added, they also have a theme.

Rawn said the library is also current with the times, with people being able to borrow books online. This is a statewide consortium, she said, and is something that is included into the budget, so other libraries that want to have their books listed electronically can do so.

Both the Friends of the Library and the foundation are important to the library, she said, although most of the money that is used at the library comes from taxpayers.

She added that a mill levy recently was passed by public voting, and the library was able to increase its mills from 3 to 5.

"We are very grateful to the community," she said.

The activities at the library are continuing through this winter, including an author event March 7 with Jim Robbins, author of "The Wonder of Birds," which won last year's Montana Book Award.