601 Main Street
P.O. Box 219
Clark Fork, Idaho 83811
Hours
10 AM - 6 PM Monday -Thursday
10 AM - 5 PM Friday and Saturday
Closed Sundays and Holidays
Coming soon - Clark Fork 2013 Summer Reading Program Schedule
Library Policies (Checkout information, etc.)
Come in and say hi to Pete, the Clark Fork Library cat!Contact Information
Phone: (208) 266-1321
Fax: (208) 266-1663
Branch Manager
Suzanne Sawyer
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 (no longer in business) out of the Merc 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! We moved into our new building at 601 Main Street in October 1999, and usage continues to increase dramatically. The branch provides public use computers for accessing the Internet, doing word processing or other projects, 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. We offer public meeting rooms for community use.
Recently, the Trustees of the Library District approved a plan to remodel the Clark Fork Library branch. The remodel added approximately 700 square feet of new space and modified existing spaces to improve employee work areas and facilitate the expansion of library collections and services. The Library worked with Architects West, a firm from Couer d’Alene. The community meeting room now has double the capacity of the previous room, and half of the existing garage was converted to public space for the AV collection.There is a new area for Children's Books, added space for laptop computer use, and more room was created for adding new material to the collection. Also, a covered carport was created to help transfer materials in and out of the building without risk of water damage. Come check us out!
