Richland County Library Provides Outstanding Service

Some people work hard their entire adult lives to make their community a better place. Sometimes this hard work gets noticed and acknowledged; other times it may not. However, the Richland County library staff and Library Director Renee Goss have done wonders for the community through their efforts at the library and this dedicated service to the residents of Richland County has been noticed and acknowledged by outside sources. Both Goss and the library itself received awards this year during the Montana Library Association’s annual conference, held on April 12. The Richland County Library received the Library of the Year award, and Goss received the Sheila Cates Award for Librarian of the Year.

The Sheila Cates award recognizes distinguished service to the profession, leadership in education and in-service training, leadership in cooperative activities, and outstanding development of library techniques, management, and facilities.

Goss has served Richland County as Library Director for the past twenty-two years. In those two decades she has propelled the library through enormous technological changes and has worked to expand the role of the library within the community. “When I started we had no computers,” Goss recalls. “Now computers are an integral part of the library. We’ve gone from keeping records manually and putting information on microfiche to on-line storage, iPods, and all the latest informational gadgets.”

Goss emphasizes that a library consists of so much more than the printed word. It serves as a center of learning for young and old alike. “Print is here, magazines and books are here,” Goss notes, “but printed material is only touching the surface of what the library does. The library serves as a place to come and reflect, a quiet place to come and read, some people use it as their offices as we have fax machines, copiers, and the Internet.”

She continues, “We help entrepreneurs get their grant papers written, we can order materials from other libraries through the inter-library loan system. We offer downloadable e-books and audio books, we hold computer classes and plan to resume our Tech Tuesday classes in the near future. We provide one-on-one tutoring with computers, and we help people research on the Internet, look for jobs, and build resumes.”

With the oil boom, the Richland County library has experienced a huge increase in patrons. These patrons, from youngsters to octogenarians, use all available services the library has to offer, from reading the printed word to researching information on line. “We average 185 people a day,” Goss comments. “This is nearly double what we had prior to the oil boom. People come to the library for everything. Families take out books to read, people are using the downloadable materials, and the computers are in use all the time.”

She adds, “Our patrons are of all ages. The library offers something no matter the age of the patron. I like the phrase that the library has something for those ‘from twinkle to wrinkle’, as people need to keep their brains active throughout their lives. They need to continue to learn, learning is on-going, and this is the place to do it.”

Goss cares deeply about the library and what it means for a community. She has worked tirelessly on collaborative projects to acquire more and better information and make this information accessible and available for the public. Her collaborative efforts include working with the health department, job services, economic development, community colleges, and day cares, to mention just a few. “We’re a rural community where neighbors help neighbors, and one way to help neighbors is by partnering so we can share resources,” Goss comments. “We are open at different times than job service so we partner with them. We help people look for jobs on line and help them create resumes and we use the job services web site to help us. We’ve teamed up to create a family resource center, and we partner with day care facilities by sending around tubs of books. The Lions and Kiwanis helped with funds for the Birth Through Four program, which is a literacy program to prepare kids for school.”

The library also offers universal classes, free with a library card. Some colleges, including Dawson Community College, will accept credits earned from some of these on-line classes if they meet college standards. “People can take courses for fun or for credit,” Goss remarks.

The Richland County library also has hospice books in its collection, along with material on diabetes, and resource material for providers. This information exists at the library because of partnerships formed with other agencies and organizations. “Other organizations that we partner with don’t have to maintain their own libraries,” Goss points out. “We manage the materials right here.”

Goss believes libraries serve a vital purpose within communities, a purpose that will continue to expand and grow along with technology. “Libraries have never been exclusively about print books,” Goss says. “Libraries are not dinosaurs. Libraries are heavily used, now more than ever across the nation. A lot of this is economics, as people can’t afford to buy books and magazines, so they come to the library to read. Libraries are places for families to go, to read together, or to research on the Internet.”

She continues, “A library is a life-long learning community center. No matter how learning changes, libraries will continue to evolve and change to fill the needs of the community. Libraries fill in the gap between formal and informal learning. People still need help finding information and libraries are the information center to help people search through all the information and find what they need.”

Goss receives enormous satisfaction seeing individuals change and improve themselves thanks to the library. “It is the stories that individuals tell that makes this so worthwhile,” Goss comments. “People come here, learn how to navigate the internet, build resumes, take on-line classes, and improve and change their lives in the process. The library has helped change the community one life at a time. These individuals learn, grow, stay in the community, and benefit all of us in the process.”

She concludes, “There are many stories here of individual successes, people who used the library to grow and improve their lives. The library is truly a vital part of a community’s infrastructure.”

Congratulations to Goss on her dedicated service to the community, and to the library staff as a whole who have made the Richland County library such an outstanding resource for Richland County residents.