STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Patrons of the Bellevue Public Library plan to stage a sit-in—make that a read-in—from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 14.

They hope to send a message to city alder members that the library is too valuable to dismantle as the alderman walk into Monday’s city council meeting.

Some city council members have proposed cutting the 2024 library budget and using the money for infrastructure needs and law enforcement.

“Our budget would probably fill half a pothole,” said library director Kristin Marlar, noting that the library currently receives $79,000—about 3 percent of Bellevue’s budget.

The library was founded in the 1950s in the basement of a tavern that sat across the street from its current location at 117 E. Pine St.

It now receives about 3,000 visits a year—not just from Bellevue patrons but also from users in the county, Magic Reservoir, Camas County and Carey, whose own library has restrictive hours three days a week.

“We have no gym, no community center, no skatepark, no YMCA, no public pool for the kids here,” said Marlar. “Where else are they going to go that they can stay out of trouble?”

The library hosts the tree lighting each year, Halloween activities for more than 300 children and a six-week summer reading program for 45 to 65 children so they don’t lose reading skills over the summer. This summer five nonprofits have provided science experiments and other activities for children.

The library also hosts a Dungeons and Dragons club and is preparing to host a series of “Let’s Talk About It” discussions for adults revolving around such books as “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “Walden,” “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” “Catcher in the Rye” and “Little Women.” The discussions are led by professors from Idaho State University, College of Southern Idaho and elsewhere and funded by a grant from the Idaho Commission for Libraries with support from the Idaho Humanities Council and others.

Other organizations that have helped provided funds to the library include the Wood River Women’s Foundation.

The Bellevue city council will be considering its next fiscal year budget at Monday’s meeting. Public comments and feedback will be allowed before the meeting.

Bellevue resident Florence Blanchard said she was shocked to hear that some members of the Bellevue City Council would consider closing or cutting funds to the library which, she added, is already underfunded.

“Are we a community or just a support system for cars? Does it have to be people versus potholes?” she asked. “Libraries, which house centuries of learning, information, history and truth, are important defenders in the fight against misinformation. By providing free access to educational, news and historical resources they help keep the public informed. And, as most public libraries do, the Bellevue Library helps senior citizens learn how to access the internet, provides on-line English language classes and helps with on-line employment applications for both English and non-English speaking residents.”

Blanchard noted that Benjamin Franklin founded the first library in Philadelphia in 1731 and, by the late 1800s, the free public lending library was considered an essential community institution.

“The library serves many families in need,” said Marlar, “Including a warm place for latchkey kids to come in the winter. Filling potholes is not helping the children of our community.”