Anyone who is old enough to appreciate libraries.  Multiple people in a single household are welcome to sign.  Only the names of Boise citizens will be presented to Boise City Council, but we welcome people outside Boise as well who want to show their support.

On July 11^th we presented this petition to Mayor McLean, City Council Members, and Library Director Jessica Dorr.  The petition has also been shared with the Boise Library Board of Trustees.

I believe that city leadership reacted very positively to this request and understands the gap.  The conversation moved towards how do we get this done, when will the library master plan be complete, what questions will it focus on answering.

Even though the first 835 petition signers were presented on July 11th, I see no reason to close the petition until we have money committed and a place designated.  More signers, more comments, will only help strengthen this initiative.

Boise Dev wrote a nice article covering the meeting last night titled Calls for West Boise library dominate Boise budget public hearing.

Absolutely!  Though you can access the library from your phone (e-books) and information in general (the internet), there are a number of reasons why physical libraries are a huge asset to our community.  Printed books, a wealth of materials besides books, programs, resources for children, technology access, librarians themselves, and a physical space – areas to read and research, meet and study – are all reasons why physical libraries are a benefit to the community.  See Why Libraries Matter to learn more.

It should not require a tax increase.  Boise (that’s you and me, and businesses within the city) continually fund capital improvements through the capital improvements fund.  It’s really a question of prioritization.  This is why we need your support, to make it clear this is something we value.

Yes, this is the closest Boise library in West Boise, but for much of West Boise other libraries are actually closer.  Depending where in West Boise you live, the closest library may be: Eagle, the new Orchard Park Library in Meridian, Garden City, the Meridian Library, or the Meridian Silverstone library.  We’re right in the middle of a library “desert.”  If you compare Boise to other similar sized cities and examine library access, you can see that the hole in West Boise makes Boise an outlier.

Yes, but the population in these areas is much smaller, and the distance is less.  You can see more concrete data at Where is Library Coverage Lacking in Boise?

Yes, the Orchard Park Library just opened by WinCo at Chinden and Linder.  It’s a fantastic library.  Unfortunately, it’s still not walking or biking distance from West Boise.  It’s still the same distance away as 5 existing libraries: 4 to 5 miles, roughly a 15 minute drive, give or take, depending on traffic.  Hearing people talk about the Orchard Park Library is encouraging to me because it helps people remember that libraries are awesome and is an example of what could be part of West Boise too.

We learned that Boise did not want to replace the downtown library, at that time, with a new expensive library.  Personally, I couldn’t understand why we were looking at a new library downtown when parts of the city have poor library access.  I believe at some point a grand library downtown, something to make Boise proud, should be built.  The current library downtown was originally the Salt Lake warehouse, built in the 1940s, which the city purchased in 1973 and remodeled as a library.  But it’s functional and is receiving some renovations this year.

To be determined.  Suggestions include: to build (or use an existing building) within the business park (Boise Research Center) at the SW corner of Cloverdale and Chinden.  Also, there is unused space along Eagle Road in McDevitt Park where a library could be built.  The square mile encompassed by McMillan, Cloverdale, Ustick, and Eagle is the center of the deadzone so ideally a library would be built within or along the border of this square mile.

Use our printable resources to print some business cards or flyers.  Post on social media!

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Is the coverage gap in West Boise something we see if we look at cities with a similar population to Boise?  Each city has a unique history, geography, population spread, and library system, but yes, this coverage gap in West Boise appears to be an anomaly when looking at similar cities.  See How Does Library Coverage Compare in Similar Cities? for more information.