Introduction

Over spring break, I visited the Coeur D’Alene area of Idaho to spend time with some close friends that live there. It was important to me to explore an academic library in this area, as CDA (Coeur D’Alene) is demographically and politically very dissimilar from both Portland, Oregon, and Norfolk, Virginia, the two cities that I have resided in exclusively over the course of my life. I was curious to see how an academic library that is also unaffiliated with a religious group showed up in this community. The Molstead Library at North Idaho College is a community college library in the center of CDA that is open to the public for visits. 

I do want to give my teammates a content warning before moving forward in reading about this library. The CDA area has a long history of human rights issues involving the Aryan Nations and other white supremacist groups. This makes up portions of the collection that I will talk about in this blog. 

Digital Access

Access to the North Idaho College Molstead Library website is not totally obvious from the main page of the college website. However, once I reached the library page, I was delighted to find a plethora of resources! 

The library website is very easy to navigate, and includes online access to several special collections that all fall under The Walden History Project. One thing I noted about the landing page for the special collections is the Statement About Offensive Materials, which I thought was important for the website to highlight before a patron encountered something that could potentially be harmful to community members and viewers of the site.

The first collection that is digitally accessible is the Human Rights Collection, which was gifted to NIC by the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Rights (NIC, 2022). The collection includes digital archives of newspapers, photos, and videos that highlight how the KCTFHR “grew into an effective civil rights/human rights force not only in the region, but nationally as well” (NIC, 2022). Included in this collection is heavy documentation of the legal fight against and subsequent demolition of the Aryan Nations compound in Hayden, Idaho. As I viewed some of this collection, I was struck by this example of a community not turning away from their problematic history. To be quite honest, based on my interactions with community members in the past, I was pleasantly surprised at how the college approached these issues.

All of the staff are listed on the website, with contact information included with phone numbers, email addresses, and job titles. There are three librarians on the staff, nine technicians and assistants, and one library director.

One other thing I noted about the website is an extensive list of LibGuides that range in subject matter and skill focus. It appears that the Reference & Instruction, Public Services/Collection Development Librarians and the Library Director are primarily responsible for creating these guides. According to Rubin & Rubin (2020), 

Community colleges devote almost all their energies to teaching and continuing education, and their collections and services reflect this emphasis. Insofar as a community college expects research and publication from its faculty, the library provides access to appropriate research resources, but the bulk of the funding supports teaching. (p. 170)

It’s clear in reviewing the topics of these guides, which range from courses in the World Religions and Sociology departments to full programs such as Nursing and Dental Hygiene to skills like research and using digital collections, that library staff have worked extensively with the college faculty to support what is happening in the classroom. 

There are a variety of events and programming that are offered digitally ranging from book groups, APA style tutorials, software tutorials, and community events. It appears that the library catalog is available via public access, and the library does support a community user policy as well. 

The Space & Physical Access

The space of the main library is well organized, using furniture to create separation between the various areas of use and study. The library sits toward the front of the North Idaho College campus. Although some of the furniture is dated, the space is incredibly warm and inviting. It’s clear that the staff have taken great care to reflect the personality of the college through the displays, art, and organization.

When you enter the library, the circulation desk is to the left, and a large sitting area with plush couches is to the right. Moving toward the center of the library is the reference desk, which was occupied by a student worker. Something that struck me about the organization of the space is that while there were several clear computer areas and several clear study areas, some randomly placed computers and study carrels were placed in “nooks” around the library. I thought this was a clever way to create a little bit more privacy for a student who wanted to focus.

There are group study rooms available for reservation downstairs in the main library. Each area of the library is labeled with a noise level zone color, the outer sides of the library being where most quiet study happens. 

There are several areas upstairs that have limited access that require staff assistance, such as the testing center and the library administration offices. Additionally, the department of instruction and curriculum is housed upstairs in the library, and it was closed off to public access. This is the first time that I have seen this particular department housed in a library in a college before, which I felt like spoke to the values that the college held about the library; library resources and access are central to instruction and curriculum design.

Services & Intellectual Access

General services such as computers, conference room reservations, research services, community borrower cards, and print/copy services are available for all staff and students. Some special services and programs that are available include board game, DVD, device charger, laptop, and calculator checkout. Additionally, the library makes headphones available for free for all patrons, and are theirs to keep once borrowed. Only one headphones set is allotted per semester. 

There is also a special reservation system for the college’s Speech Lab class that is available for students to reserve in order to make high quality recordings of their speeches. The instructional video on the website even reminds students of the parameters of the assignments required for each of the speech classes, which showed clear collaboration between the instructional department and the library!

The catalog was pulled up at several search stations throughout the main floor, making it clearly accessible for patron use.  The collection is organized by Library of Congress call numbers.

The library space as a whole was very welcoming, with universal design in mind with the universal workstations that are available.  I will speak more to these in the Collections section.

People – Patrons & Staff

This library serves the students of North Idaho College, as is given by the nature of collegiate level materials and the copious amounts of study space available. 

The student worker who was stationed at the circulation desk was reading on their kindle for the majority of my visit; this was the only staff member I saw on the floor. There was one librarian in their office at the back of the library with their door closed. While I visited this library, I did not see any other patrons enter during my visit. There were a small handful of students who were using computers to write essays, one student who was watching a movie, and several students scattered throughout the study carrels along the windows studying. In general, students were using this space to study or decompress.

While visiting this library, I noticed that all of the staff members and patrons were white. My previous visits to Coeur D’Alene have shown me how racially homogenous this area is. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.) 2021 data, over 90% of Coeur D’Alene’s population identifies as white. I thought about this considerably given the dedicated space that the library has given to honor the local Coeur D’Alene American Indian tribe, and I wondered how comfortable tribe members would feel in this space if and when they visit.  

Collections

(Ackerman, 2022)

One area in particular that struck me was a separate reading area that featured a collection of materials from the Coeur D’Alene American Indian tribe. This is by far the most comfortable area in the library. This space was created to display historical artifacts and increase awareness of the tribe to the public. 

(Ackerman, 2022)

Another very cool feature of this library was the Universal Workstations that were set up at two of the computer stations. Each of these workstations included a variety of digital and physical tools to accommodate users with special needs or differences.  This included a specialized chair that could be adjusted, an adjustable desk, keyboards with a variety of print sizes, a variety of mice to use, headphones, eye trackers, and a screen reader program. I was very inspired by this, and now understand what this could look like for other libraries that I access in the future.

One of the libguides has compiled the list of board games available for checkout, with player amounts, age range, playing time, and a description. There are currently 22 games listed in the collection.

Additionally, the NIC library has a subscription to Flipster, which is a digital magazine service. There are 76 titles available to NIC students for browsing. 

Other

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the warmth and creativity I found in NIC’s library. I was not expecting to see such a broad range of services and book titles displayed as I did. 

Something that I did notice on the library website was a page dedicated to Challenged Materials and Censorship. There is a lengthy Requests for Reconsideration of Materials’ form that a patron must complete in order for a challenge to be considered (NIC, 2022). Given the recent legislation (H.B. 666) recently passed in Idaho which removes exemption for public and school libraries, universities, and museums from being prosecuted for disseminating “harmful” materials to minors, I have been thinking about librarians in this state quite a bit (Holmes, 2022). I would be curious to know how frequently students versus community members submit challenges for materials in the collection.

One final thing that I was curious about were these strange styrofoam gargoyle looking creatures displayed on the tops of the stacks. There were so many of them! I assumed they were a part of some type of art installation, but I could not tell if they were meant to be whimsical or menacing. The next time I visit NIC in CDA, I will inquire with a staff member about these creatures!

References:

Holmes, B. (2022, March 8). Idaho bill would allow libraries, museums to be prosecuted for disseminating harmful material to minors. KTVB7. https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/208/idaho-house-bill-666-library-museum-harmful-material/277-0dff11ec-0478-494e-a0ff-14a5156cee95

North Idaho College. (2022, January 13). Human rights collection. Molstead Library Research Guides. https://nic.libguides.com/c.php?g=892752&p=6419597

Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science. American Library Association.U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) Quick facts: Coeur d’Alene city, Idaho. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/coeurdalenecityidaho.

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) Quick facts: Coeur d’Alene city, Idaho. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/coeurdalenecityidaho.