Overview

"You need to use your brain to think of other solutions, use your heart to love libraries, and use your courage to keep them open."- 6 Year old Richard Lowenburg, speaking against closing the Mount Health branch library, Cincinnati Post, August 28.

Although Richard was talking about closing a branch of a library, his words send a message to those of us who struggle to provide quality library service in changing times. We must be creative in finding solutions to our problems. And we must remember the important role we play in our communities and in the hearts of our children.

This handbook is designed to help you through the process of forming a library district. It is divided into several stages with information about each stage and the steps you must take to form a library district. Before we begin talking about what you must accomplish to create a library district, we would like to take a moment to introduce library districts - what they are and why you might want to consider them.

We would like to thank the Idaho State Library for generously sharing their district handbook. Much of this handbook is adapted from the "Idaho Library Districting Handbook: 1999-2000 edition."