Garrison Library Hopes to Overcome Recent Woes

GARRISON - In 2009, the Garrison Public Library librarian died.

In 2010, the new librarian was charged with taking most of the operating funds.

In 2011, a wind storm blew the roof off.

"Is our library worth it?" wondered board members, including 10-year member Christy Leckband.

"Yes," she answers. "It's my personal mission. Our kids need a library."

The problem? A $100,000 insurance settlement for the old building won't cover the cost of a new one. About $100,000 more is needed. And, in a town the size of Garrison, about 400 people, there's not a lot of extra money floating around.

So, for the third time in three years, the library board has regrouped. And this time members hope an all-out effort of applying for grants, soliciting donations from former residents and holding fundraisers (soup suppers and flea markets) can help build a new library, one that would not only house the library, but also be a meeting place for the town council and a community building.

"We can see all of these uses for the building besides just a library," says Betty Hendryx, a board member and librarian from 1992 to 2008.

From the beginning, the library has been well accepted, Betty says. It was started by the Garrison Study Club at Mercantile Exchange, the town's general store, then moved to the elementary school in 1975. It moved again in 1981 to the old bank after the State Bank of Vinton opened a new branch office.

Upon Betty's retirement (she joined the board,) Vicki Stone was hired. Everyone liked Vicki. But, on Nov. 15, 2009, on a shopping trip to Waterloo, she became ill. She died that day in the hospital.

After interviews, the board hired Mary Sheeley. Everyone liked Mary. But. on Dec. 13, 2010, she was arrested and accused of forging checks to withdraw more than $4,000 of the library's funds, leaving only about $50 behind.

Board member Mary Kearns decided to take the job. Everybody likes Mary. But, on July 11, 2011, winds gusting more than 100 mph tore the second floor off the century-old building. Most of the contents were saved, but a new home was needed.

As you'd expect in a small town, people stepped forward to help, among them Christy's husband, Mark, the pastor of St. Mark's Lutheran Church. He offered a storage room in the church with an outside door.

So, for now, even though materials (including historical photos and cemetery records) are stored in a variety of places, the Garrison library is open from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, just as kids arrive home from school in Vinton and Shellsburg. It has a couple shelves of books, a couple shelves of movies, four computers and a governing board with dreams of a better future.

"We'd like to put it where the Old Creamery was," Christy says. "We could have a walkout basement to the nature trail. It's across from the Post Office. It would be the first thing you'd see when you came into town."

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