Ground broken on new library for Inkom community
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INKOM — Work will soon begin on a new library for a community that has gone without.
The South Bannock Library District held a groundbreaking on Thursday for a future library in Inkom, located at of Holstein Street and Old Highway 30 in the corner of the Inkom Elementary School playground. The library will be visible to anyone exiting Interstate 15, entering the city.
“This is a significant milestone in our community’s journey towards fostering knowledge and a love for reading,” said Director Megan Short in her address to the gathered crowd.
Shortly after, Short stood with the library board and made the first shovel scoops where the library will stand.
Short said that she’s received a lot of positive comments and heard excitement from people in the community. Currently, the closest library to Inkom residents is over 10 miles away in McCammon. The next closest library is the Marshall Public Library in Pocatello, over 12 miles away.
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Short said this library will be the culmination of years of work. She doesn’t know exactly how long the district has been trying to give Inkom a library, but she knows that it’s something that her predecessor was also working on.
“This is everything we’ve been working for for a long time. We’ve gotten over a lot of obstacles to get where we are,” Short said.
One of the greatest obstacles was finding a location where the library could be built. To achieve this, the library district made a land swap with the Marsh Valley School District.
Mayor Max Shaffer, told EastIdahoNews.com about his excitement for the new library, happy that the library is going to be built where it is.
“It’s going to be such a good addition for our children,” Shaffer said. “the kids can go from here on the sidewalk through town and get to where they need to go and it’ll be such a beautiful addition to this piece of ground here on the corner.”
Short said that the library will also serve a a center for the community.
“I just want it to be that community hub that people can go to and meet other people and get resources that they need to live their lives,” Short said.
The Inkom library will have a meeting room where events can be held, printers and fax machines, computers and more. The section that Short is most excited for will be a private study room, where patrons can take video calls or find a quiet place to study.
Short expects work to begin on the library in around 1 to 2 weeks, and anticipates that it will be completed sometime in the fall or winter or of next year.