Patrons can keep cool at the library this summer as it now has air conditioning

Patrons at the Columbia Falls library can read their books and surf the web in comfort this summer, thanks to a grant from the nonprofit Columbia Falls Library Foundation.

The $24,000 grant was awarded the library for a new four-unit air conditioning system for the library, librarian Liz Camarillo said.

The units were installed last week, she said. The city of Columbia Falls has agreed to maintain the units in the future. The library is located in city hall and gets very warm in the summer. The employee offices used to reach 90 before the Foundation gave the library a grant a few years ago for an air conditioning unit for the offices.

The library only has upper windows. It used to be a theater as part of the Anaconda Aluminum Co. Employee club house. The employees sold the building to the city in 1961, which remodeled it into the current offices and library.

The county operates the library, but the city provides the space rent free.

Both Camarillo and Flathead County Library Director Teri Dugan were very much appreciative of the grant.

“It will make the staff and patrons that use the library so much more comfortable,” Dugan said.

The library sees anywhere from 150 to 300 patrons a day. It offers a host of services, including traditional books, e-books, dvd rentals (there’s a host of families with no streaming access), a seed library, maps and audio books. There’s also storytime for youths about four days a week.