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June 30, 2022 \u2014 After seven years of fundraising and scouting for a location, the Friends of the Long Valley Public Library are close to opening a branch of the county library in downtown Laytonville. The Friends have raised about $40,000 since 2015, and just last week, the library got the green light for a USDA Rural Development Grant of $64,200 as a 75% match to buy furniture, books, and other materials for opening day. Shawn Haven, one of the core members of the Friends group, met KZYX on Wednesday morning at the future location of the new branch, in the Foster\u2019s shopping center just off of Highway 101.\n\u201cWe got started in 2015,\u201d she recalled. \u201cJohn Pinches offered us the old Bookmobile, and we went from there.\u201d The county has an established Bookmobile program, which brings books to Laytonville every other Tuesday. \u201cThat Bookmobile that they gave us was not fit for county employee habitation, so we sold that and used the money, moving toward this project,\u201d she said. \u201cOf course, paying rent on this space through covid was a little pricey, but we\u2019re getting there. A little more to go, and we\u2019ll be ready.\u201d\nDeborah Fader Samson, the Library and Museum Director, said in an email that she is planning for a New Year\u2019s Grand Opening. Haven is pleased with the central location, which is within sight of the elementary and middle schools. It\u2019s a block or so from the high school and the Book Room, a bookstore at the site of the old high school that serves as an ongoing fundraiser for the library. \nThe walls at the Book Room are lined with school lockers, murals by a visiting Mayan scholar, a piano that\u2019s out of tune, and donated bookshelves stuffed with volumes. There is also a seed library, which will remain even after the public library opens. The Book Rom has taken on a life of its own over the years. \n\u201cWe started with a big pile of boxes of books right there,\u201d Haven recalled. Originally, the local school superintendent gave the Friends permission to use the old school site as storage for their books between sales. \u201cAnd we thought, well, this is such a mess, we can\u2019t function in here,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we put up some shelves. And then we thought, well, we can put up some more shelves. And then we said, well, can we open it? Why schlepp all these books? We\u2019re all old ladies, right? So she said, sure, go ahead. We just kept expanding our space, expanding our hours, so there you have it.\u201d \nThe Book Room has become more than a bookstore raising money for the library. It\u2019s a hub of community activity, with a large central room where groups gather to play bridge, spin, have healthy snacks, or curl up with one of the approximately 3,500 books that continue to pour in. Volumes are currently organized by subject and age range, with one shelf dedicated to books about insects for young people, another featuring biographies, and one section devoted entirely to books by lawyers. \u201cWe have a little bit of everything,\u201d Haven observed. \u201cOr, as they say, something to offend everyone. The true job of a library.\u201d \nHaven promised the Book Room won\u2019t be phased out by the library. \u201cThe library here, to start off, will be open three days a week,\u201d she said. \u201cProbably Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. And then the Book Room is open Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. So there will be full literary and seed library coverage every day except Sunday\u2026so we\u2019ve got your back.\u201d\nThe library site has had multiple incarnations: it\u2019s been a restaurant, a beauty parlor, and, most recently, a tattoo shop. It\u2019s about 1000 square feet and has the capacity for around a thousand books, plus computers, magazines, and newspapers. And there\u2019s a variety of artwork, starting with a hand-carved chinquapin counter carved by local woodworker Robin Thompson along the expansive, north-facing windows, \u201cfor laptop work and staring out the window,\u201d Haven noted. There will be two public computer stations, with free broadband provided by a California State Library grant with speeds up to 1 Gbps, \u201cso it\u2019s fast and reliable, unless someone cuts a cable, of course.\u201d\nThe Friends of the Library also have a 4x6 mural of local nature scenes that artist Danza Davis painted with kids at Juvenile Hall, as part of a Get Art in the Schools Program grant through the Arts Council. That piece will be one of the first things patrons see when they walk into the library. But another work of art, in the future break room, is being diligently covered over with a meticulous decoupage of printed material. \u201cThis post, it had pinups on it,\u201d Haven said, gesturing at a column still featuring a few remnants of vintage girly pictures, leftover from the tattoo shop. \u201cIt\u2019s really sad to cover them up,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the method is starch with a little varathane over it, so if anyone ever wants to restore it, they can. I hate to destroy someone else\u2019s art.\u201d\nThe Friends found the site about three years ago, but the learning curve was steep, especially during covid. \u201cWhen we started this, we didn\u2019t ...