A Win for Ronan, MT

Congratulations to the Vote Yes for a New Ronan Library District crew and the Ronan City Library on winning last night 873 to 545!

It is a big win for the entire School District 30 community - including Ronan, Pablo, and surrounding areas -  securing new operating funds and new Districting authority for the library.  This win increases the library budget from only $15k to over $200k allowing for new hires, more hours, and better collections, programs and services.  It was a quick campaign for us (April 5th to May 8th) and the Community Members for a New Ronan Library District committee were amazing to work with.  They did great Get Out The Vote work like events, outreach and canvassing, signs, talking with their neighbors, and Facebooking.  EveryLibrary was there to help with consulting and direct funding.  Thank you, our donors, for helping EveryLibrary put $1,000 into their campaign. It paid off for their community and the future of library services in Ronan.

Over the years, the Friends of the Ronan City Library have taken on more and more responsibility fundraising for the library.  In fact, before this vote yesterday, 100% of collections and programs were funded by the Friends.  They have done amazing work and we know they won't stop.  But now, what they raise as Friends can go beyond the basics.   It is why EveryLibrary exists and why it is important to have a national organization to back library ballot committees in small towns and large cities around the country. Libraries build communities, change lives, and help people grow, learn, start, create and connect.  EveryLibrary helps people who believe that the library is part of the common good tell their own library  stories to their neighbors - to voters - about how public funding makes it happen. It is political action at work for libraries.