Nancy Lord meets with Friends of the Library

The state’s writer laureate Nancy Lord was at hand on Friday at the Talkeetna Friends of the Library meeting to give a presentation on her recent involvement in building a new seven million dollar library in Homer.

The Talkeetna library has been on the Mat-Su Borough’s capital improvement project list for a few years, but has not progressed toward a plan for a new building. The Friends of the Library invited Lord to their meeting to find out what needs to be done to help the process along.

Lord gave out practical advice that included to have fun with the process. Lord said that projects like a new library have to be citizen-led, grass roots and yet organized by forming committees to spread the volunteer’s workload.

She also gave tips on financing options that include tapping sources such as community foundations, corporations and state and federal agencies.

The Homer Library is a seventeen-hundred squarefoot building, built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. It opened in 2006.

Currently there are no concrete plans or money allocated for a new Talkeetna library.