{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"Long Valley Library getting closer to opening","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":387,"description":"June 30, 2022 — 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’s shopping center just off of Highway 101.\r\n“We got started in 2015,” she recalled. “John Pinches offered us the old Bookmobile, and we went from there.” The county has an established Bookmobile program, which brings books to Laytonville every other Tuesday. “That Bookmobile that they gave us was not fit for county employee habitation, so we sold that and used the money, moving toward this project,” she said. “Of course, paying rent on this space through covid was a little pricey, but we’re getting there. A little more to go, and we’ll be ready.”\r\nDeborah Fader Samson, the Library and Museum Director, said in an email that she is planning for a New Year’s Grand Opening. Haven is pleased with the central location, which is within sight of the elementary and middle schools. It’s 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. \r\nThe walls at the Book Room are lined with school lockers, murals by a visiting Mayan scholar, a piano that’s 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. \r\n“We started with a big pile of boxes of books right there,” Haven recalled. Originally, the local school superintendent gave the Friends permission to use the old...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}