City of Grangeville, Idaho

The Grangeville Public Library was started by a group of literary-minded women, who were organized as a women's club, in 1899.

They became interested in civic improvements and established a reading room with a few donated books for out of town visitors. It was only open a few hours a week and a local woman volunteered to care for the books. More books came in and they decided they needed a larger place.

The Knights of Pythias loaned them a room in their building which later burned and the women found themselves with the beginning of a small library. Mrs. Shirlie Fenn of Kooskia was asked to catalog the books and set up the Dewey Decimal System. Charges were made for loan cards.

In 1935, the group, now calling themselves Women's Community Club, held a number of fund raisers to raise funds for books. That same year a new city hall was built and the Community Club Library was invited to move into a room there. They now had a few hundred bookss, were open three afternoons a week, and had a cirulation of 500 books a year.

In 1943, Marion O. Holt became the librarian and with the help and instructions of a trained librarian, Florence Reilly, the public library was well under way.

In 1947, the board asked for help from the city and they responded with $500.00 a year.

In 1950, the board asked for help again and was granted a 1.5 mil levy on assessed valuation. This was enough to provide a free library serving anyone in the area. The library was now open six days a week with a circulation of 10,000 books a year.

The Centennial Library Team was organized in 1962 to raise funds for a new library building. Appointed by Mayor George Klein, members were: Mrs. Joseph Montell, Mrs. Howard Higgins, Librarian Marion Holt, Mr. Jack Heartburg, Mrs. Burt Morris, Mrs. John W. Spencer, and Councilman Harold Smith. Through the hard work of this dedicated group the Centennial Library opened for business in their current location on Feb 6, 1964 with an annual circulation of 15,000.

Marion Holt retired in 1970 and was replaced by Alda Coffman. She was followed by Patty Bolton and Susan Wright. The librarian position became a job-shared position staffed by Linda Ruthruff and Linda Hicks in July 1981. Linda Ruthruff also shared the position with Jean Griffith and Karrylle Curnes until 1994 when she was named Director and Margy Pelham was hired as Assistant Librarian. Linda Ruthruff, Director, retired in October, 2009 with 28 years of service and was replaced by Edie Lustig.

The library received a grant that allowed them Internet access in 1995 and the circulation system was automated in 1998. We are currently open five afternoons a week and current circulation is approximately 30,000 books per year.

 The library became part of the VALNet Consortium, a group of libraries located between Riggins and Moscow and its branches, in 2003. They share an online catalog for public access and also share materials freely between libraries. The consortium began interlibrary loan with libraries in north Idaho under the Washington-Idaho Network umbrella in 2008. Materials are shipped by courier at no cost to the patrons.