History of the Library
The Frances Kibble Kenny Lake Public Library is a vital part of a small, rural community near the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Located in the unincorporated community of Kenny Lake, about 250 miles east of Anchorage, Alaska, the library serves nearly one thousand area residents.
In February 2004, the Kenny Lake library board voted to recognize the part Frances Kibble played in the evolution of the library. Without her perseverance and the enormous commitment she made of her time and energy, Kenny Lake would be a community without a library. Before small rural libraries received any state funding Fran begged, cajoled, scrimped, and improvised to give Kenny Lakers basic library services. She even cut old envelopes in half to make card pockets for books! To honor Fran's vision and determination the library was named the "Frances Kibble Kenny Lake Public Library".
A born historian, Fran kept a detailed record of the early days in Kenny Lake. According to her notes, "Our library was started in the winter of '61-62 much, I suppose, as many community libraries begin. We nine homestead wives and three Native women formed a club for fun and service. One project we undertook was the library. This had been a dream of mine before I came to Alaska. I was asked to be the librarian. I wrote to the State Library and set up the enterprise in our bare cabin using stacked Blazo boxes sawed in half for the shelves. The first library accession record [entered in January 1962] lists 18 books on loan from the Alaska State Library.
"The Kenny Lake Community Library moved from place to place in the community during its early years--a wandering library looking for a home. In 1963 when I accepted the teaching job at the school and we moved into the quarters at the school, I took the library with me, Blazo boxes and all, setting them up in the quarters. The books were shelved in the pantry in the schoolteacher's quarters. Borrowers didn't seem to mind going through the kitchen to choose their books from the pantry shelves. We homesteaders kept the books busy. We had no radios nor television, no telephones, no electricity.
"In '65 with borrowed shelves we "graduated" from Blazo boxes and shelved the library in the newly finished Community Hall. That ideal location didn't serve but one year, however. The shelves had to be returned in the spring. The books were boxed and, along with all the contents of the school, awaited the reopening of the school in its new location. I returned to the university that fall. The library books were shelved at the school, one of the teachers acting as librarian."
In 1973, Fran (retired but still a teacher at heart) realized that the kids needed help keeping their reading skills sharp over the summer. Every Friday that summer she packed the trunk of her old green Volvo with boxes of books and headed out into the community. This bookmobile service that Fran started so simply served the southern end of the Copper Basin, an area approximately twice the size of Rhode Island, for almost 30 years.
A used van was purchased in 1978 and, with the addition of volunteer-built shelves, became the first "real" bookmobile in the Copper Basin. For two summers, Kenny Lake Library and the Glennallen Library (Copper Valley Community Library) shared the bookmobile.
Until the summer of 2002, this familiar old white van chugged up and down the roads bringing books and companionship to the extended community. When the miles finally took their toll and the cost of maintenance became prohibitive, the library board sadly decided to discontinue bookmobile service.
In the mid-70s, the library finally stopped its wandering and settled into a cozy building near the Kenny Lake School. At only 471 square feet, it was soon bursting with books. A few years later a state grant provided an opportunity to double the size of the building. By the late 90s, the library was again too small to serve the community adequately. An addition was finished in 2003, bringing the total area to almost 1700 square feet.
Begun in an area that was almost unpopulated until the late 1950s, Kenny Lake Library has grown up with the community it serves. The dream of a few volunteer women, the library is still staffed and managed entirely with volunteers. It is a special place, built and kept alive with community support and care.