Kim Yerton Branch of the Humboldt County Library, Hoopa, California

www.humlib.org
Press Contact: Victor Zazueta, vzazueta@co.humboldt.ca.us, (707) 269-1929

Left to right: Mrs. Laura Bush, Board Chairman Bonnie Neely, community member Connie McKinnon, and IMLS Director Anne Radice. Click image for a larger version.

As California’s only joint county-tribal library on an Indian reservation, the Kim Yerton Branch of the Humboldt County Library has become a center for the rural community of Hoopa Valley, connecting thousands of residents of all ages with Native American reading materials, computer access and the prospect of a better life through literacy.

With a poverty rate of 30 percent and unemployment at 27 percent, residents and elders in this remote region demanded something more in their library than a repository for books – a gateway not only to their heritage, but to the outside world and to upward mobility for future generations.

Since December 2001, the Kim Yerton Memorial Library has recorded more than 55,000 visits, circulated more than 43,000 items, hosted 175 children’s programs, logged more than 17,000 computer sessions, and handled more than 8,600 requests for materials or information by community members. With less than 70 living speakers of the Hupa language left, the library also houses the largest collection of Native American materials of any institution in the Humboldt County system, and in turn, keeps an endangered tradition alive.

All has made the Kim Yerton Memorial Library much more than a collection of books for the people of Hoopa Valley. For them, it is the intersection of tradition and innovation, and the reflection of a culturally rich tradition and community.

“As the only joint country-tribal library in California on a Native American reservation, the Kim Yerton Memorial Library preserves our state’s past and provides a gateway to our state’s future,” said U.S. Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA). “I am very pleased that the library’s effort to expand educational opportunities to the Hoopa Tribe has earned it the National Medal of Museum and Library Service. Libraries like the Kim Yerton Memorial Library are especially critical in rural communities, and we should do everything we can do support them. Congratulations on this tremendous honor.”

Community Member Connie McKinnon -- A Fresh Start
During a difficult time for the McKinnon family, the Kim Yerton Memorial Library provided a place of stability and opportunity for the McKinnons and their five children. After they got their library cards with the assistance of Mrs. McKinnon’s sister-in-law, the younger children attended story times and the older children used the computers and participated in the after-school and summer programs. Mrs. McKinnon began working with the tribal school programs, eventually becoming a literacy paraprofessional at Hoopa Elementary School. She shares her experiences at the tribal treatment center for teenage girls in Hoopa. All of her children are doing well in school and are participating in sports and other community activities.