A husband-and-wife consulting team from Wisconsin has embarked on a facilities master plan for the Flathead County Library System that will detail future space needs for the main library and its three branch libraries.

Bill Wilson and Ethel Himmel of Himmel & Wilson Library Consultants have spent several days in the Flathead studying the library system. They met with the Library Board on Wednesday to discuss their initial observations.

“We know you do a lot with a little,” Wilson told the board. “A lot of your outputs are very, very positive. Flathead County residents get great value.”

Wilson noted the recent makeover of the main library in Kalispell incorporates many design elements that are emerging in libraries throughout the country.

“In lots of ways you’re ahead of the curve,” he said.

That said, the facilities master plan will provide a road map of how the library system needs to grow to meet the demands of its patrons. The Flathead County Library Foundation is funding most of the cost of the master plan, which should be completed by February.

The county’s capital improvement plan earmarks $16 million for a 55,000-square-foot new main library in Kalispell for the 2017 fiscal year. A new library has been talked about for at least a decade. In 2004 an outside consultant completed a study showing a shortage of space and resources in the current library.

Four years ago, architectural designs were drafted for possible building designs, but the project stalled, even as library use has increased 62 percent in the past five years.

The capital improvement plan calls for $1 million to build a new Bigfork branch library, also in the 2017 fiscal year. The Bigfork library has been cramped for space for many years and has no possibility of expansion at its current site.

Even though the library buildings are included in the capital improvement plan, those projects are placeholders for which there’s no funding scenario yet, library director Kim Crowley said. She foresees the projects being funded through public-private partnerships.

After meeting with County Administrator Mike Pence and Commissioner Gary Krueger, Wilson said it’s “pretty clear” that getting county money for these library building projects won’t be easy.

“What we think has to happen is the library has to present the public with a value proposition. You have to show value,” Wilson said. “Just to say, ‘Give us money and you’ll get a bigger library,’ won’t cut it in Flathead County.”

Showing the value of the library might mean focusing on programming such as work-force development or preschool literacy, he said.

The needs of library patrons have been shifting in recent years, even beyond the addition of computer stations and electronic collection materials such as DVDs and CDs. People want access to higher-end software and collaborative space where several people could work together on a project, Wilson said.

Many successful libraries have added teen areas offering high-tech capabilities such as mini-robotics laboratories or space where teens can create their own videos.

Libraries throughout the country are expanding their programming, offering not only children’s story hours but also programs for teens and adults, and opportunities for civil discourse.

“Wi-Fi has become increasingly important,” he said. “More people are bringing in their personal electronic devices.”

A question to board members about where they hope to be in the library expansion process two years from now drew varied responses.

“In two years I’d want a bond issue passed for a new library,” board member Jane Lopp said.

Lopp said the community largely has been supportive of a new and bigger library, but added that private-sector supporters “have a hard time when nothing happens.

“When nothing happens, people lose interest,” she said.

Board chairman Al Logan said he hoped to use the facilities master plan as a tool to conduct the outreach and education that will be needed for community support of a new library.

Board member Terry Guidi said he is concerned about what he sees as a pervasive attitude that the current library facilities “are good enough. It’s that attitude of we can get by.”

That kind of thinking makes it difficult to plan and build for the future, the board concurred.

Wilson said libraries tend to do well with bond issues because “it’s public capital.”

However, “here in Flathead County it’s going to be a cliff-hanger,” he warned. “The county has been unwilling to do a bond issue, and there’s a perception of the commissioners [in recent years] that even asking the public is going against public will.”

Wilson advised the board that collaboration between the public and private sectors and a clear vision of the project will be paramount.

“If you hope to attract foundation money, you need a vision,” he stressed. “They’re about doing something big, a game-changer. They’re looking for something to attach their name to.

“A project with more vision may be cheaper than incremental projects,” he added.

And the vision is there, Wilson said.

“You have visionary leadership on your administrative team,” he told the board.