HAYDEN — When asked about Hayden Library’s role in the community, Jessica Bowman oddly didn’t mention books.

“Toothpaste,” she said enthusiastically.

It wasn’t an oversight or an aneurysm doing the talking. Since Bowman became the library’s new manager in November, she has pushed for stronger outreach to the town’s population. She said she hopes the Government Way library can fill the needs of all people who walk through its doors. This can include anything from adding new library sections to creating a free hygiene product exchange, a donation-friendly offering that requires, among other things, toothpaste.

“Getting this going can hopefully satisfy some basic needs Hayden’s citizens might need,” she said. “People can come in and take what they need from the hygiene bins, whether it’s toothpaste or toothbrushes, razors, deodorants, whatever we can provide to help.”

The program Bowman created over the summer — when she served in Hayden Library’s youth services department — accepts new, unused health and hygiene products. People can take what they need, Bowman said, in order to help maneuver through the trials and tribulations of their daily lives.

“It’s just something we can do to help people who need it,” she admitted.

The Sandpoint native and University of Idaho graduate said her biggest priority was getting acclimated to the community, adding that challenge is something easier said than done in the winter months, as she currently lives in Sandpoint and is commuting to work while she waits to move into her new home in the area.

“I’m just hoping to hold out a few more weeks,” she said with angst in her voice. “I’m hoping the snow will just wait another couple weeks until I get moved down.”

While her temporary commute is giving her grief, she said the future looks bright for both her morning drive and a Hayden Library she looks to expand, bit by bit.

“We’re adding an adult graphic novel section,” she said. “We’re going to partner with Heritage Health; their bus will be parked in our parking lot once a month. We’re doing a Star Wars party on Dec. 18. We’ll time that with the release of the new movie [“Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker”]. And we have our district-wide Hunger Games event each month that celebrates the prequel; it’s district-wide … in a different library the 20th of each month, and we’re going to have the finale here with the launch of the prequel coming out in May. I’m really excited about that. We’ll be raffling off some super-cool prizes that day.”

Despite her experience and education in this labor of love, Bowman said libraries provide an opportunity to learn something new every day — for herself as much as for her guests.

“Every library is run so differently,” she said, “even from the way you call people ‘patrons’ in one library and something else in another. Here, we call them ‘members.’ So it’s little things like that I’m picking up on that makes every day an education.”

Before getting back to work, Bowman said a library is valuable only if people can extract value from it, something she believes should be obvious the second her members walk through the doors.

“We are one of the last free places you can go and just hang out,” she said. “This is a place of peace and quiet where people can come and read or work or just enjoy books. And that goes for its employees, too: People who work in libraries care. We enjoy working with people, and we enjoy helping people, however they might need it.”