SANDPOINT — The meeting may have lasted just over 35 minutes, but the East Bonner County Library Board covered a lot of ground.

The Stevens County Rural Library District was the sole bidder for the former library district bookmobile, Vanessa Velez, principal librarian and interim EBCLD director, said.

Velez said it was exciting to see the vehicle going to another library, adding that officials with the Washington state library district were excited to get a vehicle that had already been converted into a bookmobile.

"We wouldn't be selling it if it wasn't in the condition that you could actually use it," Velez told the board when asked if Stevens County officials knew what they were getting into. "So they were excited. You cannot ever buy a bookmobile, especially one that is already set up."

The library did well on its recent audit, Mary-Claude Margairaz told the board.

Not only did the library receive praise for its programs, but officials were told the district's financial books were in great shape as well.

"It was a good visit, but it was intense," Margairaz said.

Both the physical and digital versions of the library are showing growth, board members learned. Updates were also shared on the library's e-book collection and its Natural Connections program.

The library is participating in the Idaho Library Association community project, "Idaho Libraries: A Little Book of Big Stories," and received several testimonials that will be included, Velez told the board in her report.

Among them was a testimonial from a family from Ukraine who moved to the U.S. due to the war, saying the library has helped them adapt to their new life, language, and culture. Another was an avid book enthusiast who is a regular visitor at the Clark Fork Library and enjoys nothing better than settling into a cushy chair as they look for their next read.

"I think that the library has greatly impacted our community by creating a space where people can collaborate, create, and do all sorts of fun activities," said yet another in their testimonial.

A fourth said the library is an integral part of their personal and professional lives, serving as both a volunteer and a user of the library's "exploration lab" and more.

Upgrades to the library's Wi-Fi system make it the fastest public Wi-Fi for libraries in Idaho outside of Boise, IT director Brendan Mooney said.

Bandwidth at the Clark Fork Library increased by 400% to 2 gigabytes and by 33% at the Sandpoint Library to 3 gigabytes.

The upgrades were part of the library's existing contract with Fatbeam.

"They're not changing it," Mooney told the board. "There's no difference; it's just faster."

Also at the meeting, the board received a thank-you letter from Valor Christian High School for a donation of outdated computers. The donation is similar to a November donation to Sandpoint High School. 

"We were looking for places to take e-cycle stuff to make sure that it doesn't go to waste," Mooney told the board.

The library's Natural Connections program is doing well, with more than a dozen people attending a program on food preservation at the most recent event.

The library bookmobile saw its number of locations expanded, thanks to a patron asking if the library could add the Sagle post office to its stops.

"It's kind of tricky because [we have] to go to these places long enough for people to get into the habit of knowing that [we're] there … You have to stay there for long enough to test it out, but not so long that you're kind of wasting time."

A patron asked library officials to see if there is a way to put something on the library reading app, Libby, to let patrons know they can request a book on the library's website.