By Carol Stiffler
The Curtis Public Library celebrated a grand opening last week, proudly announcing that it had become Michigan’s 397th standalone library. In a two-day celebration on May 22 and 23, the library hosted hundreds of guests who enjoyed live music, cake and appetizers, and met State Librarian Randy Riley.
“This is a really happy day for us,” said Curtis Public Library Director Linda Blanchard on May 22. “We have a lot to be thankful for, and we are celebrating today.”
The library isn’t new–it was established in 1971–but is newly independent. Until 2023, Curtis Public Library had always been a satellite library of a larger cooperative – most recently as an affiliate of the Superior District Library (SDL), which is based in Sault Ste. Marie. That relationship dissolved in June 2023.
Portage Township voters overwhelmingly approved a half-mill ballot request last fall to fund the library as an independent organization, and it’s now managed by a six-member board and directed by Blanchard, who has served the library for decades. During the transition away from SDL, the Curtis Public Library was supported by Superiorland Library Cooperative (SLC) in Marquette so services could continue without a hiccup.
Blanchard said there was “not a day, not an hour” during the transition when the library stopped functioning. “And no system ever stopped working or was turned off,” she said. “It was seamless.”
It took about 11 months for Portage Township to complete all steps to launch Curtis Public Library as a legal township library, receiving guidance from the Library of Michigan and continued support from SLC.
“It’s great; it’s better,” Blanchard said. “Because now this library is being looked after by people who are right here, whose interest is right in it, and there are so many of them.”
Introducing a new library in Michigan doesn’t happen often these days, Riley said, but as more libraries move toward becoming independent, he expects it will happen again.
Riley, who heads the Library of Michigan in Lansing, spent hours at the Curtis Library to welcome the new library and talk with guests. It wasn’t his first visit to the library – he came for an event in 2012 – and he commended library staff for its contributions to the community.
He paraphrased a quote from library advocate R. David Lankes, saying “Good libraries have collections – books, materials. Great libraries provide services – programs, how to find a job. But really exceptional libraries focus on building a community.”
“When you walk into Curtis Library, you feel community,” Riley said. “There is an understanding that this is a special place.”
Riley said Michigan has “great libraries”, and said they’re even more critical in the U.P., where schools, jobs, and businesses face more challenges to succeed.
“It’s great to have an anchor institution that’s a public library that’s here for everyone,” he said. “There is a leveling of the playing field when you have a strong library. It matters.”
Riley encouraged library supporters to continue to assist the library in the future.
“It’s a forever thing,” Riley said. “They need the same kind of attention and support tomorrow, a week, a year down the road. Our public libraries are as good as our communities want them to be.”
