Karen Funk, director of the Washakie County Library and its tiny Ten Sleep branch, lives by the credo that being small is no deterrent to doing something big. The Ten Sleep library, which serves a town of 226 people, was recently recognized as exceptional by the Institute of Museum and Library Serv ices.  Opinion For 30 years, that federal agency has been rewarding particularly notable museums and libraries for their efforts, giving them medals and substantial checks to support continued good work. On July 21, 2026, Ms. Funk’s library and four others from across the country were presented with  $10,000 checks and awards at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Other 2025 winners include public libraries serving Haines Borough, Alaska, Brockway, Pennsylvania, Waxahachie, Texas and Terrabonne, Louisiana. Of these small places, Ten Sleep is by far the smallest. Quite a feat for such a small library to be singled out for such recognition. The United States is home to nearly 125,000 libraries, according to the National Library Association. Of these, some 98,500 are school libraries and about 17,600 are public libraries, including bookmobiles.  The Institute of Museum and Library Services’ mission has long been to advance, support and empower America’s museums, libraries and related organizations. In 2024, the institute awarded $266.7 million via grantmaking, research and policy development.  Beginning in April, 2025, however, the institute began issuing grant cancellation notices citing changing agency priorities. Nonetheless, the 2025 awards were issued and Wyoming’s Ms. Funk and her colleagues were there to receive theirs.  The Ten Sleep branch library is unique, too, for simultaneously serving as both a public and a school library. It also hosts many tourists, including rock climbers, seeking high-speed internet access during the summer. The Ten Sleep branch previously distinguished itself among Wyoming libraries by suggesting an idea — that the Wyoming State Library provide databases making it possible for students and adults alike to look up information about the 19 prisoner of war camps maintained in Wyoming during World War II. The suggestion has since become a reality.   Washakie County Library Director Karen Funk has been saying for years that small libraries can do big things. The Institute of Museum and Library Services award validates that statement. She says her team in Ten Sleep has “consistently tried to give some large library experiences in a small rural town setting” and, along the way, provided good customer experience with small-town hospitality. “I think that’s what stands out about us.” To get an idea of just how important the Ten Sleep branch library is to the community, a quick glance at its Facebook page says a lot. This summer, the library is all over celebrating America’s 250th birthday. Look, too, at the Ten Sleep page maintained by the Washakie County Library system to see the wide array of services and activities on offer.  Many people remember growing up around a Carnegie library, one of hundreds funded by industrial philanthropist Andrew Carnegie over 100 years ago. Washakie County’s is not among them. It came about as a matter of state law, now codified at WY Stat § 18-7-101, et seq. Wyoming statute has long required that each county levy a tax to support a public library.  Cheyenne’s is the oldest, having been established in 1886, before statehood in 1890. Laramie County holds the distinction of having the oldest continually operating county library system in the United States. Cheyenne citizens spent five years raising funds before the first library opened. Andrew Carnegie donated the whopping sum of $50,000 to open Laramie County’s first dedicated library building in 1902. It was the first Carnegie library built in Wyoming. Nationwide, Carnegie fostered over 1,600 libraries.  For anyone who grew up making regular trips to the public library and respecting librarians, it comes as no surprise that people love their libraries. They do, but that has never meant that it is “easy” to be a library worker. Book banning and other censorship attempts have made lives difficult for library workers since at least the McCarthy era of the 1950s.  In recent years, “LGBTQ-friendly” library programs and materials have attracted public attention and, sometimes, attack. Former Campbell County Librarian Terri Lesley’s successful civil rights case for her dismissal is but one ignominious example. The American Library Association tracks book banning efforts around the country and reported that 2024 and 2025 saw big surges. Each year, more than 4,000 unique book titles are challenged across the country.  Recognizing the need for mutual professional support and the potential for isolation among rural librarians, the Association for Rural and Small Libraries got its start back in 1982. It aims to “build strong communities through advocacy, professional development and elevating the impact of rural and small libraries.” It seeks to be the voice of libraries that serve communities of 25,000 or less. The Association for Rural and Small Libraries’ annual conference this September will showcase Amanda Jones, a small-town Louisiana school librarian who fought book banning at her school and got death threats in return. She wrote That Librarian and continues with her anti-censorship work today.  Teton County Library Director Kip Roberson has long been active with the association, and has worked in small libraries around the country. He is happy to live now in Jackson, a place he calls an “extremely library positive” community, and to work with a library board he describes as “fantastic.” Roberson has been in the library business since 1989. In July, he marked five years as director of the Teton County Library. With a staff of 43, the main library is open seven days a week in winter and six in summer.  Roberson serves as the Association for Rural and Small Libraries’ representative for the West region, which includes Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii.  Roberson’s library is not experiencing book banning efforts, but during quarterly Zoom calls with library workers in his region, he hears about it happening elsewhere. Roberson’s county library board is so opposed to censorship that it successfully opposed a book-ban bill in the Wyoming Legislature this year and, in May, went on record opposing a similar federal effort, House Resolution 7661. A story about The Teton County Library Board’s action and the importance of speaking out even appeared in Book Riot, an independent literary website.  Outstanding library workers love the places they live and the communities they serve. It’s a good thing they do, because they’re not in it for the money. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for librarians and library media specialists in 2024 was about $31 an hour, or $64,320 annually. The typical entry-level education requirement is a master’s degree. Compare that to the median U.S. household income of $83,730 in 2024 as reported by the Census Bureau. Then, consider thanking a library worker for what they do every day for the public they serve. One wonders what America would look like, or how it would function, in the absence of public libraries and the people who make them work so well. As the American Library Association says of library workers, “Libraries work because we do.”  National Library Week is an annual tradition that began in the 1950s when reading was declining as the use of radio and TV grew. This year, National Library Workers Day was April 21. That day recognizes the critical role all library workers play in providing education, lifelong learning and community engagement. Who among us does not want and need all of those things now and in the future? The post Wyoming shows that small libraries can do big things appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less