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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — It's not much to look at, but the tiny library near Dexter Lake in rural Lane County is this area's best offer to the literary-minded.
The small, squat building is actually an upgrade. The first chance the communities of Dexter and Lowell had for a true library was the home of Dexter resident Jeanne Good.
The avid bookworm, now deceased, realized that she was the closest thing to a librarian the town had ever had.
So in 2002, Good opened the Cascade Foothills Library.
The Eugene Register-Guard reports (http://bit.ly/1pjzUp6) it's volunteer-run and lives off its annual book sale, which might net $500 in a good year.
"If you're in Dexter or Lowell or any of these communities nearby and you need a Baldacci novel, this is the only place to get it," said Tom Warren, the library's acting secretary. "Sometimes it's outdated, but we've got it."
Warren, who has volunteered for more than six years, said the library is the only one in the area, and the limited resources it provides are "desperately in demand."
Warren estimated the library serves about 250 people a month — something to be proud of, he said, considering its limited hours and a location in an area that is easy to speed past.
Library president Cathy Leonardo says the library is too small for tax support or the local library league.
To keep these programs going and to ensure the library's continued presence, more money and volunteers are needed, volunteers said.
Warren said a few years ago the library volunteers thought they had made it big after finding a first edition copy of "To Kill A Mockingbird" with a pristine cover, worth about $25,000 on eBay.
"We danced around for about 20 minutes saying we're going to be rich," he said, "And then we looked at the back. It was the book club edition, which is worth about $50."
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