CURRENT POSITION Director, Donnelly Public Library, ID DEGREE BA, Behavioral Science, Northwest University, WA FAST FACT Scheline believes that Dolly Parton’s Rockstar Deluxe is the most underrated album of all time. FOLLOW donnelly.lili.org Photo courtesy of Sherry Scheline

Building from Scratch

As Director of Donnelly Public Library (DPL), Sherry Scheline stewards a 1,024 square foot space that has become an anchor institution for Donnelly, ID—a town of fewer than 200 people, with a service population of just under 3,000.

“We have come up from nothing,” Scheline notes. DPL began as a community and volunteer space before opening as a library district in 2018, with Scheline serving as  director from day one. Operating with a budget approximately one-tenth that of neighboring towns, the library—which at one point included two teepees on its grounds—provides vital services ranging from after-school programs to reliable Wi-Fi.

In 2024, DPL became an “adult only” library to meet the restrictions of Idaho House Bill 710, which requires public libraries to restrict materials deemed “harmful” to minors. The library lacks the space to fully segregate “adult” books, Scheline says, or the resources to push back against complaints or shoulder fines. Children continue to enter and engage with the library, but their guardians must sign a waiver determining how their child may move through the library or interact with materials.

“We did get a lot of media coverage in the very beginning, and not all of it was favorable,” says Scheline. She has experienced aggressive name-calling and attacks on social media but has “stood firm” in defense of her library. Most recently, DPL joined publishers, authors, parents, and students in a lawsuit alleging that HB 710 is so “vague and sweeping” that it violates their constitutional rights.