Eagle Mountain's growing library

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — On her first day of work in September 2000, Eagle Mountain librarian Michele Graves found out she was claustrophobic.

The city's library consisted of four bookcases and two closets full of books in a 12-by-12-foot room in the back of the fire station.

"They let us use the extra room," Graves said. "It was tiny."

It was so tiny that patrons had to take turns looking at books. Only three or four people could fit in the room at a time.

At that point in 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Eagle Mountain's population to be 2,157. Two years later, when the library upgraded to a 640-sqare-foot trailer, Eagle Mountain had been reclassified from town to city and included more than 6,000 inhabitants.

The city was outlined on 41.7 square miles, making it Utah's third-largest city in land area. After the tiny room in the fire station, 640 square feet seemed enormous to Graves. It was so big, she was able to hire an assistant.

In 2005, when construction on City Hall was nearing completion, Eagle Mountain's population had almost doubled. Graves and her library were given 2,000 square feet in the new building. By that time, the library had acquired 3,066 patrons, 9,774 print materials and four computers.

"This felt like a mansion, but it didn't take long to fill up," she said. "If we had everyone return everything, we'd have to stack things on the floor."

Now, in the 10th year of the once-tiny library, it has grown by an additional 1,800 square feet on City Hall's main floor. Graves' staff has increased to five, and the library's materials have more than tripled.

Unfortunately, the collection is not growing fast enough to support the northwest Utah County city's booming population.

The library's stresses are consistent with the growing pains Eagle Mountain has experienced in its first 13 years. Because of its remote location — Mayor Heather Jackson said Eagle Mountain should be classified as a "destination city" because it's on the way to nowhere — the city has been forced to provide its own utilities. Despite the steep learning curve, including water rationing for a short time, city services now provide residents with all basic utilities.