Quick Summary
After a catastrophic flood destroyed the Rock Valley Public Library, the town is rallying to rebuild from scratch. Discover how a partnership with one of our vendors is helping restore a vital community resource!
In June 2024, Rock Valley was struck by a devastating flood, submerging two-thirds of the town and destroying the Rock Valley Public Library. As the town recovers, the library staff and residents are determined to rebuild from scratch.
At Minitex, we’re honored to support this effort. In partnership with Symbology, we were able to provide 30,000 barcodes with substantial discounts to enable the library to catalog the donated materials. This support is crucial to the library’s restoration as it works tirelessly to secure a temporary location and rebuild its collection.
The community’s resilience has been remarkable, with neighboring towns in Sioux County offering shelter and donation hubs. Volunteers and local organizations continue to rally around Rock Valley.
Minitex is proud to be part of the library’s recovery, knowing that libraries are critical to community. With time, Rock Valley Public Library will again serve it's town.
"Just over 3 months ago, I locked up the library on a Friday evening. Little did I know, I was saying goodbye to the library, my second home, as I once knew it. Hours later, the Rock River (part of our town’s namesake), carrying as much water as the Mississippi in a flood stage, ravaged through our town of 4,000; creating currents that washed away homes, bridges, and vehicles.
On June 23, when the waters receded and I was able to enter the place I loved, it was crushing from the first step; stepping on books oozing with mud and hearing the crack of DVDs beneath my feet. Materials that for the last 30+ years have been meticulously placed in their spot and cared for by our librarians and read by readers (some through generations), now sodden by silt and thrashed about by river water and left lying in heaps all over the floor and aisles. As water is no friend of any paper products, the Rock River showed no mercy to these books (or to the towns where it flows).
Today, the original building is cleaned out, but we still don’t know if it will stay standing or if the foundation was compromised by the rapids that surged around it. Today, we are in a long-term temporary location (that was also impacted by the flood), but we’ve fixed up and it’s starting to look like a library. Today, we begin the daunting task of “starting over” and processing 10’s of thousands of books that were collected and donated by groups far and wide. It has been a humbling experience reflecting on the last few months; the help we’ve received has been such a gift. We are so thankful to Minitex for their generous support in expediting and discounting barcodes for us in this situation. Your kindness gives us hope, and will make it possible to pass on the wonderful gift of books and a library to our community.
From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.
Sincerely,
Nicole McCray
Library Director"
Dana Kocienda
Products Ordering: minitexproducts@umn.edu
direct: danak@umn.edu
Phone: 612-625-9527 or 800-462-5348
FAX: 612-624-4508
