A place of ideas, a doorway to creativity and a laboratory for sharpening the intellect, with an emotional payoff, the library is a refuge in a chaotic time.

Self-described evangelist for the “greatest library in the universe,” Tim Miller, executive director of the Rampart Library District, is talking up the offerings, the intrinsic benefits.  

“In the library business, in order to give the most people the most advantage for information, we want to remove barriers to access,” Miller said.

In Teller County, the library provides access to those who don’t have reliable internet.

“One of the things that has blown up the pass recently is our Wi-Fi hot spot, our mobile networks that you can check out and get internet access,” he said.  “It’s like a modem.”

With that WiFi hot spot, the library provides connection, technological and social.  

“It’s a quality-of-life thing – people can work from home, access their email,” Miller said. “A lot of people use it to connect with the outside world. This is a way to provide connection.”

With a new school board which is engaged in a search for a superintendent, Miller hopes to renew a connection with the students.

“There is such a galvanized feeling of hope, with this new board and administration,” he said. “We’re looking forward to rebuilding those relationships.”

In one of the last meetings of the previous school board, Miller gave an impassioned speech about the library as a place of ideas, where books help people look at issues that may be discomforting.

The remarks were a backhanded response to the previous board’s segregating certain books that required parents’ permission for students to read.

In a town where graduating seniors look at moving out and moving on, Miller wants to provide career opportunities through the library’s technology, the Makerspace or The Studio, for instance.

In fact, Megan Ross, who attended schools in Woodland Park, is today the district’s communications manager who designs fliers and handles publicity through social media.

“Megan is a Swiss Army Knife of marketing,” Miller said. “She wrote our first marketing strategy; she’s our own home-grown talent.”

Under the previous school board, the school libraries segregated books that told stories of the marginalized, a form of censorship for which Ross has a response.

“The thing about a book for a kid is that it can let that kid know that there are other people like them who are going through the same thing; maybe they’re depressed,” Ross said. “Books don’t just empower people in terms of learning and perspective, they can literally save lives.”

In addition to the e-books, the library offers a range of e-magazines to include the horror genre to which some might raise an eyelid.

But Ross sees the importance of horror stories in the lives of adolescents or teenagers.

“Having kids experience fear in a controlled sort of way through a book helps a kid to be familiar with that emotion,” Ross said. “Seeing how children in the story survive their situations, it may empower that child experiencing fear in everyday life.”

Ross’s assessment of the value of reading, explains the “why” of the library existence.

“We believe in helping people grow as individuals, with lifelong learning,” Miller said.

For the analysts out there who seek a return on investment of their property taxes, the library delivers.

“Last year we provided 210,000 circulations, the average$25 per item,” he said. “You’re talking over $5 million in savings, for a 60% return on investment.”

The library district recently expanded access to information through the branch in the Divide Community Center, where Miller and the staff host an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 7.