Covelo's Award-Winning Library Raises $10,000 to Fix Its Solar Power

A community drive to repair the solar power system at Covelo's award-winning library has raised $10,000, well past its original goal.

The Friends of the Round Valley Public Library started the appeal after the solar inverter that runs the Library Commons — the downtown building that houses the Mendocino County Library's Round Valley branch — failed this summer. The group had set out to raise about $6,000 to replace it.

The branch was named the Best Small Library in America in 2024 by Library Journal, an award sponsored by Ingram Library Services. The Friends, a local nonprofit, own and maintain the historic Commons building, so the repair fell to them rather than the county.

"The response has been overwhelming. Seems like a lot of people love our little library," said Lew Chichester, the Friends' vice president. "We only started this attempt to raise some money about ten days ago, just showing up at our local farmers' market and posting a graphic for the local Facebook pages, then the county-wide media picked it up."

With the wider exposure the response accelerated. "With the QR code in the graphic we received a few donations from people and places far away, Chichester said."

MendoLocal.News ran a banner on its site to help raise awareness of the campaign.