Library board member Kathy Burkhardt, is also a member of the Old Fort Genealogy Society, served as liaison between the two groups.

The genealogy society has expressed interest in paying for access to old newspapers in order to do genealogy research.

Library Director Sarah Clendineng had presented several options. One was nearly $5,000 and didn’t include local newspapers. Another, Newspaperarchive, at just over $1,000, had an extensive run of the Evening Democrat and other newspapers, but is already available through the state historical society.

Newsbank, which has archives of the Fort Madison Daily Democrat from 2000 to present was chosen, at a cost of nearly $700. The library board expressed appreciation to the genealogy society for their two-year sponsorship of the archives.

Clendineng shared a letter she had received from someone who as traveling through the area from Wisconsin to Missouri.

The person needed to stop and attend a Zoom meeting. They planned on stopping for the meeting in Quincy but wasn’t going to make it, so pulled over and searched for nearby libraries.

“I had never been to Fort Madison but trusted that libraries are a pillar of the community. I was not disappointed. The person working the counter navigated her new technology systems seamlessly and got me into a study room with time to spare,” the person wrote. :Thank you for the good work that you do for the community for strangers like me – and for democracy. The library and its team provides a safe place to work,…