ImagineIF Library Kalispell in Kalispell, Montana

A wonderful library. If they don't have a book, they find it for you to borrow, or even purchase, for the library. The next best thing to having a book store in town. Which we don't have.

I went to the city library today looking for a huge employment reference book that is supposed to be there regarding careers, how much you can make, how likely you are to get the career, schooling needed, ect. So I go in and I skim the first floor and it's all just fiction, so I thought "Well I'll ask before I go upstairs". I go up to the front desk, and this lady is talking with another employee at the desk, and as I say hi, they both ignore me. Finally one of them leaves, so I have full attention, and I ask 'Where is your reference section at?" and she just looks at me really condescending and goes "We don't have a reference section". So I responded "Uh, well you're supposed to have this book", and I gave her the name. She does this huge sigh and goes "Okay, let me look" types it in, and nothing comes up. Then she says "Yea, that book was probably disposed of. We don't have a reference section" and just kept going on in this very bored/annoyed tone like I was being irritating for insinuating that the city library would have anything that wasn't Fiction. I finally turn to leave, and she just throws a very insincere "sorry" as I get to the door. Rude behavior aside, I am a young person in their 20s who really needed that reference to help me find a career path. There is no excuse for a library not having a reference section, and the only plausible excuse is the assumption that everyone uses the internet. As someone who has lived in this valley most of their life, I can honestly say that is not the case. When you walk in you are met with a stand of teen level books, and skimming through the sections proves to be not much different, and it feels like a high school library rather than the county library. It also seriously needs to be aired out, as it smells horrible in there. I left the library feeling horrible and never wanting to go back. I would not recommend this library as it stands today to anyone.