Reardan Memorial Library

Reardan Memorial Library serves as a public information provider for our community, using traditional and innovative technology to encourage curiosity, free inquiry and lifelong learning in a friendly environment.

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Reardan Readers:

The Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is available in Lincoln County to all children under age 5!

Thanks to the Washington State Library and the Columbia Basin Foundation, all children in Lincoln County are eligible to receive one book in the mail, once a month until their 5th birthday. The book is addressed directly to the child, which increases their excitement to receive the item.

According to Research - Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

The Dollywood Foundation initiated a review of over 20 years of research conducted on Imagination Library programs in the U.S. and internationally. The findings from the body of DPIL research indicate the program is extremely popular in the communities where its implemented and shows promise in promoting changes in home literacy environments, children’s attitudes toward reading, and early literacy skills.

Parents believed their children were more interested in reading due to receiving the books each month.
Participating children were excited when their Imagination Library books arrived in the mail monthly, addressed specifically to the child.
Some studies found Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had promise with respect to developing children’s early literacy skills, as participants had more advanced skills than their classmates who did not participate in the program.

This program comes at no cost to you, the parent or guardian. Sign your children up at

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU

A Note about online eBooks and audiobooks:

Reardan Memorial Library participates in the Washington Anytime Library which is a consortium of 45 small libraries throughout the state. In order to supply you with the downloadable books, Reardan pays a fee to the state library every year. The subscription cost for 2022 was $457.94. In 2023 the cost is $523.29. This is a great rate for the more than 73,000 titles available to us!

The Reardan Library does not want to discourage anyone from using the online library, but we want you to be wise consumers. So, we want to share the details about how the downloadable system works.

Online books are not purchased like physical books. Once I purchase a physical book for the Reardan Memorial Library, that book belongs to the library until it is weeded from the library. A physical book can be checked out many times at no extra cost. In fact, the more it is checked out, the better the purchase was.

Most online books are not actually able to be purchased by the Washington Anytime Library. There are 3 basic models under which downloadable books are acquired.

In the first model, the library purchases a license for the books. The consortium pays a set fee each time the book is checked out. For example, if a book is bought at $10 per use and checked out only once, the library pays $10. If the book is checked out 20 times, the library pays $200.

Another licensing model allows a set amount of time for the book to be checked out. For example, the library buys a book for 6 months for $1000. If the book is checked out once, or if the book is checked out 100 times, it still costs the library $1000. After 6 months, the library must buy the license again to keep the book available.
A limited number of books are bought in the traditional way. Once the Washington Anytime Library purchases the book, it is theirs to keep and can be checked out without any additional cost.

When we keep costs down, the Washington Anytime Library is able to buy more copies of books and purchase more new titles. You can support this by checking out an eBook or audiobook when you feel confident you will be able to get to it. Before checking out a book you may have read before, you can check your history. If you're not sure about a book, consider the "Read Sample" option before checking out.

Most of the Washington Anytime Library books are not "unlimited use," so being a wise consumer makes more books available for everyone. Enjoy the many eBooks and audiobooks you have at your fingertips, and happy reading!

Explore our Gale Databases for research.

Click on the databases button on the left side of the webpage. Gale will open. The sign in for the databases is your library card number. Because we use bar codes, your number may need to be preceded by zeroes. The total number of digits should be 14. For example: 00000000012345. Please call Suzanne at 509.994.9997 if you need help getting your number.

There are many databases. Use the drop down to see all the available options.