Best Small Library in America 2011 (Library Journal)

"Everyone in town is proud of the Naturita Community Library. Thanks to tremendous local support and smart design, it is now housed in the largest straw bale library in America. The tiny, isolated town of Naturita, CO, population 665, according to the nomination, 'has unpaved streets, a per capita income just over half the state average, and a resource-dependent economy that has cycled through booms and busts.' It sits on the western slope of the Rockies, across the Uncompahgre Plateau from the county seat in Montrose where the main branch of the Montrose Regional Library District is located. The library district, of which NCL is a part, serves some 40,000 Coloradans, but only 2100 live in the western part of Montrose County and get library service from NCL"