The announcement seemed to stun many in the room.

During a presentation in American Fork recently, City Council members were being shown suggestions gathered in a survey of library patrons when Councilwoman Heidi Rodeback suddenly halted the conversation.

The third suggestion, displayed on a large screen, was from a patron demanding that a countywide library be created as soon as possible, similar to that of Salt Lake County. By coincidence, Utah County Commissioner Gary Anderson happened to be sitting in the audience.

"I want you to see No. 3," Rodeback said to Anderson, with a small laugh. "Let's do something about that."

"That is being worked on," said Anderson. "We will be in touch."

Noise in the room evaporated. Rodeback, other council members and members of the American Fork library board all seemed stunned.

"That is a priority, in fact," Anderson said to break the silence. "I think you are the model. We want it to be countywide, and we think it is long past due."

The "model" Anderson referred to is the seed of a north county library system more than a year in the making. Frustrated by years of discussion about the idea of a countywide system but no action, mayors and librarians from Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Lehi and Eagle Mountain banded together to create a north county system.

Librarians from the four cities have just finished presenting a draft plan for the system to each of the four cities, and work is now beginning on a legal document to seal the deal. If all four cities sign the paperwork -- and all are expected to -- a north Utah County library system could be in place at the beginning of the fiscal year, which starts on July 1.

Speaking in an interview on Friday, Sheena Parker, director of the American Fork library, said she had no knowledge of the county's renewed interest in a countywide library before Anderson's announcement, but welcomed it.

Anderson said on Friday that he keeps a fluid, written list of priorities on his desk and creating a countywide library system is now No. 3. The issue came to him as a surprise while he was campaigning for his office.

"It was amazing to me how many people brought it up," he said, noting he had never thought much about it and knew little about libraries. "I studied the issue and I said 'Holy cow, we need a countywide system.' "

He said he recently learned about the nascent north county system and plans to ask the librarians organizing it to meet with the full county commission "within 30 to 60 days" to discuss how it might be expanded countywide. A task force to organize the countywide effort should be in place before the end of the year.

Traditionally, the inequality of spending among libraries has been the death knell for a countywide system. Provo and Orem now allow patrons to use each other's libraries free of charge, and once those cities shared that deal with Springville, which dropped out after changing its computer system. With by far the largest and most expensive collections in the county, Provo and Orem have expressed concern in the past that their libraries would bear the brunt of countywide usage, and they would need to be compensated for that.

Anderson cautioned that those concerns still exist and putting together a countywide system will take a lot of negotiating. He said he is willing to personally mediate with Provo, Orem and other libraries around the county if necessary.

"I have access and I have relationships with all these cities and if we need to (mediate), I'm willing to do it," he said. "I don't think anyone is not in support of it, but it is not going to be an overnight thing. There are logistical and financial problems. But we need to maximize our resources. There is no reason why someone from Elk Ridge can't go to the Orem library to check out a book."

Eagle Mountain librarian Michele Graves recently told council members in that city that not a day goes by when one or more library patrons ask about a countywide system.

"We are getting a lot of residents in Eagle Mountain and other libraries that are wanting a countywide system put in place, or at least want us to find out why we don't have one," she said, noting the proposed north county system "is very doable. We have gone through a lot of research to find out what is fair and equitable for all four libraries."

In the north county system, residents of Lehi, Pleasant Grove and American Fork will be able to use their library cards at any library in the system at no additional charge. Residents of Eagle Mountain will pay a $35 fee for north countywide access, and residents of north county cities without a library will pay $70 for north countywide access. Some cities without a library already reimburse their residents for half the cost of a library card.

Eventually, nonresident fees for the north county system "could be lowered or disappear, but in the beginning we think this is fair," Graves said.

To use the system, residents must have a card from their "home" library. "Home" libraries are assigned to each city without a library. Books must be returned to the library they were borrowed from, and fines will be paid at the library where they are owed.

Kristi Seely, director of the Lehi Public Library, said Lehi is likely to bear the brunt of the north county system, but issues of money must not keep the system from launching.

"This has needed to happen for so long, it is just something that has to happen," she said, speaking to members of the Eagle Mountain Council. "If everyone says 'This is my library, don't touch my books,' then it won't happen."

Caleb Warnock can be reached at 443-3263 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it