Cindy Bishop reads from a book during story time at the Cache County Library in Providence on Tuesday.
After confirming reports of Cache County Executive George Daines’ recommendation to defund the Cache County Library, The Herald Journal spoke with parties close to the topic, with the goal of gaining insight from both sides of the discussion.
Daines, Cache County Chief Deputy Executive Curt Webb, Library Director Brynnan Sainsbury and Cache County Councilmembers Mark Hurd and David Erickson participated in individual interviews, with the exception of Daines and Webb.
For Daines and Webb, who can only recommend the council defund the library, their defense of the recommendation revolves around their perceived unfairness of double-taxing an estimated 80% of citizens who already pay taxes for their municipalities’ library services.
“It isn’t a question about the library or the librarian, or whether they’re using their resources well; they are,” Daines said. “The question is whether we should continue to provide a library by taxing all citizens in Cache (County), to pay for it.”
Daines and Webb also feel there are ample other library-related resources available to residents in municipalities which don’t operate a library or maintain a partnership with a municipality that does, including libraries’ free programming and school libraries.
While the Cache County Library is free to every resident in Cache County, just as municipalities’ libraries are free to their residents and other municipalities supported, Daines said “free” isn’t an adequate description in either case, seeing as how each municipality — Cache County included — recoups its library’s operating costs by taxing its own residents.
Daines also cited each library offering their services to out-of-range county residents for what he believes is nearly the exact cost they tax their own residents for the service.
With other libraries in Logan, North Logan, Smithfield, Hyrum, Newton, Richmond, Mendon and Lewiston, providing support to select, other municipalities in the county, such as Hyrum’s agreement with Wellsville and Nibley, Daines and Webb said the Cache County Library primarily supports a relatively small chunk of the county, though it is available to all.
The duo also largely put the onus on the cities themselves, which either chose not to build their own libraries or haven’t entered an agreement with a city which does have one, such as those in close proximity to the county library — Providence, River Heights and Millville.
“Our analysis is that the use of the county library is 70% focused on those three cities, because of its location,” Daines said. “The other city that doesn’t have library services is Hyde Park and the reason Hyde Park doesn’t have library services is (because) it elected not to join with North Logan, in building the new North Logan Library.”
Also, Paradise does not fund a library or have an agreement with a municipality that does.
Daines and Webb also pointed to a 2010-vote in which non-Logan residents voted against a countywide-library system, 52% to 48%. The same vote in which 66% of Logan residents voted one.
Erickson, who raised questions about the county’s decision to fund the library to the tune of $231,832, provided a similar opinion as Daines and Webb.
“I think that we have a library — because of its location — there is a group of people there using it heavily,” Erickson said. “There are some online services that I think could be provided without having a main library there.”
While Erickson cited the county’s potential to provide an online service such as Libby to residents, in place of the library and at a cost-savings for the county — if the library were defunded — Daines and Webb also mentioned the availability of other online services, which could supplement the potential loss.
The other side of the discussion, led by Sainsbury and supplemented by Hurd, is supported by the library being the only one available to all county residents for free and the overall value it brings to those who use it.
Sainsbury, who immediately took to social media with a “SAVE THE CACHE COUNTY LIBRARY” effort, following hearing of Daines’ recommendation, said 265 people participated in her “letter-writing party” on Saturday, and another 1,324 responses were submitted through an online portal, as of Monday.
Though Sainsbury acknowledged not every respondent likely uses the library, “It just shows that libraries are important, in general, and maybe you aren’t using this library, but you know that your neighbor is using it, or you know that this community needs this library.
“So you’re willing to put in time and your own resources into helping other people have library access.”
The library is also more than a collection of books.
“People use this (as) a space to leave their house, especially young families who maybe can’t afford to pay for activities; they often come to the library as a free thing,” Sainsbury said, citing responses also calling the library a safe and calm space.
“This is a place for community and it’s a place for community members to meet, as well,” she later added. “A lot of young moms meet at story time — they haven’t talked to another adult in a while, but this is where they come and make adult friendships.”
Sainsbury also cited the library as a popular location for nearby students to come after school, whether it be waiting to be picked up or to exchange their reading materials.
As far as the data goes, Sainsbury presented that, as well.
Estimating the library as supporting close to 30,000 residents who don’t have access to another free service in the county, Sainsbury data shows 14,656 visitors in 2025, 3,900-plus library cards — which she said can be used by multiple people — and nearly a 50% increase in the library’s summer reading program, from 2024 to 2025.
According to Sainsbury, accounts made by citizens of Logan, Hyde Park, River Heights, Hyrum and Smithfield, nearly doubled, relative to 2024’s accounts created, as well.
Data presented also reports 2,007 accounts being used in person and 1,415 accounts being used online, either through Libby or Overdrive.
With 78.6% of the 2025 calendar year gone, here are other numbers to consider:
Last year, the library circulated 45,075 resources in-person, while this year’s total sits at 33,215 — approximately 73.7% of last year’s total.
Online circulations made in 2024 total 29,944, while this year’s total is 29,129 — approximately 97.3% of last year’s total.
Sainsbury reported 21,688 visitors in 2024 and 14,656 in 2025 — making 2025’s total 67.6% of last year’s total.
“Obviously the activity of the library is going to ebb and flow… but what I’ve found in the time that I’ve been on the county council is that most people in Cache County are unaware that they have access to the county library, and I think — unfortunately — a big part of that is that it’s located off the path for most people,” Hurd said. “That’s something the board has talked about; ‘How do we expand and promote awareness?'”
While Sainsbury and Hurd’s stance are clear, with Hurd even mentioning discussions had by himself and the rest of the Cache County Library Board suggesting finding a second location for a library, Daines, Webb and Erickson’s are, as well.
Ultimately, the decision rests with none of them, solely, as both Erickson and Hurd’s votes are only a portion of the seven-member council’s final decision.
The Cache County Council will review Daines’ tentative budget for 2026 during its meeting on Oct. 28, which begins at 5 p.m.
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