The one-room library on Fall Creek’s main drag is modest, with its cozy chairs perched by the only natural light source, shelving units of literary works, and tables in the back corner for offered activities.
But Library Director Charlene Conradi, her volunteers, the library board, and now residents of the Village have bigger (nearly 8,000 square feet bigger) plans.
Conradi, now 35, has spent the last two years planning for the day Fall Creek Public Library supporters would dig the first shovelful of dirt at the new library site. But in 2017, when she was considering entering Chippewa Valley Technical College’s new Library and Information Services program, the thought of building a new library from the ground up was the furthest from her mind.
“I had perused the CVTC website so many times for so many hours,” Conradi said, thinking back eight years ago. “When I saw that new program and was reading the description, something clicked, and I felt like it really fit my goals, skills and passions.”
College bound
In 2008, when Conradi graduated from Osseo-Fairchild High School, she got married and had children soon after. She stayed home with their kids while her husband worked outside of the home. By the time their children were in elementary school, Conradi, 28, was ready to pursue a college degree.
“I was really nervous. I think I signed up for 16 credits my first semester,” Conradi said, laughing at the hefty workload. “But I’ve always been really good at meeting a challenge.”
The stars began aligning for Conradi right away. As soon as she was accepted into the library program at CVTC, she also landed a job at the Fall Creek Public Library in youth services. When she wasn’t involved in CVTC’s online courses, she was working about 15 hours a week at the library and was able to immediately apply what she was learning.
Conradi learned about grant writing and programming, advocating for libraries; copyright, licensing and information ethics; effective use of library services and a host of other tools important for those working in a library setting.
And when she was graduating from the program at CVTC in 2019, the stars aligned again. The director position opened at the Fall Creek library, and she transitioned into the role.
“The library program at CVTC prepared you to take over – to be a director certified through the state, so it was absolutely perfect,” she said.
Jumping in with both feet
It wasn’t a complete surprise to Conradi that a new library space could be on the horizon. The library’s strategic plan laid out facility concerns by community members and library staff.
“We have an extreme lack of space here,” she said of the library’s current location on Lincoln Avenue. “You’re able to see the whole library from wall to wall. What you see is what you get. And if you’re looking for a quiet place to study, you hope not to come on a Wednesday morning when we have story time.
“Once the need was identified, the next step was to do a facility assessment and a feasibility study.”
The Fall Creek Public Library, at a bit more than 3,000 square feet, was established in 1954 and is nestled in a building with Village services and administrators.
With Conradi’s research and direction, and support from the library board, village board and administrators, and stakeholders, in October 2024, Fall Creek received the largest grant in its history at $4.25 million to build a new library.
The impressive grant from the Flexible Facilities Program was awarded to the Village by Gov. Tony Evers on behalf of the Wisconsin Department of Administration as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
Conradi, in part, credits her education at CVTC for giving her the tools to seek out and write for the grant and coordinate the myriad of moving parts associated with library perception and fundraising campaigns.
“I have a great support team. We have an awesome group of key stakeholders on our village side and on the library side to make things happen here, like this new building project,” she said.
Jen Cook, CVTC Library and Information Services instructor, remembers Conradi well. She was in Cook’s first cohort of LIS students in 2017.
“I could tell she would be a (library) director someday,” Cook said. “She was a great student. She always went above and beyond on all projects. She formed a group that would meet outside of class and over social media. She would do more than what was required.
“When we have people like Charlene (Conradi) in the job who care about their community, and they trust her, she’s going to do great things.”
In Her Own Words
Charlene Conradi, CVTC alumna and Fall Creek Public Library director, shares her view of how libraries fit into the lives of community members.
“I hope that people are starting to see that libraries are just so much more than books. Especially here in Fall Creek, we are really the only open public meeting space for people, which is crucial for community groups.
We do off-site meetings for our school, and for other organizations. We provide spaces for remote work and telehealth. One of the big things that the community is struggling with is that we don’t have any private space for them in our current facility. We’re trying to execute telehealth and remote work, and we need to provide access for our community, especially in rural Wisconsin. Many people in rural Eau Claire County do not have reliable internet access. We also host early literacy initiatives. That zero-to-five age group is so important to have exposure to words and books. We offer that here, and we really try to promote that in our community and beyond.
We don’t want to forget about our teens in the community. Often, they don’t have very many spaces in small towns that are truly free and safe and accessible, so we have really made a proactive effort to be a welcoming space for teens, too.”
