This article features Naturita Community Library (NCL), winner of "LJ"'s 2011 Best Small Library in America Award, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The library is the largest straw bale library in America. 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 (MRLD) 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. In that setting, two NCL full-time and two part-time staffers, living up to the mission of the district library, mount an enthusiastic effort to "educate, enlighten, enrich, and entertain" and "to foster interest in reading and lifelong learning." Open 57 hours a week over six days, the library continually creates a vibrant and responsive community center for Naturita and the surrounding small towns. There patrons can tap into technology, distance education, and broad programming aimed at all.