Trempealeau, Wis., has been special to the people who lived here for thousands of years. In the state park adjoining town, the 425-foot rock Trempealeau Mountain —from the French for “mountain whose foot is bathed in water”—rises from the Trempealeau and mighty Mississippi rivers. Perrot State Park, a national wildlife refuge, and other public land surround much of this village of 1,700 people along the Mississippi.

Its residents are proud of this unique and dramatic part of the Driftless Area, where winding rivers incised deep valleys in the absence of the glaciers that flattened much of the Midwest. For librarian Jessica Schoonover, living in a place so connected to nature shaped how she thought about the future of her community’s library.

“It’s a very nature-oriented community,” said Jessica Schoonover, former director of the village’s Shirley M. Wright Memorial Library. “Our environment in Trempealeau is beautiful, so I was making sure that that part of our collection was as robust as possible, because our patrons wanted it. They want to learn about how to be a good steward of the environment.”

As any librarian can tell you, a book can change the course of a life. As Schoonover chose books to meet her patrons’ needs, she started reading “Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World,” by Kimberly Nicholas. 

“Her book asked you to look at your sphere of influence,” Schoonover said. “What can you do, where you are, with what you are doing?”

Schoonover realized that her sphere of influence was the Trempealeau library, where she had started working as an assistant after earning a communications and psychology degree and raising her young children. “I was a good library user, and I attended all the children’s programs with my kiddos, but I never thought I was going to be a library director and in charge of this beautiful library building,” she said. “This is my sphere of influence. Let’s make sure that this building is running as sustainably as possible.”

For Schoonover, library sustainability is twofold. The first part is the physical sustainability of the environment and the facility. The second is financial sustainability: how to maintain a vibrant place for community connection and resources long into the future?

Schoonover successfully applied for a grant through library supplier EBSCO and was one of five awardees internationally. With the  $40,000 award, she set out fundraising for the balance of the project.

Her success in funding a solar installation at Trempealeau—and realizing operational savings without using local tax dollars—caught the attention of the Winding Rivers Library System, which serves libraries in seven counties in Western Wisconsin. Now, as project and grants manager for Winding Rivers, Schoonover is helping the system’s 35 libraries capture solar savings.

In less than a year, five libraries have fully commissioned solar projects, and seven more are scheduled for completion in 2026. Together, these 12 library solar projects will have an annual estimated production of 480 megawatt-hours, offsetting the libraries’ energy costs by more than 91 percent.

None of the projects take dollars from the libraries’ operational budgets. Instead, they’re funded by a combination of an internal library system grant, negotiated discounts from installers, foundation grants, and fundraising from Friends groups, community organizations, and patrons passionate about their local library’s future.

Also critical to the efficiency of Schoonover’s work are federal direct pay tax credits available through the Inflation Reduction Act. These reimbursements cover 30 percent of the cost of solar projects, bringing solar savings closer to completion for small, rural libraries.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in 2025, has complicated these credits for libraries, but Schoonover’s work is still gaining attention across Wisconsin. She’s excited to share how more libraries can realize solar savings.

So far, each library is saving an average of about $300 per month in the winter, with expected summer savings of up to $500 monthly—a significant chunk for a small library that might have an annual budget of $80,000.

Each solar cohort library has a public-facing monitor that shows daily stats on energy savings, as Schoonover sees library solar as valuable tools for community education. “As a trusted institution, we have an opportunity to educate our public regarding energy savings,” she said.

As costs rise for utilities, insurance, materials, and fair compensation, the Winding Rivers’ solar program is a rare opportunity to save on ongoing expenses. “This significant monthly savings can be moved to programming and collection development and open hours and all these great things,” Schoonover said. 

Those savings can fuel more of what Schoonover values at her library—the sound of children playing with educational toys or grandparents reading library books out loud to their grandchildren. Savings can fund outreach to those who aren’t readers, through items like metal detectors and board games for check-out.

Schoonover sees libraries as providing more than materials. Last year, Winding Rivers libraries saw more than a million visits, and each visitor was seen, greeted, and served by staff who know their patrons in the community.

“There’s really something special about being known,  and you can be known at your public library,” Schoonover said. “You’re known. You’re welcome. You’re not expected to do or be or give anything. It’s a place where division gets left at the door.”

By lowering energy costs, the solar projects help libraries preserve exactly that kind of welcoming space far into the future.