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While the Takoma Park Maryland Library remains the only independent, municipal-run library in the state, it's what the staff does with that independence that makes the library truly special.

Despite the obvious drawbacks of not receiving funds from the county public library system, the small library has grown from a collection of 200 books in a small house on Jackson Avenue to about 60,000 titles today, largely due to its ability to respond quickly and flexibly to the demands of a unique community without having to report to a larger county system.

"Takoma Park is an amazing community to be a librarian in because everything you do is received so well, and the independence is good for that reason. We don't have to conform to a larger county system of rules," Library Director Ellen Arnold Robbins said. "It gives us enormous flexibility."

The library was founded in 1935 by the Takoma Park Women's Club in a donated house on Jackson. In 1955, the facility relocated to its current address on Philadelphia Avenue, where it was eventually taken on as a branch of the city government in 1963. While many of the county's previously independent libraries applied for state funds during this time, Takoma Park never did, Robbins said.

The library received about $100,000 last year from the county in a payment in lieu of taxes, while the city funded about $756,248 in 2008 to pay the eight library employees and for other supplies. Most of the library's programs are funded by the Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library, who contributed more than $14,000 from donations, two book sales and money from an annual golf tournament in 2008, according to city budget documents.

With only primary fundraisers and the community to answer to, the library can incorporate suggestions from residents much more quickly than a larger branch could. Often suggestions for new programs are approved the same night they are introduced in monthly Friends meetings, according to Friends President Rebekah Zanditon.

"Its goal is to be totally responsible to Takoma Park residents," she explained. "It doesn't have to follow the rules of the larger county which may have rules that would apply to all other branches."

One of Takoma Park's unique offerings is its comprehensive comic book and graphic novel collection, part of the library's approach to comic books as a literacy tool for children, said librarian David Burbank.

"Kids will often feel like reading is not for them because it's not something they do at home," he said. "Then they'll come in here and see all the comics and … it's something they can relate to, they'll actually sit down and read. … The words are given to them in the context of a larger picture."

Another example of the library's flexibility came last November when youth coordinator Karen MacPherson had to stand in for the library's Spanish circle time instructor, who was ill. Instead of cancelling the program, MacPherson decided to run with it.

"But since I don't speak any Spanish and am fairly fluent in French, I decided to try a French-English circle time," she said, and the program was a success.

After a brief discussion and overwhelming support from the Friends group, the new youth language program will meet this week for the third time, MacPherson said. A native French speaker MacPherson met at another library program will lead the English-French circle time.

Montgomery County Public Library Director Parker Hamilton agreed that while county branches are well-equipped to adjust to their independent communities thanks to the massive support network that comes from the county system, independent libraries often beat the larger systems to the punch.

"If we have to go through county procurement, it might take a longer time [to start a new program]," she said. "When I started my career [in Illinois], I worked at a very small independent library and one of the good things there was, and I guess this is what Takoma Park is saying, you see the need and you get it done."

-Belgium native and former preschool teacher Marie DeFeche-Mackler will teach another class of the library's new French-English circle time 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. March 28.

-The Friends of the Library will hold its annual meeting and election 7:30 p.m. March 31. The meeting will feature a reprise of the December program, "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies" with a musical accompaniment by students of local musician Wendy Lanxner. Food will also be served at the meeting, which is open to the public.

-The library is located at 101 Philadelphia Ave.