PETERSBURG – The library in Petersburg is about a month away from unveiling its 20-foot storyteller totem pole.

The Petersburg Public Library is adding a roughly $40,000 red cedar totem pole called the "Storytellers Pole," carved by Tommy Joseph, a Tlingit carver from Sitka.

Joseph had an idea about 11 years ago to build a totem pole that caters to children and the storytellers they grow up with.

He pitched the idea to the Petersburg library about four years ago, and it stuck, but the library had to wait for it to be funded. With help from the Rasmuson Foundation, Petersburg Community Foundati...