Sequim library backers eager to try ballot measure for expansion
Lauren Corder, the new reference librarian at the Sequim Library, helps Bob Fuller search online for, find and print out a manual for his wristwatch. -- Photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News
By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News
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You could fit 23 Sequim Branch libraries inside Costco Wholesale. Two would almost squeeze inside Petco, and three would go inside the newest big box, Office Depot.
Yet the library at 630 N. Sequim Ave., promises plenty on its small footprint: some 58,000 books, tapes, CDs and DVDs - and a new librarian offering new services.
"I want to get people used to the fact that there's a reference librarian here," said Lauren Corder, who joined the branch's permanent staff a month ago.
"I can help them find where things are in town and where things are on the Internet," she said, adding that the variety of reference questions is wide:
She recently helped one patron find an online manual for a wristwatch, and answered another's question along the lines of "What was that book with the woman . . . who was a maid . . . who solved murder mysteries?"
The bond mystery
But if Corder solves such mysteries within hours, the fate of the Sequim Branch Library is another story.
Last summer, the North Olympic Library System Board of Trustees tentatively planned to put a bond on the ballot in spring 2009.
If approved by Sequim-area voters, the bond would pay for expansion of the Sequim branch - and it would mean a property-tax increase of 14 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or $42 annually on a $300,000 house.
But having heard some outcry from the Friends of the Sequim Library, the NOLS board has since decided to consider moving the bond election up to November 2008.
"We've taken a giant step forward in our partnership with NOLS," said Suzi Schmidt, president of the Friends of Sequim Library.
The Friends want to build onto the library as soon as possible, since construction costs will only rise as time passes.
'Levy lid lift'
The NOLS board could propose another property tax increase next year, in a ballot measure known as a "levy lid lift" to go to voters countywide next August.
If the lift is approved, the library system will be able to scoot out from the budget cap it's labored under for six years.
In 2001, Initiative 747 imposed a 1 percent lid on libraries' budget increases, and that has hurt the system's ability to provide services and buy materials, said Paula Barnes, the North Olympic system's director.
The levy lid lift could raise the amount Clallam property owners pay for libraries from the current 33 cents per $1,000 in assessed value to 43 to 60 cents per $1,000.
The lower increase is more likely, Barnes said.
Corder, who in June completed her master's in library science at the University of Washington, is a part-time staffer hired to replace longtime librarian Jola Nicola, who retired in October.
In the meantime
Since lifts and expansions are still many months away, the Friends of the Sequim Library are looking for ways to improve the branch's existing environment.
They plan to work with NOLS and Buffalo Design, a Seattle architecture firm that has designed libraries across the Northwest.
Buffalo, which will be paid up to $5,000 from NOLS's budget, will help the Friends find ways to make the Sequim library "like a new building," said Schmidt.
Later this month she, a Buffalo architect and representatives from NOLS will look for ways to rearrange - not remodel, since that would be too costly - Sequim's library.
The Friends have money to invest in the slight face lift, Schmidt added.
The group's treasury contains $185,000, from a benefactor's gift of $69,000 plus the $2,000 or so that comes in from monthly used-book sales.
Only a portion of the Friends' bank account will be spent on this project, Schmidt said. The group shares its income year-round with the library so it can purchase new materials.
At the same time Corder, 41, plans to fit as much service into her 22.5-hours-a-week schedule as possible.
She wants to update the Sequim branch's collection and remind people that they can request books, including the latest best-sellers, and obtain titles from other libraries around the county and country.
Both the near- and long-term plans for improving the library make this an exciting time, Corder said. She wants to start reading groups and other adult programs in Sequim.
"We can do innovative things here," she added.
"I love books and learning, and being able to share that love with the community," said Corder, "is a dream come true."
A used-book and used-movie sale, with paperbacks, hardcovers, videotapes and DVDs, will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday behind the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave.
Proceeds from the sale will go to the veterans relief fund administered by the Sequim Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Peninsula Daily News
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Sequim Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: November 05. 2007 9:00PM