Tiny libraries popping up throughout Clallam area

Published 12:01 am Friday, July 31, 2015

PORT ANGELES — In the mood for a good read? It’s no longer necessary to go to the library for a book. You can just walk down to City Pier and pick up one from the blue-and-green cabinet outside the Feiro Marine Life Center.

The Tiny Olympic Library is the first of four stationary cabinets that will be erected over the next couple of weeks throughout Clallam County.

“It’s a way to bring libraries where people are rather than them always having to come to the libraries,” said Margaret Jakubcin, director of the North Olympic Library System (NOLS), which operates public libraries in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and Clallam Bay.

Stocked by library staff members, the 5½-foot-tall cabinets on black poles contain books for both children and adults.

And the books are free of any obligations.

“When borrowing books from any Tiny Olympic Library, there’s no need to worry about due dates, fines or renewals. The books you find are yours to keep, share or return,” Jakubcin said.

Library staff will frequently refresh the selection, she added.

Ribbon-cutting

A ribbon was cut for the Port Angeles tiny library Wednesday.

It contained 52 books, and 46 were borrowed during its first evening of operation, Jakubcin said Thursday.

The first book was borrowed 15 minutes after the cabinet was opened. It was a Calvin and Hobbes collection.

Other tiny libraries are planned at Seal Street Park in Sequim, Clallam Transit Center in Forks and Sunsets West Co-op in Clallam Bay.

A traveling book cabinet will show up at the Clallam County Fair, set Aug. 20-23 at the fairgrounds at 1608 W. 16th St.

The project is a collaboration among the library system, the North Olympic Library Foundation and the various venues — the cities of Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks, as well as Clallam Transit and Sunsets West Co-op, Jakubcin said.

“It’s a growing trend that people put up little free libraries, usually on their personal property,” she said.

“There is a certain amount of interest among the staff to do this, and that fit well with the North Olympic Library Foundation’s desire to work on projects beyond the library walls.”

All the cabinets are custom-designed and locally made, she said.

Libraries on the Move

The collaborative Tiny Olympic Libraries are the first in a series of proposed Libraries on the Move projects, she said.

The projects “will support and enhance NOLS’s ability to deliver library services when and where they are needed,” she added.

To learn more about Tiny Olympic Libraries and other library services, visit www.nols.org or contact Jakubcin at 360-417-8500, ext. 7714, or director@nols.org.