Previously: A Fort Vancouver Regional Library District facilities study recommended new or expanded branches in three cities.
What’s new: A team from FFA Architecture and Interiors of Portland visited the Ridgefield, Washougal and Woodland libraries Friday.
What’s next: Project leaders will schedule public meetings in each community.
An architectural team dropped in at three community libraries Friday to gather information for a project. The team members were not looking at reference materials.
They were looking at the libraries, as well as their communities.
The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District recently rolled out a facilities study, which recommended new or expanded libraries in Ridgefield, Washougal and Woodland.
Previously: A Fort Vancouver Regional Library District facilities study recommended new or expanded branches in three cities.
What's new: A team from FFA Architecture and Interiors of Portland visited the Ridgefield, Washougal and Woodland libraries Friday.
What's next: Project leaders will schedule public meetings in each community.
Portland architect Troy Ainsworth heads a pre-design team that includes a technology specialist, a library planner and a former small-town librarian.
During the library visits Friday, the team also looked at the communities and met local leaders who will play a big role in whatever happens in each city.
“A lot will be about public process and outreach,” Ainsworth said.
“What are people in these communities looking for?”
While the district’s facilities plan included some basic concepts, “It is fairly general, and a lot of tailoring needs to be done,” Ainsworth said.
Ainsworth, principal at FFA Architecture and Interiors in Portland, said he anticipates holding a first round of public meetings in July.
Many of the specifics are expected to come from leadership teams in each community. Their job will include exploring fundraising opportunities and possible local partnerships.
Nancy Tessman, executive director of the library district, said the nonprofit Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation will help create the teams. Each leadership group will include a library trustee, a local elected official, a library staff member and community members.
After the first round of community meetings, “We should have an idea about sizes, and then we can start figuring budgets,” Ainsworth said.
A second round of meetings between mid-July and mid-August can focus on funding and locations.
Ainsworth expects to present a final report to the library’s board of trustees in September.
Tight quarters
The libraries at Ridgefield, Washougal and Woodland are all less than 2,400 square feet, and space figures to become even tighter as all three communities continue to grow.
Sean McGill, librarian at Ridgefield, says his branch could use more space for users as well as for technology.
“We have two Internet terminals now,” McGill said. “We need more seating in the children’s area and for general-use tables. In the afternoon, it’s packed” when kids get out of school.
If Ridgefield does get more space, McGill said, he would like to have a buffer between two distinct areas: a quiet corner for the people who want to read in peace, and a more active space for children.
Washougal librarian Chris Hughey said 2,400 square feet doesn’t go far in their branch. Space is so tight that the staff has to move furnishings around to hold programs.
“We have bookcases on wheels,” she said. “We roll them out of the way to make room for children’s programs.”
Space is just one issue for Justin Keeler, community librarian at Woodland.
The library is housed in a structure that was built in 1909; the library moved into the building in 1926.
“It’s too old, and it’s too small,” Keeler said. “There is no way it could be remodeled.”
Library programs have to be held in the community center, and they have to take place around the community center’s schedule.
The collection of books and other library materials is inadequate, Keeler said, and the building is not accessible to people with disabilities.
There are only four computer terminals, and there is no place for people to use their own laptops, Keeler said.
Like Woodland, the Washougal library is in a city-owned building; the Ridgefield library leases space in the city’s community center.
The library district would prefer to have new branches, rather than expand the libraries in their current locations.
“It’s always great when you can build new space,” Ainsworth said. “Retrofitting old buildings and upgrading them for long-term library use is becoming increasingly expensive and difficult. So many library services now are based on technology.”
Some of the technology problems can be much more fundamental than lack of computer resources, Keeler said — such as when the Woodland library had wiring issues.
“We couldn’t turn the lights off for three weeks,” Keeler said.
