The Camas Public Library will remain independent after a recommendation from the Camas City Council.
The council made its recommendation at the annual planning conference on Jan. 30, when the board unanimously agreed the library should remain independent, as opposed to join the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. It’s the last independent library in Clark County. The council discussed the issue and how the library operates at a Jan. 4 workshop.
“It was the right time to ask the question: Are we doing it the way it should be done, or is there a better way to do it?” Camas Mayor Scott Higgins said, adding that it made sense to remain independent. “That’s the way government should look at all services, by taking time to go through and see how everything works and getting its citizens the most bang for their buck.”
Discussion about whether to get annexed into the Fort Vancouver library district has popped up a few times in recent years, and was brought up about a year ago when then-director David Zavortink announced his retirement after 20-plus years running the Camas library.
The council still hasn’t decided whether to look for a new executive director, hire someone from in-house or restructure the library so that perhaps there isn’t a director in charge anymore. Higgins said he thinks they’ll decide in the next few weeks which path to take.
At a recent planning conference, City Administrator Peter Capell told the councilors that the city staff’s — and the library’s board of trustees’ — suggestion was to remain independent while furthering their relationship with Fort Vancouver.
Shared services
The library and Fort Vancouver have a contract for shared services that dates back to 1998. Patrons with a card to the Camas library can use it to request books from Fort Vancouver libraries, and people with Fort Vancouver library cards can use them in Camas.
Additionally, Higgins said, he thinks Fort Vancouver can help Camas with tech support, such as library-specific software and online materials.
“We wanted to figure out ways to enhance our digital library and have more offerings, like more magazines and books,” Higgins said. “That might really benefit us by working with Fort Vancouver, as opposed to doing that independently. That’s a real easy and good way to … enhance what we’re offering to citizens.”
Amelia Shelley, executive director of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, said that it’s possible the district and Camas will rework their contract. She estimated any new contract would start with Camas paying about $23,000 to the district for services Fort Vancouver already provides, including a shared catalogue and book delivery.
The decision to remain independent means that instead of Fort Vancouver running the Camas library, a five-person board of trustees from the city will continue to make decisions. The trustees are local residents, and have to be appointed and approved by the mayor and city council. Higgins said a lot of residents and councilors felt it was important to keep local residents in charge of the library’s decision-making.
“We get contact periodically about a lot of different issues from people on both sides,” Higgins said. “Rarely is the response so one-sided. The feedback we got from our citizen base was all about Camas pride in being independent. When you hear your constituents and they speak loudly, it’s great to move that forward.”
