Patrons of the downtown Vancouver Community Library offered well wishes for the building’s fifth birthday on Sunday.
“This is my little grandson’s favorite place. Thank you,” said one of the messages written on a long sheet of butcher paper.
“Many happy returns to this library’s birthday.”
“Awesome place for my little reader! Thank you and happy birthday!”
“I have been here since the moment you were open, and you shall be here after I am gone.”
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the library’s opening, there was an ice cream social on the front lawn that coincidentally coincided with National Ice Cream Day, annually held on the third Sunday in July. Chocolate was the most popular flavor, said Milton Jones, who heads Friends of Vancouver Community Library. That’s the volunteer group that sells donated books and heads up Booknook.
Jones recalled being at the library opening five years ago.
“I was here handing out bookmarks on that day and then I flew off to Korea to teach,” he said. “Here I am five years later, still alive and breathing and still loving our library.”
While Sunday was a mildly warm, sunny day, five years ago there was a downpour.
“We had closed the street and we had tents in the street. C Street became like a river of rainwater flowing down. It was quite a day,” said Sue Vanlaanen, the library’s former communications and marketing director. “But we had people lined up around the building. Despite the rain, people were standing in line with umbrellas. People were just delighted to get in here.”
That day, young actors dressed up as storybook characters and greeted people on the stairway landings.
“It was cool when everybody came in they were up there waving like ‘welcome to the books,'” Vanlaanen said.
For Sunday’s celebration, the library offered live music, crafts and a self-guided tour of the library. Volunteers with Friends of the Vancouver Community Library headed the ice cream social, as well as a mini book sale.
After five years of being in service, it felt like a good time to stop and take stock, said Branch Manager Jackie Spurlock.
“Libraries are having to reinvent themselves now that e-books are so popular, the internet, all of that,” she said.
The library recently hired an experiential learning librarian, who will focus on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education, as well as the maker movement.
Makerspaces are where people get together to make things. While the library isn’t set up for a dedicated makerspace, Spurlock said they would do pop-up groups. They might, say, temporarily set up a 3-D printer for people to use.
Spurlock said the library is also starting regular art galleries featuring local artists. It’ll kickoff sometime in the fall with artwork made by people who are homeless or have experienced homelessness.
The library revived its forums that offer a neutral space for people with differing opinions to talk about issues. March’s topic was affordable housing while June was about incivility and polarization. Political candidates will talk in the fall and a forum on local food is scheduled for the winter.
Amelia Shelley, executive director of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, said there’s interest in improving the branch’s parking lot, which is too small for the 1,200 to 1,500 people who visit each day.
Javier Gaeta said his family comes to the downtown library every Thursday; that’s how they found out about Sunday’s celebration. The family alternates between visiting the downtown library and the Cascade Park Community Library.
“The kids are readers and they love coming here,” Gaeta said. “The library is one of our favorite places.”
His six-year-old daughter Tamara Ramirez was busy putting together a paper kitty party hat. Gaeta’s son, 10-year-old Leo Ramirez, said he reads five or six books every week.
“Sometimes, I read fiction. Sometimes, I read nonfiction,” he said.
He looked confused at hearing that the library just turned five. “I thought the library was 15, not five.”
