Cooperation no substitute for small libraries

Permalink +

Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 8:18 am  //  John Servais

Finally, all Whatcom County libraries are putting together a cooperative agreement. Starting later this summer, any local library card holder can check out a book from any local library and return it to any other library.

Thus, a person with a Bellingham Library card can check out books at Western Washington University or Whatcom Community College - and return the books to the Bellingham Library. Details are still being worked out, but you may be able to reserve the book online and then pick it up at the most convenient library near where you live or work. Lets hope they set up the agreement that way - as it then makes the process 'green.'  It would be nice if they invited the public to comment or participate in this planning - but apparently that is not to be.  Secrecy and surprise announcement are the local way.  

The project was the idea of new WWU President Bruce Shepard. He pushed to get the various library administrations together and work out a deal that actually benefits the citizens. Of course in this tight economic time, such a move also serves as goodwill for budget requests from various government agencies. And this cooperative process costs very little for the different library systems. Very little.

As is usual with new government projects in our community, the various libraries agreed to keep mum and let the Bellingham Herald have the scoop on the story. Most citizens don't realize how routine that practice is. A mayor or board will notify the Herald of a planned process, sometimes weeks ahead, and the Herald agrees to keep quiet until the plan is complete. This is not reporting - it is being a Public Relations agency for governments.  The Herald aids government secrecy - not transparency.

But I digress. This cooperative library system is a long-desired step forward in library services for local taxpayers. We pay for the Mabel Zoe Wilson Library at Western. We pay for the one at Whatcom Community College, the Whatcom County Library System and the Bellingham Library. Hopefully, Western will designate some convenient parking lot for non-campus users - otherwise it could be a real problem finding parking there.

From the Bellingham Library Administration's view, this is another step in trying to avoid building branch or small libraries in neighborhoods that are far from the main library downtown. Well, it won't cut it. Being able to go to Western or to WCC at Cordata is no help to those in Silver Beach or Yew Street. Birchwood is still across I-5 from WCC. Cordata residents will not find the books they desire to read at WCC. We do not need a new $60 million downtown Taj Mahal library. We need three or four small $8 million libraries situated in neighborhoods like Cordata, Silver Beach, Birchwood and Yew Street/Lakeway. That saves taxes, is much 'greener,' and provides much better service to all residents. Also, libraries double as community meeting rooms and resources. We who live in Fairhaven treasure our library and only hope other outlying parts of the city will also get their own libraries soon.

So, we welcome this new exchange and cooperative service from all our local libraries. We thank Bruce Shepard - who is new to our area - for pushing this on the administrations who have ignored it for decades.

Many of us look forward - when the economy gets better - to working toward funding a citizen approved levy for three or four small libraries costing only half the planned $60 million of a huge and wasteful downtown library.

Steve Wilson  //  Sun, Aug 08, 2010, 8:24 am

Thanks for highlighting this positive development in the local library system.  Cooperation goes a long way.
I will take issue with your wishful thinking about future library development.  The prospects of downtown library expansion and/or branch libraries is delusional thinking.  We still live in a bubble world of grossly overpriced housing and a shrinking job market.  Better to count our simple blessings and practice some patience…and hope we can stay healthy enough to walk, bike or hop on the bus to visit the library wherever it may be.  Please, no more parking lots!..especially at WWU.

David Camp  //  Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 12:26 pm

I grew up in a town that didn;t have a public library, and had to take the bus or ride my bike the 4 miles to the nearest public library, since the local college library was not open to schoolkids. Now, with volunteer effort and very small amounts of money, my home town does have a library, and the local youth and families have access to the tools of lifelong learning.

I agree with the article that more neighborhood libraries are required. WHy on earth this should cost $8 million is beyond me…...my town did the whole job on a shoestring (less than $100,000), donations of books, and only one paid person and a lot of volunteers. Annual operating costs are also less than $100,000.

We need less self-serving grandiose plans and more sensible community involvement.

And the inter-library cooperation agreement is a very good step.

DOes anyone know whether a public library member has access to WWU’s full collection, including academic journals? This would be most excellent!

John Servais  //  Mon, Aug 09, 2010, 12:52 pm

In truth, I just suggested $8 million per library as a possible max cost.  Indeed, I think it could and should be much less - perhaps $2 or $3 million.  The cost would depend on how much we citizens could keep our city fathers from adding marginal features. 

Regardless, even four new branch or neighborhood libraries would a fraction of the cost our mayor Dan Pike is insisting on planning and spending for a huge central library on the waterfront.  A year ago it was $56 million and we can all safely figure this would quickly swell to over $60 million.  Four branch libraries for a total of $10 million or more are far more feasible.  And far more practical for our city.

Yes, we could make far more use of volunteers at our libraries - and many people are ready to volunteer.  At our Fairhaven library we have tried for many years to convince the library administration to allow volunteers.  The administration says the unions will not allow it.  But that seems not true from what I have heard from union persons.  You have to understand that both sides assure each other they will not discuss negotiation issues with the public or news media.  So any info I get is very off the record. 

There are several very separate issues with libraries.  One whole issue is the question of what the mission or usefulness libraries can be in the Internet age.  I think they still have just as valuable a role as they ever did.  If any library professional wants to submit a guest article on this question, I would post it. 

So, yes, perhaps the addition of new neighborhood libraries is a fantasy.  But not as much as is the idea of a new central library costing several times more.  And the idea is to only move for new construction of neighborhood libraries when we have a better economy and even then only with a citizen approved levy.

David Camp  //  Tue, Aug 10, 2010, 1:19 pm

The Bellingham Library is heavily patronised (according to one user, the highest per capita usage in the State) and provides a safe, clean, public area for people to spend time reading and studying, either online or on paper, without having to spend money. We need more institutions like this, especially in lower-income parts of town - not monuments to powerful egos strategically placed where only rich people live.

Helen Brandt  //  Sun, Aug 15, 2010, 3:46 pm

Neighborhood libraries are preferable to enlarging the central library in Bellingham. It makes sense to shorten the distances people travel when they want to check out or return books and other items.

I wondered, when Wade King Elementary School on Yew St. Rd. was built a few years ago, why there was no provision in it for a neighborhood library. Now there are plans for a new elementary school on the north end of Bellingham. Why not design it with an attached public library space? The school corridor connection could be designed to allow the library to be separated from the rest of the school as needed to provide school security.

A neighborhood library with limited hours/days could initially begin as a pick-up and drop-off point for library books. A children’s area could be added later so local children could come and browse. Kids need activities they can go to on their, without depending on parents transporting them. The small library at Barkley could be a model for other neighborhood libraries.

Cooperation no substitute for small libraries

Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 8:18 am  //  John Servais

A library card from any Whatcom County library can now be used at any library in the county

5 comments; last on Aug 15, 2010

Racism and Western’s Late College of Ethnic Studies

Mon, Jan 18, 2010, 5:00 am  //  Kamalla Rose Kaur

Profiles WWU's College of Ethnic Studies and racism during the 60s

2 comments; last on Jan 19, 2010

Rolling Rolling In Their Graves - What happened to WWU?

Wed, Jul 01, 2009, 5:39 pm  //  Kamalla Rose Kaur

Interim Editor's Note: Hi. John Servais, the esteemed publisher, will be back from vacation soon and I had very little to do while appointed interim…

9 comments; last on Jul 06, 2009

The Fall of the West(ern): Perry Mills gets a new roll in the barrel

Wed, May 27, 2009, 2:58 pm  //  Guest writer

Guest writer Paud de Armond has followed this issue closely.-------Tuesday, May 26, Division One of the Washington Appeals Court handed down a ruling in the…

7 comments; last on May 31, 2009

Police favoring city hall friends

Sat, Mar 08, 2008, 2:07 pm  //  John Servais

This week's issue of the Whatcom Independent has a front page story on the Bellingham Police targeting WWU students who park their cars overnight -…

4 comments; last on Mar 08, 2008

Judge finds WWU acted illegally

Wed, Dec 12, 2007, 1:55 am  //  John Servais

Western Washington University administrators - starting with President Karen Morse - have been abusing their power for years. Below is an example. This article first…

0 comments

Democrats erring; remembering Paul Roley

Sat, Jan 13, 2007, 4:51 pm  //  John Servais

OK, my Democratic Party friends. Deal with this - like Barney Frank would not. He shouted down a Senator who dared to reveal this on…

0 comments

Traffic and Western Washington University

Mon, Mar 01, 2004, 6:20 pm  //  John Servais

If WWU gets their way, $20 million in state taxes will be spent on jack-hammering out good roads and building new ones a hundred yards…

0 comments

Western needs common sense

Tue, Feb 03, 2004, 7:17 pm  //  John Servais

Know how to stop Western Washington University from repeatedly trying to destroy the neighborhoods around it? By limiting its potential size and by starting a…

0 comments

 

NwCitizen 1995 to 2008

Early Northwest Citizen

New

Citizen Ted
Skookum.us
WikiLeaks.org

Current Interest

Auditor election page
Skookum.us
WA State Elections

Local

Bellingham Herald
Bham Politics & Economics
Bob Sanders
Carl Weimer
Cascadia Weekly
Citizen Ted
Ferndale R-J
Foothills Gazette
John Watts
KGMI
Latte Republic
Lynden Tribune
Mainstreampolitics
Northern Light
Northwest Review
Sam Taylor
Skookum.us
Twilight Zoning
Wally Wonders
Washington Outsiders
Western Front - WWU
Whatcom Watch

Local causes

Bham CofC political blog
Chuckanut Mountains
Citizens of Bellingham
City Club of Bham
Conservation NW
Cordata & Meridian
Futurewise - Whatcom
Lake Whatcom
N. Cascades Audubon
N. Sound Conservancy
Neighborhood Schools Coalition
No Leaky Buckets
NW Holocaust Center
RE Sources
Skookum.us
Transition Whatcom
WA Conservation Voters

Local Leisure

Adventures NW
Entertainment NNW

Climate & Weather

Climate Audit
Watts Up With That?
Weather by Cliff Mass

Cascadia

Crosscut Seattle
Joel Connelly
Orcinus
Portland Indy Media
Seattle Indy Media
Washington Votes

Leisure

Am Cup - GGYC view
Am Cup legal fight

Worth checking out

Al-Jazeera online
Alaska Dispatch
AlterNet.org
Antiwar.com
Arab News
Asia Times
Atlantic, The
Buzz Flash
Common Dreams
counterpunch
Daily Beast, The
Daily Kos
Daily Mirror
Drudge Report
FiveThirtyEight
Foreign Policy in Focus
Guardian Unlimited
Gulf News
Haaretz
Huffington Post
Innocence Project, The
Intrnational Herald Tribune
James Fallows
Jerusalem Post
Juan Cole
Le Diplo
Media Matters
Middle East Times
MoveOn.org
Nation, The
New American Century
News Trust
NMFA
numbers
Online Journal
Palestine Daily
Palestine News
Personal bio info
Politico
Progressive Review
Project Vote Smart
Reuters
Sea Shepherd
Slate
Talking Points Memo
The Onion
Tom Paine.com
truthout
War and Piece
WikiLeaks.org
ynetnews.com

Governments

Auditor election page
Bellingham
Bham - PFD
Skagit County
The White House
WA State Access
WA State Elections
WA State Legislature
Whatcom Auditor
Whatcom County

Other - for whatever

BushFlash.com
Chickehhawks
Doonesbury
George Bush
Info Clearing House
Michael Moore
Reality News
The Crisis Papers
Third World Traveler
Unity08

Election 2009

- Candidate Forum - video
- Mike McAuley endorsement
Bham #6 - Catherine Chambers
Bham #6 - Michael Lilliquist
Bham At Large - Orphalee
Bham At Large - Seth
County #1 - Dan McShane
County #1 - Kathy Kershner
County #2 - Ken Mann
County #2 - Mary B Teigrob
County #3 - Carl Weimer
County #3 - Michelle Luke
County At Large - Bill
County At Large - Laurie
Port #1 - John Blethen
Port #1 - Scott Walker
Port #2 - Doug Smith
Port #2 - Mike McAuley

2010 Winter Olympics

Amy Goodman Interrogation
No 2010 Olympics
No women ski jumpers
Olympics muzzle free speech
Olympics Resistance Network
Page of Links
Spectacle Vancouver
Zirin on Olympics

Less active

Eye on Whatcom
Post-Oklahoman Confessions
The American Telegraph

Quiet, offline or dead

David Hackworth
Gitmo prisoner 345
Mega Awesome
Not in my county
Parkenfarker
Pro-Whatcom