SEQUIM — A check fluttered out of the envelope, and Paula Barnes of the North Olympic Library System might have fallen out of her chair.
Helen Adams, a lover of her local library, had left it $190,000 — at a time when the Sequim branch was in particular need of support.
“We forget sometimes what an impact libraries can have on people’s lives,” said Barnes, director of the library system, whose four branches serve Clallam County.
“This bequest is so amazing, because it comes at such an opportune time. We’ve been struggling,” she added.
Throughout the past year, the library system board of trustees has searched for ways to fund a new Sequim library.
The existing building is 26 years old and too small for the burgeoning population of the Dungeness Valley, so Barnes and the board talked about a bond election and property-tax increase.
Then came the economic slump. The director and board shelved the bond idea.
In a hunt for other options, they hired Buffalo Design, an architecture firm, to look at how to fix up the old place.
Buffalo recommended a full face lift for the building at 630 N. Sequim Ave.
The Friends of the Sequim Library contributed $150,000 to the face-lift fund — but the library system still couldn’t have afforded all of the recommended improvements, Barnes said.
The Adams bequest made all the difference.
