By Michael Dashiell
Olympic Peninsula News Group
SEQUIM — Sequim Library’s overcrowding issues are decidedly nonfiction, library officials say.
Margaret Jakubcin, director of the North Olympic Library System — which oversees public libraries in Sequim, Port Angeles, Forks and Clallam Bay — detailed the library system’s plans to address overcrowding to NOLS board members Thursday.
Library system officials are working on plans to add space to the 6,000-square-foot Sequim Library and, with the board’s approval, could put a bond measure to voters within the next two years, Jakubcin said.
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to end 2017 or 2018 with a new facility, [but] we are working on the process to get there,” she said.
That process begins with a request for architectural bids for a facility that would meet not only the Sequim Library’s usage now but also the projected use for the next 30 years, Jakubcin said. The staff could issue such an RFQ (request for quote) by the library’s April or May meeting, she said.
In 2013 and 2014, NOLS conducted a feasibility study that showed a new Sequim Library would cost about $6.96 million. Those 2014 figures are based on population of the service area, projected population growth and an industry standard of 0.5 square feet per capita. Sequim’s Library currently provides 0.2 square feet of space per capita.
While the Sequim Library’s usage is smaller than the main NOLS facility in Port Angeles — Sequim sees about 391 customer visits and 1,243 checkouts per day, compared to 602 visits and 1,351 checkouts per day in Port Angeles — the Sequim building is five times smaller, Jakubcin noted.
“This [Sequim] facility is just too small even for current use — and going forward,” she said.
“Libraries are, and always have been, adaptable,” Jakubcin said. “NOLS is focusing more and more and more on ‘when and where you need it.’”
While many services are becoming increasingly available online, Sequim’s and other NOLS branches remain a base to dozens of programs year-round.
Jakubcin noted in her presentation some of the library’s various community-oriented programs — adult book discussion groups, Art in the Library, poetry walks, the Summertime Music! outdoor concert series, youth coding camps, documentary film screenings, Battle of the Books, Humanities Washington, among others — plus several programs the library system is involved outside of its brick-and-mortar facilities.
As usage rises, so does the squeeze on space, Jakubcin said, adding that staff rooms are cramped, books fill every shelf and computer use is at capacity.
Meeting space is at a premium, library officials say, with just one private meeting room on site. Programs that take place in the general structure can be distracting for other patrons, they say.
“We’re challenged there,” Jakubcin said.
In 2016, Sequim Library’s meeting room was used 471 times. For comparison, Port Angeles’ was used 390 times.
NOLS uses a “roaming” collection, where resources can be ordered and used by any user in the system and shipped to their preferred location — so it’s not necessarily critical that they be housed in a specific location. Jakubcin noted, however, that even Sequim’s “hold” area is overcrowded and that staff spend an inordinate amount of time reshuffling those resources for space.
Sequim has had a public library in some form since 1936, Jakubcin said. Sequim joined what eventually became the North Olympic Library System in 1947. The structure that now stands at 630 N. Sequim Ave. was built in 1983. It houses more than 51,000 of the library system’s 274,000-plus items.
Thanks to a $160,000-plus boost from the Friends of Sequim Library, the facility got a major face-lift in 2009 that addressed several maintenance issues (heating/cooling, electrical and septic systems, leaky skylights, etc.). The remodel did not add any square footage to the facility, however.
Building anew is more likely than another remodel, Jakubcin said.
“It’s almost always cheaper to tear an old building down and build than remodel,” she said.
The first step toward a bigger library is getting a design that would help serve the Sequim community now and in the foreseeable future, Jakubcin said.
“We need to get out an accurate figure for funding,” she said.
Library officials estimate a new building serving a projected population for 2043 (of 34,300 residents, within Sequim School District boundaries) and using a 0.5-square-foot-per-capita standard would require a building of about 17,150 square feet.
Thursday’s presentation wasn’t merely for NOLS directors; Jakubcin said the plan is to meet with community groups — service groups, government boards and the like — not only to inform those groups but to gather ideas. That would happen over several months, she said.
A preliminary timeline shows that by the spring of 2018, the board could approve putting a bond measure to voters. That vote would have to happen on the primary or general election, she said.
Bond passage actually would involve two voter-approved measures, Jakubcin said: one, the formation of a Library Capital Facility Area, and a second measure to approve the bond.
”This is a strong and vibrant community that has supported other civic projects,” Jakubcin said.
For more information about the Sequim Library expansion, see www.nols.org or call 360-417-8500.
Those interested in being part of the process, Jakubcin said, can join the soon-to-be revitalized Community Taskforce on Sequim Library Expansion (CTSLE), help schedule public presentations, attend library meetings, share thoughts with staff or join a contact list.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.
