Library start of the year update

La Conner Regional Library Board Chair Jean Markert and Susan Macek, La Conner Library Foundation director and now interim library director, provided a start of the year update on all matters library last week.

The new library design will incorporate and represent the library’s purpose: it will be an inviting and open space, light filled, a welcome space for everyone.

“I see it as an exciting place for people to come, a place people want to come to,” Markert said.

“We want to be a place where people are inspired to learn and to create and to meet people,” Macek added. “How does that happen?” Her answer: “More activities for teens, for kids, for people to gather. I think of it as the hub of the community.”

Swinomish tribal members using the library in increased numbers will be proof of its success. “We want the Swinomish to see it as their library, too,” Macek emphasized.

New board member Kevin Paul, a tribal senator, is essential for planning that vision. Separately, he will create an 18 foot story pole that will be at the entrance on Morris Street. The pole’s colors will match colors incorporated into the building.

Macek called the pole a sign of welcome from the library to the community. The site, where the Friends of the Library Thrift Store is, will boost a 5,500 square foot building, twice the size of the current library.

Large windows facing the stop sign at Sixth and Morris Streets will offer an arresting view of people in motion, moving through the library, Macek said.

Macek promised a “Northwestery” feel to it. It will be designed for use, not books. There will be laptop bars as well as reading areas. Increasing community participation is the goal. There will be books of course, for some technologies are always current.

The library board hired Jeremy McNett of Underwood & Associates in Anacortes to be the “owners’ representative,” the project manager overseeing getting the new library built. Both praised him, Markert saying he was recommended, specifically, and interviewed best. “He fit everything we needed to a T,” she said. The contract is for $85,050 over 18 months.

McNett will lead the project to completion. A first step is the permitting process with the Town. The Feb. 18 planning commission meeting will include design discussion.

A date for demolishing the thrift store had not been set. It remains open and is accepting items but not books.

“The goal is to be in the ground, digging by early summer,’ Macek said, with the general opening in late 2021. They are considering a construction site webcam.

BuildingWork, from Seattle, is the architectural firm. They were also picked through an RFP, Request for Proposal, process and also easily came in first. The firm has designed many libraries, including rural ones. “They are very familiar with historical districts,” Markert said.

It is too early for the final design. McNett will have a large role in seeing that is ready in a timely manner.

With the $3.7 million committed to get the library built, Macek’s new goal is raising $200,000 for the library’s interiors, everything that is not designed to be nailed down. Chairs, tables and computers and equipment to put on them all need to be funded. Macek will write technology grant proposals and continue fundraising in the community. She will promote a “Library Giving Day” again this spring.

Macek and Markert again declined to address Joy Neal’s retirement, saying only the Board was moving forward. The former library director says Library Board Directors told her in November that they would accept her retirement.

The two praised library staff, saying the strong team is planning expanded programming once they are in the new space.

Macek is the library’s interim director until the new director starts, probably in April. The job description was posted on the library’s website at the end of December and also at various library association websites. Washington State Library staff advised during the job description process. Closing application date is Jan. 31. Consider it a nationwide search.

Because the library district population is some 5,100, the director must have a master’s in library sciences. Pay will be $65,000-$70,000 and the initial contact one year.

The Library Board seeks a dynamic person who will carry out the vision of inviting everyone in the district into the new building.

Macek said La Conner is a wonderful community, a feature that she believes will attract strong candidates. “If someone had experience with building a new library, that would be a plus,” she said.