By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The city of Yachats is trying to determine the future of its library and wants residents to help figure it out.
So it is seeking your thoughts.
The Yachats Library Commission is sponsoring community meetings at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24 at the pavilion behind the Commons.
The meetings will be led by consultant Penny Hummel of Portland, who has been hired to assess the library’s needs. She will also develop recommendations to the Library Commission on future plans, including operations, governance, use of volunteers, and remodeling or addition to the building.
In addition, the Library Commission is also conducting a community survey in September and October. The survey is also available online or in paper format at the library.
“We invite community members to share their thoughts and ideas through the community engagement process,” said commission chair David Rivinus. “Our goal is to ensure that the Yachats Public Library continues to meet the educational and informational needs of our community for years to come.”
The assessment is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
Hummell is past president of the Oregon Library Association and has conducted more than 20 similar facilities assessments for public libraries in five states, including recent work with libraries in Waldport, Salem, Longview, Wash. and Santa Cruz, Calif.
A pause and reconsideration of planned expansion
The Library Commission is undertaking the study because the city suddenly — and unexpectedly — got a big infusion of money last year.
The City Council approved the $14,000 study last October after the commission asked to postpone a previously approved $320,000 building expansion in order to possibly do a bigger one. That decision was prompted by a $150,000 bequest to the library by Marguerite Peterson of Yachats.
After years of trying to find a way to finance the library’s move into the vacant 501 Building, the commission and City Council now plan to keep the library at its current location on West Seventh Street.
Plans approved in July 2019 called for extensive remodeling and adding 400 square feet to the 47-year-old building.
But Petersen’s donation, in the name of her late husband Bent Petersen, convinced the Library Commission it should pause the project, do a deeper study of the facility and community desires, see if it could leverage even more donations and grants, and make the library building a bigger and better place.
The city had OK’d using $60,000 from its capital improvement budget for the expansion, and spending $100,000 of a bequest to the library from the Hall family. Friends of the Library, a nonprofit support group, has pledged $50,000. The Petersen donation brought the projected total to $360,000.
The commission solicited proposals from three library consultants, two from Portland and one from Minnesota. It chose Hummel after interviews with all three, deciding it liked her approach, her communication skills, personal style and interest in small libraries, and that she’s already done similar consulting work for the Newport and Waldport libraries.
Here are some facts and figures on the Yachats Library from its 2019 report to the Oregon State Library:
Building size: 2,376 square feet
Library cards issued: 2,275
Books: 13,665
Audio cassettes: 545
Video cassettes: 1,400
Subscriptions: 13
Hours open per week: 30
Volunteers: 26
Public computer use: 1,660 people
Attendance at children’s programs: 1,479
Attendance at adult programs: 77
