From the Library Director...

Once you build a new library, other librarians and officials who want new buildings as well ask about the process. I have decided it’s like being pregnant. The project lasts way longer than you want it to. You wonder what you have gotten yourself into. You feel fat (wait a minute, I felt that way before!). You wonder if you are ready to take on the responsibility, and, at the last minute think of lots of things you forgot to do. Did we order enough book carts? Did we remember to put batteries in the wireless keyboards? Things like that. And then, when it’s over, and the library is open and, all the admirers have cooed over the beautiful building and congratulated you, you stay up nights pacing the floor trying to soothe the squall of hundred of glitches.

For instance, in our case, we had lock problems. Very few of the keys fit the locks. The only way we could lock the building each night was to take a screwdriver, dismantle the door handles, and reach in and manually flip the lock lever. Then we had to reverse the process in the morning. This went on for two weeks. The original locksmiths were from Portland and “couldn’t make it down”. We had keys to doors that had no locks on them. We had doors with locks and no keys. It was quite exciting.

Then there was a whole heating thing going on. We couldn’t just turn a thermostat knob; we had zones. We had eight zones in the library. I’m surprised they didn’t each have their own zip code. Each zone had its own digital display thermostat that had like fifty different digital markers. Did we want heating on or the cooling off? Did we want to set maximums? How about minimums? Did we want automatic zone control? Then, after you set all these parameters, the little digital displays asked, “Are you sure?” which made me want to type in, “no I just spent the last half hour in thermostat hell for the fun of it, you freaking holier than thou digital dork.” Wisely enough, the heating and cooling manufacturers did not program that response into their digital thermostat.

Then there’s the lights. They are environmentally “friendly”. This just means they don’t think you are smart enough to turn off a light switch by yourself. They turn on and off depending if they think you are working (i.e. moving). So, if we are sitting at our desks studying a manual for longer than five minutes, the lights in our office areas go out, and we are in total darkness until we start moving around. Trust me, you have to move around a lot; a mere head bobble won’t do it. I wave my arms around. However, if anyone is looking through my office window, I appear to be in the final throes of a tent revival meeting led by Reverend Billy Bob McAfee.

So, yes, there are things to work out and worry over. But despite the long, involved and crazy process, the glitches, and the stress, a new library is worth it. The Seaside Library is the jewel of the city. People are waiting at the doors in the morning. Circulation is up almost 50%, visitors have doubled, and we have added over 1100 new patrons since July. This is incredible. In the past, we averaged 200 new patrons a year. We have had over 211 programs for adults and children. These include classes, story times, lectures, puppet shows, author appearances and art shows. These events have been attended by over 4100 adults and children. The building itself is gorgeous.

I could go on and on, but sitting here typing, the lights went off, and now I have to stand up, wave my arms, and do my revival meeting thing again. Then I’ll go have a cookie.