Libraries offer loads of free resources

Helen Rawls, of Camano Island, and Leili Vonbergen, of Stanwood, check out the new books at Camano Island Library shortly after its opening in June 2007. The library is located at 828 N. Sunrise Blvd. and is a pilot project of Sno-Isle Libraries. FILE PHOTO BY KELLY RUHOFF | STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS Provided a gala auction and dinner raises enough funds, the Camano Island Library pilot project will get a two-year extension this June.

The original plan was to ask for a voter-approved bond if the pilot was successful, which it has been, said David Menard, branch manager.

However, with the slow economy, he said, it’s not right to ask for money. Instead, the board extended the lease for two more years and asked for financial assistance from the Camano Island Library Friends.

They’re hoping the gala and auction, on March 20, collects about $20,000, Menard said.

Menard has no doubt the library is serving the needs of the community.

“We have the circulation of buildings twice our size,” he said.

During the month of January, the Camano library ushered 5,148 patrons through its doors and loaned or renewed 11,755 items.

And people are using the library for a lot more than books, especially in the present economy.

With two hours of free Internet each day, many cardholders are using library computers for job hunting and typing their résumé.

“We spend a lot of time setting people up with e-mail accounts, showing them how to search for jobs online and teaching them how to attach résumés to an e-mail,” Menard said.

Menard said many people held their previous job for so long – 25 years, even – that they’re out of the loop on new procedures for online applications and job search engines.

For these people, the oneon one help can be great, and the library also carries “how-to” books and pamphlets for navigating an electronic job market.

The Stanwood Library offers similar resources, and may have more on the way.

“Many people are treating ‘looking for a job’ like a job,” said Jill Wubbenhorst, managing librarian at Stanwood. “They come in for two or three hours a day.”

Adults seeking employment aren’t the only people who discovered the libraries as a valuable resource. Wubbenhorst said downloadable audio books are popular with commuters, and students are streaming in, too.

Rob Branigin, the teen librarian at Stanwood, said he’s seen an increased number of students using the library’s research materials.

Budget cuts forced the Stanwood-Camano School District to do away with many of their premium research databases for students. The library, though, has most of these databases and many more.

“We’ve been trying to step up and fill that gap at the schools,” Branigin said. “In the last couple months, I’ve had over half a dozen eighth-grade classes come through.”

When they do, Branigin said, his primary goal is to show them what’s available and get every student set up with a library card.

“We’ve got a lot of resources buried in our Web site, and we try to pull them out and get them seen,” he added.

Of the library’s 50-75 databases, all but two of them are accessible from home, provided the person has a library card.

The library also offers free programs and events to people in the community. A wellness series is coming soon, focused on natural healing, and basic Internet classes are available. For youngsters, morning story times are popular.

At the Camano library, Menard said, the focus is a bit different.

“Because we’re such a small space,” he said, “we took more of a bookstore approach.”

The shelves boast current stock, including the latest by Tim Egan and Lee Childs – there are even several copies of “The Best American Nonrequired Reading, 2009.”

Menard, who also works part-time at Watermark Book Company in Anacortes, said the approach is working very well.

And even though the library is small, and doesn’t carry a lot of old titles, patrons can place holds on any books in the Sno-Isle system’s catalogue and pick them up at Camano.

In fact, Menard said, they run so many books this way, that a dream for farther down the road is “a drive up window for book pick-up.”

Menard credits the staff for the pilot’s huge success.

“The staff I have here is really great,” he said. “It’s been the same staff, with no changes, since we opened almost three years ago.”

People like that, Menard said, and it helps contribute to the bookstore atmosphere.

Karen Schmidt and her son, Jonathan, from Camano Island, are two patrons who’ve learned to make the most of everything the libraries offer.

Schmidt home schools her son, who is 15-years-old, and writes the majority of her curriculum.

It’s largely a literaturebased curriculum, especially for history and English, and the two depend on the library for books. They also use videos and CDs as ancillary material, Schmidt said.H

er son is entering Sno- Isle’s teen tech challenge too, in conjunction with his studies. He’s making a video book trailer, Schmidt said, which will be submitted to You Tube. The library system will then judge the video entries and select the winners.

Schmidt also teaches Spanish to a group of home school students. She refers the students to the Stanwood Library’s Spanish language section for books, DVDs and books on tape.

“They also have chapter books for beginning readers,” Schmidt said, “which are perfect for beginning speakers.”

High-speed Internet is another boon for the family, who lives in a rural area with no cable or DSL. Schmidt is a professional writer, and values the library’s Internet access for research and other resources.

The library system’s many resources are poignantly contributing to the community. And people still come just to get a book, or just because.

For many people, Wubbenhorst said, the library simply offers a space to be.

Because, when it comes down to it, many people are like Schmidt and her son: “We just love to read.”

For a complete list of library offerings, stop by the libraries or visit www.snoisle. org

Staff Reporter Jeremiah O’Hagan: 629-8066 ext. 125 or ohagan@scnews.com.