Like gluttons at an all-you-can-eat buffet, book lovers are helping the Port Orchard Library clear its shelves before construction begins Aug. 31 on a major renovation.
The library will be closed until Oct. 21, as contractors install new carpet, make major repairs and upgrades, and construct a new layout designed for patrons’ increased comfort and convenience.
Since early August, librarians have been pushing a “Checkout to Help Out” initiative, encouraging people to take up to 75 titles, preferably nonfiction. The books won’t be due until Nov. 2, so you’ll have more time to enjoy your stockpile. Now there’s an invitation to procrastinate.
The actual limit is 100, but the library suggests 75, so patrons have leeway to check out other titles from the library’s system.
Patrons are encouraged to choose nonfiction and mystery books,
because those are the sections that will be most heavily impacted
by the construction.
According to librarian Susan Lee, the books are practically flying
off the shelves. One man recently checked out 95. Someone traveling
to Ireland swept clean the section on that country. Crafting books
are disappearing; biographies are starting to thin out. “New
arrivals,” the library’s equivalent of the impulse aisle by the
grocery checkout counter, are picked nearly clean.
“You can see we have a big gap,” said Lee, pointing, here and there and over yonder.
Lee says this is a great opportunity for teachers to sweep up a temporary collection, as one teacher did with mythology books.
So, here are a few things to know.
* The last day of the free-for-all is Aug. 30.
* From now until the end of construction, you can’t pick up holds
at the Port Orchard Library. You can get them at Manchester (or any
other branch in the Kitsap Regional Library system).
* You are encouraged to hang onto all the Port Orchard books until
the Nov. 2 due date. If you do need to return them, use the Sylvan
Way branch in East Bremerton.
* No, the Port Orchard librarians won’t be sipping Mai Tais on some
foreign beach during the project. They will be working at other
library locations throughout the system, and then putting the
library back together before the reopening.
* The cost of the project, $100,000, is covered by roughly $70,000
from Kitsap Regional Library’s capital budget. The Kitsap Regional
Library Foundation will provide up to $10,000, and the Port Orchard
Friends of the Library will donate roughly $30,000. The group has
received significant donations from South Kitsap Rotary, Kitsap
Bank, The Fred Meyer Foundation, The Phil Grey Foundation, Rotary
District 5020 and numerous patrons who have donated for the
renovation.
Happy reading.
Chris Henry, reporter
