To the editor:
It seems to be a matter of scale.
For elephants, it’s 640-645 days. For mice and small animals, between 20 and 33 days. For dogs and cats between 61 and 69, and moving up to monkeys and humans it takes 164 to 266 days.
But for elephants it’s going to take longer.
That might have been a biology lesson to heed when the Coupeville Library Board began its research into library expansion.
For the past four years (gosh, has it been that long?) your library board members have been “gestating.” We have looked at data, taken field trips to other community libraries within the Sno-Isle System, and have met with experts and officials to determine what they think is best to meet the library needs of our community. It takes some intensive commitment to “birth” a library. But now we have determined that after 20 years the need for expansion is obvious.
Just as it takes more time for big animals to produce young, it takes many resources to produce a living, breathing public library.
The walls are closing in on the many patrons and programs that make our branch of Sno-Isle so meaningful.
From pre-school to seniors, the community benefits from the many services a public library provides: Story hours to tax forms, baby books to encyclopedias, tiny tunes to full concerts, and kid videos to foreign films, the library is a resource for all.
Teens and “tweens” can use the library for entertainment and for study, with librarians to call on for every need. These are just a few of the many resources we all enjoy.
And unless you’ve been ignoring it, being able to use the Internet for anything you’d wish to research is without parallel — it’s become part of our lives. All of these services need space to grow, just as our community expands.
And if money matters to you, we invite you to think what you’d have to spend to individually purchase all the resources our library provides. Imagine having to buy or own or store all of the many media materials available at the library: books, music, magazines, newspapers, DVDs and CDs, movies and software, bestsellers and current editions. And the library computers provide the online public access catalog where you can order any book in the Sno-Isle system and beyond. Patrons can also access the ever-expanding universe that is the Internet — talk about “Let your fingers do the walking!” It’s all there for you to enjoy!
A school principal once referred to the library as the “living room” of the school; we’d suggest that this could be said of any library. As a meeting place, gathering spot, intellectual storehouse and a place to just relax and unwind, a library fills many needs.
We hope that you and your family have enjoyed the many services that the Coupeville Branch of Sno-Isle Library has to offer.
Come visit the library soon and often, and see for yourself. Have a burning question? Just ask a librarian!
Nancy Bailey, Jim Cavanaugh, Doris Randall, Joann Roomes and Jim Short
Coupeville Library Board
