Shelton's library reopens

After three months of being closed, the Shelton Timberland Library reopened its doors Monday with that new building smell.

While the building was closed, the library operated out of the Shelton Civic Center and the Shelton YMCA.

"As chaotic as it's been, I think having a good team to work with has helped out a lot," Library assistant Joe Alessi told the Journal. "I would say that it's gone as good as it could have. As far as being able to pack up a van and move it to another building, I think that actually worked much better than we had anticipated it working."

Library Manager Erin Stumpf said the past few months working out of different buildings was a success.

"We had pretty good patron turnout," Stumpf told the Journal. "We're hoping that we're able to not lose a lot of people and maintain those community connections that are so important to us and get people the materials that they need and want. I think we learned a lot for other libraries that might have to go through this in the future. How can we help them? Can we give them guidance? That kind of stuff. I don't know if we would say it was the most fun thing, but it was worthwhile and I'm glad we were able to do it."

Alessi said the process involved going through the holds the night before and loading them into the van. The next morning, library staff would drive the van to the location and set up for the day. The Civic Center allowed the library to store books and materials, which helped the library not have to worry loading and unloading the van and moving back and forth between the location and the library building each day.

But now, all of that is in the past with the reopening of the building.

Stumpf became the library manager in February 2021, and a lot of her time has been spent on planning for the remodeling.

"I am ready to be done and just show off the building to the public," Stumpf said. "Every time we see somebody walk through the doors, it's usually done with excitement."

The layout of the building is different than it was before the remodeling.

When you enter the building, the adult fiction section is on your left and nonfiction is on your right, with a selection of "Lucky Day" books and movies front and center. Downstairs is the kids area, which includes a variety of books for young children to young adult, and includes a video game setup.

Stumpf said the district manager pitched the idea of having a floor of the building dedicated to kids and the Shelton Timberland Library ran with it.

"I think the idea was really exciting. There were concerns initially like would the adult collection fit all on the top floor? We had no concerns that the kids would fit down here," Stumpf said. "It's a vast space but we wondered is the adult collection going to fit upstairs? Are we going to have enough seating up there? So, we did a lot of space planning and designing and just making sure everything would fit and we would have an adequate space for adults to feel comfortable and come in and feel welcomed."

Library assistant Alessi has been working at the library for three years, and he said seeing the needs of the patrons addressed or improved through the remodeling was nice to see and made patrons feel heard.

Stumpf said she's most excited for kids to come into the space and explore what it has to offer.

"My hope is that the public just sees it with new eyes," Stumpf said. "It's not that the building was bad, it just needed some new flooring and new paint. So I hope they look at that and go you don't even realize how old this stuff is until you get in there and start tearing it out."

Alessi said he's excited for patrons to explore the maps and local authors' section. Before the change, he said those items were on the bottom floor.

"I'm really excited that now, everything is way more out in the open and easier to see," Alessi said. "Our Spanish collection, it's out in the open. Everything is much easier to spot and say, OK, I'm heading toward that or I didn't even know that existed but here it is for me now. I'm really excited about that part of it."

Monday was a soft opening for the library as the remodeling has a few matters left to complete. A larger grand reopening is planned May 20. The library is planning to bring in a local band, magician Jeff Evans and some activities and refreshments to get the community to come check out the new facility.

The library will be restart its programs soon, including the summer library program and working with schools to get more kids into the bottom floor space.

For those who aren't library card holders yet, Stumpf said the library has something for everyone.

"I think one of the biggest things we have besides books and DVDs and the traditional things you would think of is we have the internet, and the computers," Stumpf said. "I think you get 440 free pages of printing a month, which is amazing, seems crazy to me. Everything is free, come in and use it, see what we have to offer. If you're interested in it, I'm pretty sure we can help you figure it out."

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

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