Letter: Public Must Stay Involved in Cedar River Library KCLS Design Process

Editor:

I've been having some computer problems and haven't been able to join in the discussion of the library issue like I've wanted to. I've got just a few more things to add to what has been said so far.

A key part of our town is at stake. Even if you yourself never set foot in a library, you benefit when others can. When someone uses the job search materials, or takes an ESL class, or when kids venture into the stacks and the encyclopedias for help with their homework, they will have a better chance at a successful life. And the little kids who simply enjoy songs and stories over in the corner are likely to get interested in books next, and have a lifetime of enjoyment. But all this is in danger if Ptacek and his architects get to ravage our library.

Don't believe anyone who says that books are obsolete, or that online sources and electronic gizmos will supplant them entirely. Not all of us can afford such devices. As for computers, they are usually from 80 to 100% occupied when I walk in. How will there be room for all of them in a smaller space? And we paid for at least some of them ourselves.

KCLS talks up convenience for patrons on their website, but how convenient is it to go through the hassle of putting in a hold, or waiting at a dirty bus stop to go to another branch to get something that is no longer here? They like to talk about prudence in the use of resources, but how prudent is it to discard such resources without checking more carefully to see if they might have historical value?

If the KCLS directors and architects are as smart as they want us to believe they are, they should be able to bring the building up to code without having to make it smaller – without having to take it clear apart and cause environmental problems, and without having to worry about the columns and crossbars mentioned in the latest Reporter article. And if they absolutely have to have a door at the corner to comply with some law not present in the 60s, they don't have to inset it so far as is shown on the schematic – and they can still keep the door that we have. For what we're giving them in tax dollars, we deserve no less. A pretty glass box isn't much use if it doesn't contain what you need. They are not only doing us tangible harm by depriving us of an indispensable asset, but they are handing us the supreme insult of saying they know more than we do about what we need. Don't any of you ever believe anyone who talks about how many years they've got in the library business, because you've probably got more years experience as a patron. No one needs that paternalistic treatment, and no one should have to find themselves in a “library desert” any more than a “food desert”.

Size matters. To keep our library from shrinking, come to the City Council meeting on Monday at 7 PM, sign in and make your voice heard – then come to the presentation at the library on Tuesday at 6:30 PM and make it heard some more. What happens here will have effects far beyond Renton. Come stick up for your library – and your city.

(Signed,)

Kerrick Mainrender
Renton, WA