Submitted by the Lopez Island Library

The Lopez Island Library’s Board of Trustees and staff would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Lopez voters for approving Local Proposition No. 1, and increasing the Lopez Library Levy rate. “We aim to fulfill the promises that we made during our campaign leading up to the November election,” says Board of Trustees Chair Bob Buchholz. The board has indicated that the funds raised by the levy increase would go to support extended operating hours; improvements to the energy efficiency of the Library building; and additional improvements to the facility and grounds. “Additionally, funds will go towards ensuring that we have sufficient means to operate the library and compensate our hard-working staff members appropriately,” says Buchholz. Although the measure to increase funds was passed in November 2019, those funds will not become incrementally available until April 2020. Thus, no new initiatives that are dependent upon the levy rate increase will be launched until spring of 2020.

While many community members have complemented staff and trustees on how well the library is operating, questions have also been asked regarding “Who” is running the library and what are the plans for staff hiring? The short answer to the first question is that the extremely capable staff members are managing the library under the direction of the Board of Trustees. The board, with the assistance of the staff, has decided to utilize this transition period to undertake a thoughtful review of library operations in order to determine the best structure for a library of our size and financial resources. During this time comments from the Lopez community are welcome, and the board and staff will also be consulting with experts in the library field. Anyone wishing to comment can reach the board at trustees@lopezlibrary.org. As soon as this process is complete the board will update the Lopez community.

As a modest thank you to the four regular staff members who have increased their hours of work to collectively run the library over the past months, the board is granting the staff time-off during the December holidays. This means that the library will have slightly limited open hours during the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year’s Day. During that time the library will be staffed by board members, volunteers and substitute staff. The holiday schedule is posted here as well as on the library website, lopezlibrary.org and is posted on the premises at the library. We wish all a happy holiday season.