New Ferndale Library

An even better question might be, what could the new library look like?  Here's a few things to think about.  First, it would be great for the architecture to evoke the pioneer spirit of Ferndale, celebrating the past, and looking to the future.  Imagine windows, light and space, a sense of history and possibility.  Imagine a good fit into our unique local ecology and environment, trails, water.  Think "sustainable building practices", using recycled materials, and energy efficiency.  Imagine how the facility can give back and not merely consume energy resources, and how that could serve as an example for others to learn from.  Think about a true community living room, a real library for the 21st Century, with the resources we all want and need to work, grown and do business together here in Ferndale.  The New Ferndale Library Project has invested a lot of time over the past year looking for a good place that will allow us all to look into the future.  We want to be sure our library can grow with this evolving community, but stay at the same location.  As we all know, where the library currently sits, it cannot grow.  A good public investment will allow for future growth.  So, let's "think modular".  We don't have to build an overly expensive facility right now that seems so large we'll be swallowed up by it, simply because our projections indicate we may need that space in twenty five years.  With an ability to master plan for the future from the same location, we can "grow slow, and pay as we go."  That's the most responsible way to invest precious public dollars and private donations. That's also how we can build a living library for the 21st Century that changes along with us.  What do you think?

The roots of the Project go back several years.  During 2006 the City of Ferndale conducted a variety of community forums to project a desired vision of the future to help planners, businesses and service providers focus their resources in the years ahead for best effect. The group that spear-headed these community forums was called at that time, the Economic Viability Steering Committee, and they released a report in September of that year you can access here, Final Report from Community Meetings:  Visions, Priorities, Recommendations.  A new and expanded library facity was high on that list, and the report recommended the City undertake a needs assessment, which it did.  This assessment was followed after with an anonymous challenge gift towards new construction through a donor advised contribution made to the Whatcom Community Foundation.  These actions drove the formation of a working relationship between the City of Ferndale, the Whatcom County Library System and the Whatcom Community Foundation, to cooperate on an effort to bring this community vision, together with the challenge grant offered, into reality.  That's the New Ferndale Library Project.

We want to serve all of the thousands of patrons that use the Ferndale Library. However the current facility is not allowing us to do so. The community visioning workshops of 2006, and the needs assessment that followed, recognized this issue.  A mail-in survey sent out by the City late last year (over twenty percent responded from 4,000 surveys issued) clearly shows public demand for more parking, more seating and a larger collection of library resources.  In January 2009, Ferndale Library use was up by 17 percent from the same month in 2008.  February 2009 saw another 12.9 percent jump over the same time frame last year.  Ferndale’s increase is the highest of all branches in Whatcom County. The library is bursting and we’re very proud of that. However, we are at a point where parking and safety must be addressed.  On Thursday mornings, approximately 40 children attend story time. Not only is the meeting room packed, but the parking lot is overflowing. We cannot count how many persons, upon seeing a full lot, decide not to come to the library. Leading young children through a tightly-packed parking lot with cars driving in both directions is difficult and dangerous.  Please visit the library and see for yourself why the Friends of the Ferndale Library and staff are working with with City and the Whatcom  Community Foundation, to meet the current needs of our community with creative and sound decisions for the safety of citizens, and at the same time providing an excellent location for improved library facilities.

We all remember the "myth of the paperless office." We were told that with computers and email, no longer would we need paper.  Perhaps someday this will be true.  Certainly, we don't want to cut more trees down than necessary.  So, its good to have electronic information at our fingertips.  Back in the early 1990s, with the dawn of the Internet, there was much national debate on the future of libraries.  As it turned out, not only are libraries still with us, they are thriving.  Libraries have been woven into the fabric of the Internet all over the world.  For many, the local library is where you go to use the Internet.  In Ferndale, the public access computers are heavily used.  Philantropist and former CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates, the world's richest man, has invested hundreds of millions in improving library technology services all over the world.  Also, competition is good.  The Internet has challenged us to think hard about the value of our community libraries, as being far more than a "warehouse for books."  The library of the 21st Century is evolving into an inviting community living-room that opens doors to the world for everyone, for whatever is important in their life at the moment.  A community library and information center has a unique ability to assist citizens in dealing with myriad everyday "life issues" that affect them personally:  jobs, household repair, medical diagnosis, money management, family law.  The list is endless.  Local libraries excel at putting people in touch quickly with the information resources they need to contend with the here-and-now.  The Internet is very important, but it is not enough.  People need help to make sense of the universe of information nowadays, and the local library can be for many, the best place to turn.  Often libraries are the way to find out about an available community service someone needs but is not aware of.  Together, the global internet and the local library make a pretty un-beatable team.  Will we no longer be reading books, in the age of the Amazon Kindle?  It's hard to tell.  Books and libraries have been around for thousands of years in one form or another, the Internet for less than twenty.  What do you think?

All over the United States, library use has grown dramatically in the past year.  It had been growing steadily before that, however as the economy began to seriously falter, use increased.  This has happened before.  The same pattern was evident in the post 9/11 recession, usage grew, hit a peak as the recession faded, and returned to a previous and more gradual growth trend.  It is not hard to understand why this would be.  Think of a library as you might think of a police or fire department.  Its really good to have the service there when you need it.  Of course, fire and police services are essential.  A community library is important, but not essential for immediate public safety.  However, when people fall out of work and the the need to address immediate life issues becomes more acute, the ability of a community library to serve an important safety-net role is unsurpassed, and this is what we see right now around the country.  Demand for services within the Whatcom County Library System has sky-rocketed in the past year, and the growth rate continues.  Libraries help people solve problems.  Nowadays, people must solve more problems in their lives than before, access accurate information quickly they can use right away, invent new ideas that can lead to new jobs or business opportunities, and more.  The community library is simply the logical destination, and Americans are voting with their feet all over the country.  If there was any time to make a public investment in a better local library, it is now.