by RACHEL NEWCOMBE

Special to the Sounder

Many folks on Orcas Island enjoy swapping stories about falling in love with the Orcas Island Public Library. Now is the time to tell us your story. Why?  Because April 10-15th is National Library Week.  First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a nationwide observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and by local libraries across the country. In addition to paying tribute to libraries as centers of learning, National Library Week also allows us to give thanks to our librarians for their knowledge and expertise.

As a volunteer at the library I observe miraculous multi-tasking from the staff. I’ve witnessed staff helping with a jammed copy machine, patiently showing a volunteer (me) how to place a book on hold, providing the telephone number of a knitting store or taxi service. But what I love most is watching staff greeting patrons by name, remembering details of their lives, inquiring about a sick child or injured dog.

Orcas Island is celebrating library week with the local theme: “Come meet your peeps @ the library.” Here is a sampling of what the library staff peeps have been up to outside of the library:

Library director, Phil Heikkinen has been  elected  Secretary/Treasurer for the Washington Library Association while remaining  an avid proponent of sustainability, Holly King is the PTSA president  and works  as a cellist in the string trio Tri Voci,  Kathy Lunde a thirty year resident of Orcas Island  is developing her seven acre farm and also works at Bilbo’s. Our staff takes interesting vacations.  Nita   Couchman just returned from Grenada and Mary Pugh is currently vacationing in Cancun. Karen Hiller is a member of the Lions Club helping organize free health screenings around the island. Martin Arnold is finishing his MLIS from San Jose State and will be graduating in August. He’s also enjoying his granddaughter. Tony Ghazel is very busy serving on the School Board and refereeing soccer.

What is it that makes us fall in love with our library? My hunch is the staff plays an enormous role in our affection for the library.

Recently Holly showed me the library’s new Nook. With mutual awe we imagined the pros and cons of its use. This contraption was quite nifty but at the same time I imagined what it would be like to read a book without a number two pencil perched in my hand ready to make a notation in the margins. Yes, our library is keeping up electronically.  But for me, more important than any Nook, Kindle or Sony e-Reader is the opportunity to share a connected moment with an interesting passionate librarian.

On the website www.ilovelibraries.org is a quote from U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, “My childhood library was small enough not to be intimidating. And yet I felt the whole world was contained in those two rooms. I could walk any aisle and smell wisdom.”  Orcas Island Library has the same scent of wisdom that Dove describes; thanks to the entire library staff that help make Orcas Island Public Library feel like a sanctuary.

Rachel Newcombe is a Library Trustee and the Community Relations Chairperson.