November 21, 2008

Timberland Regional Library celebrates 40 years at community open houses
(Timberland Regional Library Timeline, 1968 – 2008)

Timberland Regional Library (TRL) will mark its 40th anniversary as a five-county public library system on Tuesday, December 9. Open house celebrations will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. at all 27 Timberland libraries in Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific and Thurston counties, the TRL Administrative Service Center in Tumwater and the TRL-served cooperative library centers at the Shoalwater Bay Tribal Community Library in Tokeland, Mary M. Knight School in Matlock, North River School in Brooklyn (Pacific County) and Wishkah Valley School (Grays Harbor).

Cake will be served at each location and a colorful 13-month wall calendar for December 2008 to December 2009 will be available for people to take with them. The calendar commemorates the library system’s 40 years with photos of each library and a timeline of Timberland library milestones. The calendar notes major national holidays and commemorations as well as library closure dates. It also provides space for people to mark their own events and appointments.

A souvenir of the event will be provided to children and teens. Each library will have a book to hold people’s library memories. Visitors can write their stories on cards that will be placed in the memory books. For more information, people may call their local Timberland library or visit the TRL Web site at www.TRL.org.

TRL History and Development

Timberland Regional Library was created in 1968 as an intercounty rural library district by a vote of the residents of the unincorporated areas of Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific and Thurston counties. The vote was preceded by a demonstration project (1964-1968) funded by federal, state and local grants.

TRL’s service area covers nearly 7,000 square miles and as of 2005 serves a population of over 420,000 residents with a collection of nearly 1.7 million items and digital information services. TRL is governed by a seven-member board of trustees appointed by county commissioners, with one trustee from each county and two additional trustees filling at-large positions.

Before TRL was created, Lewis County had no library service in the rural areas. Regional and county library districts provided service in the rural areas of the other counties. During the demonstration project, grant funds enabled new libraries in rented space in Tumwater and Lacey. Bookmobiles provided library service in rural areas that previously had none.

Many cities within TRL’s region provided their citizens with library service for years prior to the creation of the rural county library districts. Seven of these cities owned original Andrew Carnegie funded buildings or other gifted facilities. Others provided service from space in city halls or other city buildings. After TRL was created, most of these cities began contracting with TRL for library service to take advantage of economies of scale and more services and resources. By 1975, 17 cities with independent municipal libraries had contracted with TRL. The last city to contract with TRL was Shelton in 1988. All 18 cities continue to contract with TRL for service or have annexed to the district.

In more remote rural areas far from cities, TRL gradually replaced bookmobiles with buildings using grant funds and timber revenue. In recent years, TRL has created partnerships with schools and tribes in rural areas to create service points called cooperative library centers that provide library services to the general public.

Besides the books, magazines, newspapers, tapes, videos, CDs, programs and other services available in community libraries and cooperative library centers, TRL also provides outreach services to groups and individuals districtwide. TRL added access to information services via a toll free telephone number as well as access to computerized resources 24 hours a day 7 days a week, including the library’s catalog, the patron’s own library card account, online subscriptions to reference and information sources and downloadable audiobooks, music and movies. WiFi is available in all Timberland libraries.

Many specific milestones are detailed in the accompanying document, “Timberland Regional Library Timeline, 1968 – 2008.”

Timberland Regional Library provides for the information, reading and lifelong learning needs of the Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston county public at 27 community public libraries and 7 library service partner locations. The library system is funded mainly by local property taxes. Web site: www.trl.org. Anyone needing special accommodations to participate in a library’s program may contact the library one week in advance.

Revised 11/28/08