A conversation with Secret Garden Bookshop owner, Christy McDanold October 20, 2009

“Welcome,” Christy McDanold said when we met at her business, Secret Garden Bookshop , this past summer. “This is our front porch. It’s wonderful to have a library on Ballard’s front porch. When you have a gem like the Ballard branch library near the business core it draws people and keeps people in the area of commerce. We’re in a city that survives primarily on sales tax and secondarily on B and O tax. If retailers don’t see customers then the city doesn’t collect sales tax. If you’re going to rely on tax then you need to ensure that the business core is kept in mind and realize that there are public services, like the library, that impact commerce, well being, and health.”

Secret Garden partners with Ballard branch library to host author readings. “We’ve produced about 100 readings,” McDanold told us. ”We wouldn’t be able to do our author readings without the Ballard branch because we don’t have that much space available. The rent we’d pay by square foot would be prohibitive. In exchange for using the public space we open our events to the public. Library patrons value that access to author events because we hear about that all the time.”

McDanold first saw the value of library meeting space when she headed a tutoring program for the Central Area Youth Association. “It was a tutoring program for at risk youth. We paired over 2000 volunteers with youth and they met together in branch libraries,” she explained. A teacher before starting her own business, she has great appreciation for libraries. “Libraries are the brain trust. Libraries translate questions into ideas and resources,” she told us.  But her strongest reason for library support  springs from her perspective as a  mother, “The one thing that consistently makes a difference in a child’s life is a caring adult in the community. As a parent I’ve always looked for someone that can connect with my children. The chance of it being a librarian is as good as it being a teacher. A library is a public open space. It’s a place where kids go even if they’re not looking for a book. As a society we should never back off from making places where that can happen. It’s a community responsibility.”

Walkable libraries enhance our lives and our neighborhoods September 13, 2009

Have you taken our five minute survey on library value? One theme we’re hearing from respondents is we love to walk there. ”I love being so close to a neighborhood library branch — we walk there 1-2 evenings/week and read stories with the kids and pick up our hold items,” replied Fremont patron Robyn Reed.

“One of the criteria for where we choose to live is if we can walk (or short drive) to a library,”  replied Sarah Hurt, a Douglass Truth patron. Douglass Truth has a walkscore  of 88. Its “very walkable” according to Walkscore.com.  More than 81% of our newly expanded library system is at least “very walkable.”  30% gets the highest  rating of  ”walker’s paradise” and all of the buildings are at least “somewhat walkable.”

“Libraries drive the walkability scores of a neighborhood,” said real estate agent Adrian Willinger. “People are returning to traditional values and want their resources within walking distance. They want to walk to their neighborhood services,  i.e., dry cleaner, grocery store, library. More and more people are looking at walkability.” Incoming Lake City Chamber of Commerce President and Realtor, Peter Lukevich concurs, “At the present time the existence of a library is generally believed to be a good thing for real estate values. The library and easy access to other government services is valuable and enhances the value of real property.” [Lake City library walkscore 94]

“Having Greenwood branch library in walking distance creates a sense of community for everyone,” Sara, a student at the University of Washington, told us. ”Three blocks one way — the grocery store. The other way — the library. Both are essential to a community’s well-being — food and knowledge. It’s a hub and a place to meet and a comforting addition to the neighborhood.” [Greenwood library walkscore 88]

In a July 2009 study, “Economic Value of Walkability,” from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, some of the economic advantages of a walkable neighborhood are: reduced transportation costs, special support for some businesses- such as walking tourism, and increased neighborhood interaction and community cohesion. “When you have a gem like the Ballard branch library near the business core it draws people and keeps people in the area of commerce, ” said Christy McDanold of Secret Garden Bookshop. [Ballard library walkscore 97]

C. Atalex tells us, “I work from home, so biking to the library and grocery store is a nice way for me to get out of the house and spend a couple hours around people. If we did not have a local library that I could walk/bike to, I would probably go very seldom, so I am very grateful for the refurbished Cap Hill branch.” [Capitol Hill library walkscore 100]

Remembering Wilmot Library August 29, 2009

Do you remember the Wilmot Library? In 1948, Wallingford resident Alice Wilmot Dennis offered a house at 4422 Meridian Avenue N to Seattle for a library. Dennis was a former teacher and the daughter of Green Lake pioneer Lemuel Alan Wilmot. The gift stipulated that it be used as a library for at least 30 years and be named for her late sister, Florence Wilmot Metcalf. Seattle Mayor William F. Devin and State Senator W. Ward Denison dedicated the Wilmot Memorial Library on September 9, 1949

Susan Scott of Secret Garden Bookshop sends us this remembrance:

“When I was quite young, in the mid-1950s, I spent a great deal of time with my grandparents, who lived just three doors down from the Wilmot Memorial Library -a precursor to today’s Wallingford Branch. It was then housed in a bungalow, with, as I recall, the adult collection in the living room, children’s books in the dining room, and mysteries and westerns back in what had been the kitchen.

My grandparents were voracious readers, so my grandad was a regular visitor, checking out tall stacks of books each time, which he always deliberately kept a day or two past their due date; he thought the library could use the money. In those days, long before computers, you checked out a book by writing your library card number on the narrow card in the book’s fly-leaf pocket, handing it to the librarian, then receiving a rubber-stamped date-due card in return.

My grandad had grown impatient with this system, particularly since he checked out so many books at one time, and had eventually badgered the good librarians into keeping his card under glass at the big front desk. He just collected the cards and handed them over to the obliging ladies of Wilmot. If they thought he was a pain in the neck, they were too nice to say so.

At a very tender age – those were simpler times – I was allowed to visit the library alone, since it was so nearby. And when it was time to check my books out, I’d been instructed to explain that my grandad’s card was “there” under the glass – I could barely reach high enough to point – and I was allowed to use it. This worked well unless there was a new employee, who had not yet been introduced to the eccentric borrower down the block, let alone his very young granddaughter. Then the whole story had to be explained all over again and a co-worker fetched to corroborate, before I’d be allowed to leave with my books.

I took to looking straight to the desk when I walked in, to see if I needed to gird my 4-year-old self to break in another rookie on this visit.

Eventually, I asked one of the library ladies if I couldn’t have my own card. “Well, you could,” she said, “but you’d have to be able to write your name.” Well, that was no problem, I quickly explained – I’d been able to write my name for ages. She looked at me skeptically, but took out the form, it was duly filled out, and on my next visit to my grandparents, I skipped happily down the street to pick up my newly minted Seattle Public Library card. As it was handed over, the librarian told me I was the youngest person in town to have one!

Naturally, I was very proud at the time, and as the years have gone by, of course there has always been a library card in my wallet. My first job was at the Northeast Branch, not so very many years later. And now, as a bookseller, I haven’t strayed too far from these bibliographic beginnings. But my favorite part of the story is the flexibility of all the parties involved – most especially the library staff. Our much faster paced, more standardized and regulated world today rarely affords an opportunity for this kind of institutional improvisation. But when it does, I always say the same thing: This is the way the world should work.”

Read more about Wilmot Library at History Link

Support the Library: Sign Our Petition April 15, 2009

As news of severe  reductions in the Capital budget  of our newly expanded Seattle Public Library system was being revealed today,  patrons outside Ballard Public Library added their signatures to a city wide petition drive in support of library funding. In the cold weather two dozen people, pictured at left, waited for the library doors to open.

In two hours 75 people stopped to talk about the importance of the library and sign their names in support of library funding. One man wrote on the petition: worksource tells me to use the library computers to look for work and fill out my forms.  Another woman wrote: the library is my lifeline in my job search.

Secret Garden bookshop will have a copy of the petition to sign through Sunday afternoon.  The petition will be presented to City Council in a morning meeting on April 20, along with petitions from many other neighborhoods. We’ll also have petitions available at the Friends of The Library Book Sale this weekend. Did you realize it’s Book Sale time again?