Washington County Expanding Library Services

ABINGDON, Va. – With projects under way to expand or replace four of the county’s five libraries, Washington County Public Library Director Charlotte Parsons hopes to make enough room for all the folks she says are crowding into the county’s libraries.

“You used to just have books,” Parsons said. “Now, you have all these different types of formats now, and then you get computers and that’s changed everything about what you do. It’s not just that our services have expanded, but the opportunities for materials are now just so more diverse than they were before.

“This has been a cumulative process of getting to the point that we’re bursting at the seams in all of our facilities.”

Just in the last five years, she said, circulation of library materials has increased by nearly 13 percent, with Internet usage going up 370 percent during the same time period.

According to a chart provided by Parsons, the library circulated 236,497 items in 1993. Last year, it circulated 365,752 – an increase of nearly 55 percent.

She said space has been an issue for several years as new technology and media have been added at the library’s five locations. But the momentum for change increased in 2004, when a consultant did a study that ranked the libraries as poor and, in some cases, unacceptable.

Four years later, the Hayter’s Gap branch is about to double its size, a new building is planned for the Damascus branch, the Glade Spring branch is expected to move into a donated building on the town square and a new facility is being sought for the main branch in Abingdon so it can partner with another organization.

Parsons said she also hopes to find creative solutions in the future for added service in areas of the county that don’t have libraries.

“In Fairfax County, they used to have all of these little station things right in the center of where a lot of office buildings or something would be there ... you could ask for any book that you wanted to be brought to that station, and then you could pick it up, just like you were going out to get a hot dog or something,” she said. “There’s just a lot of different ways you can look at getting books to people.”

Damascus: a sustainable tourism center

With a new $1 million, 6,500-square-foot library planned for Water Street, Damascus is awaiting the selection of an architectural firm to do final drawings for its new library so construction can begin as early as this fall.

Paid for by Washington County, the town of Damascus and grant money, the new Damascus branch will serve as a tourism office for the town – complete with brochures and information – as well as a library, Parsons said.

The town, which is on the Appalachian Trail and is situated as a gateway to surrounding natural areas, draws thousands of hikers each year, as well as thousands of bicyclists who ride the Virginia Creeper Trail.

“With the advent of the way people communicate in this world, I think the use of the computers in our library for the hikers has become as important as our post office as a re-supply station,” said Bunny Medeiros, a member of the library fundraising committee.

“As much as I love the library where it is and love its present configuration, it’s very clear that we’ve outgrown the size,” she said.

Branch Manager Deanna Wolfe said space is so limited the reference room has to be closed off every time a program or event is presented. And every time a new book is put on the shelf, another book must come off.

“It’s really hard trying to choose what to take off,” Wolfe said. “The hardest thing we have to do is dispose of books.”

Wolfe said it’s also the only branch with wireless Internet access; a sign-in book for visitors last year registered people from 48 states and at least a dozen foreign countries.

“Our circulation just goes up every month. ... You keep thinking, ‘Where are these people coming from?’ ” Wolfe said.

“Since the first of the year, we’ve had an increase from month to month more than what we’ve had before. I think it’s just for the fact that everything is more expensive now wherever you go. And I think it’s just you can go to the library and it doesn’t cost a dime.”

Last month, she said, the library circulated 3,000 materials – six times what it did 15 years ago.

Parsons said the new facility will not only solve the space issue, it will present an opportunity to create a green building focused on promoting local artisans, attractions and natural beauty.

“I’m really hoping it can reflect the location where the building is going to be,” Parsons said. “The exterior design is patterned after the train station that was in Damascus. ... The location is very close to where the original train station was.”

She said landscaping will be done with native trees, and the library will showcase local products in the construction. It also will be made “as high-tech as we possibly can.”

Parsons said she’s hoping for a grant that would allow for a solar-powered computer station, which would save energy while providing added service.

“This is the first public building that’s been constructed in that area in a long time, and we all know that Damascus is growing and has continued to grow,” Parsons said.

“We want this to be a model for positive growth and development. ... It’s to show people that you can have change, you can have progress, you can have development, and you can do it in an attractive, environmentally friendly way that emphasizes the positive features of your community.”

Glade Spring: anchoring a new downtown

In Glade, the library is a rallying point for many who are working toward a revitalized downtown area. They hope it can be part of the engine for downtown development.

The town square was recently repaved with the addition of new lighting, islands and landscaping – a project town leaders hope will encourage investment in buildings and businesses downtown.

Moving the town’s library here, to a building donated to the town over the winter, would accomplish two goals: allow easier access to library materials and refurbish an aging former grocery store. The project has become a community effort.

“More books, better parking, more visibility, which will increase circulation a lot,” said Branch Manager Pamela Widener, who said the current library is just 1,000 square feet – a small fraction of the size of the two-story brick Peery building, which anchors a corner of the square.

“Having the library down in the square would draw more people into the square, so there’d be more reason to have business down there,” she said.

One condition was placed on the donation of the building: that it be turned into a library within three years.

Parsons, the county library director, said a study is under way to determine how renovations will proceed and what the cost will be; once the cost is known, she can work on writing grants.

“I’m hoping by the start of the calendar year that we would have a pretty definite plan of what we’re going to do,” Parsons said.

“We’ve been talking about this probably in all of the 15 years that I’ve been there. I’ve been in every building on that downtown square ... and there was not a one that had all of these elements: a floor, a roof and windows. You would have one that would have one or the other, but they didn’t have all three.”

This building has all three. And Parsons said Glade has a strong history: it had the county’s first library, which was started years ago by a group of ladies who lent out their own books.

“We’re very optimistic,” said Henrietta Umberger, a member of the Friends of the Glade Spring Library, which is raising money for the project. “We want good things to happen in Glade and the library.”

Hayter’s Gap: Saving gasoline

Construction could begin as early as this summer on a $200,000 expansion project that will double the size of the library in Hayter’s Gap, which occupies a classroom in the old Hayter’s Gap Elementary School.

The project, funded by Washington County and the Virginia Tobacco Commission, will knock out a wall to an adjacent classroom for the expansion and create a separate entrance for the library.

“They have been our fastest-growing branch over the last few years,” Parsons said.

Branch Manager Kathy Musick said she thinks people in Hayter’s Gap are reading more than ever – and this year’s summer reading program has been the most successful ever.

“I think maybe people are ... just realizing that we’ve got this great little library right here in the community,” Musick said.

“Gas prices might have something to do with it. I think a lot of new people have moved into the community also, and I think a lot of the people who have always lived here and used the main library are just starting to take advantage of their local branch more than ever,” she said.

One reason the library is busier than ever is that more people are using it to order books from other branches, which are brought in a few days, rather than using the gasoline to drive to a larger library, Musick said.

“I think it’s going to be a huge improvement for this community to be able to have more space for computers ... a bigger children’s area and more room for adult books ... more study space,” she said. “I think the people of Washington County definitely love to read.”

Abingdon: looking for a new home

The first of the county’s libraries to be identified as a problem was the main branch in Abingdon. Parsons said it’s just too small for staff, materials and the 500 people who come in daily.

“We don’t have enough seats as it is now, so when we go wireless, people are going to be on the floors or something,” she said.

Parsons said the foundation of the existing building and the geology of the site don’t allow for cost-effective construction of a bigger building. And even a three-story library wouldn’t solve the lack of parking.

She said more than a dozen sites were considered but were found to be unsuitable, unavailable or too expensive. Two options being considered now involve partnerships with other organizations.

One is William King Regional Arts Center, which sits on a hill above Main Street and is in the midst of an expansion project of its own.

“There could be an opportunity for us to do more programming together. We could use some of the same common space. ... They plan to do a gift shop and coffee shop in that addition they’re going to construct – well, that would be an attractive thing, if you could just go out the door, go over to the arts center and have a cup of coffee,” Parsons said.

“Libraries and arts centers just kind of blend together anyway. It could be a very positive partnership for all of us.”

The other option being considered is participating with the county on a re-use of the old Johnston Memorial Hospital, which is to be replaced by a new facility at another site.

“That would be one of the parameters of the study, which is can we re-use a portion of the hospital for a new branch library,” said Washington County Administrator Mark Reeter.

The county is having the hospital building assessed for possible use as county office space.

Parsons hopes one option or the other can come to fruition soon.

“I’m just very anxious to find an alternative to the cramped-space issues that we have been dealing with,” she said.

“If the hospital would work, I would be more than anxious for us to start moving forward. If we could work out arrangements with William King [Regional Arts Center] and could afford it ... I’d be happy with that. ... I am so anxious for something to happen here that I’d take just about a tobacco warehouse if we could make it work.”

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