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Doors open on Thorne Bay’s new library, attracting residents and visitors to grand opening

Thorne Bay residents, guests, and residents from different Prince of Wales Island communities collect outdoors the brand new Thorne Bay Library throughout its grand opening on Saturday. Picture courtesy of Karen Petersen

The Prince of Wales Island group of Thorne Bay lastly has a brand new library. Group members held a grand opening celebration this weekend.

The library will act as a supply of 24-hour free public web, host packages and workshops, and naturally, be a spot for residents to collect and skim good books. 


Till 1999, there wasn’t a library in Thorne Bay, says Mates of the Library Chair Karen Petersen.

“We used to get all of our books and movies and magazines within the mail from the State Library out of Juneau,” Petersen stated.

Thorne Bay’s first library was arrange in a former Ketchikan Pulp Firm workplace constructing alongside the waterfront. Round 2005, the library moved into an previous trailer that had beforehand housed a college in Naukati. 

And ever since, it’s been a aim of the group to enhance the library. Petersen says that libraries was funded with state assets, however that’s modified. 

However the state of Alaska, , for the final seven or eight years has not had some huge cash,” Petersen stated. “And there hasn’t been any funding via the state for public libraries.”

And so via bake gross sales and auditions and raffle tickets and campaigns, the group raised $160,000 for a brand new constructing. 

Petersen says they set their eyes on a modular-style constructing with about 30% more room than the present library.

“(Within the) Naukati college constructing, one half of the library was the youngsters’s space, reference was within the hallway, the Alaska materials was within the rest room,” Petersen defined. “And within the different room was the grownup and non, , grownup fiction and laptop space. So undoubtedly we elevated our area and it’s really function constructed area, proper? It’s constructed to be a library, so it seems to be like a library it appears like a library.”

Laura Clark has been Thorne Bay’s librarian for 3 years. Writing to KRBD, Clark stated the constructing is ADA compliant and includes a assembly room for reservation, laptops to be used and a chosen kids’s part.

“By doubling our sq. footage, we’ve a lot extra to supply, simply day after day,” Clark wrote within the e-mail.

However Petersen says it was onerous to discover a firm prepared to tackle the duty of designing it and getting it to Alaska. That was till January of final 12 months, when Timberland Properties in Auburn, Washington took on the job. However then they noticed the quote from Timberland. It got here in $100,000 greater than what the group had raised. So Petersen says the Mates of the Library began calling round for extra assist.

However we referred to as Rasmuson Basis,” she stated. “They usually had been actually impressed with the sum of money that we had raised to date, they usually stated they might assist us with the distinction, plus a bit of bit for delivery.”

So, in early October, the constructing was loaded onto a barge and shipped from Washington to Thorne Bay in two items. Petersen says it was barged in throughout a storm.

A barge carrying the brand new Thorne Bay library is pictured. Picture courtesy of Karen Petersen

As soon as it arrived, she says it was a group effort to switch all the things from the previous constructing — even Thorne Bay’s basketball group pitched in to maneuver all of the cabinets and books within the library’s assortment. 

Then, lastly, the library was able to open its doorways. On a stormy Saturday, Petersen says some 60 folks turned out for the grand opening.

“We had of us from Thorne Bay, guests to the group, and folk from different different communities on the island there,” Petersen stated. “So it was nice.”

The Thorne Bay Library is open for enterprise and staffed by volunteers. Petersen says folks can sit and use the free web connection on the lined porch whereas the constructing is closed. 

Raegan Miller is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps preserve her writing tales like this one. Please take into account making a tax-deductible contribution at KRBD.org/donate.

 

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