By Gary Wasdin,
Director, King County Library System

I have worked in libraries in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and now the Pacific Northwest, and in almost every city, the public library is the heart of the community.

Librarians often call the library a bridge to a brighter future. The Renton Library is the first I’ve seen that actually is a bridge. I understand the significance of its unique setting and appreciate the community’s advocacy to keep the new library at the same site. It is an engineering marvel and underscores the importance of the Renton Library to the city and the people it serves.

Libraries thrive because of a strong public-private partnership that dates back more than a century. Here in Renton, Neva Bostwick Douglas submitted an ambitious request to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to help build a public library for her beloved city. The grant was successful, and the city received $10,000 ($240,000 in today’s dollars) to fund its first public library. Even then a controversy erupted as the location of the library became a point of contention. Sound familiar?

Libraries evoke such passion because they are much more than just buildings. Libraries are community engines. They are the catalysts that protect, strengthen and future-proof our lives.

I started at KCLS in January and I’ve spent most of my first 10 months listening to whatever people wanted to tell me about their communities and their lives. Among the many things I’ve learned, three trends have come up repeatedly:

• Aging population – By 2025 nearly one in every four King County residents will be age 60 or older, and we need to think about how we serve this growing population;

• Diversity – King County becomes increasingly diverse every year as immigrant and refugee populations settle in our area, seeking a better life for themselves and their families;

• Need for new and innovative skills – The ability to read and write is still critically important, but youth AND adults require new literacy skills to help them obtain jobs we can’t even yet imagine.

As always, the library must continue to adapt, evolve, and grow to prepare communities for the future. The Renton Library 100 years ago boasted 8,000 books. Today, KCLS offers 3.3 million items, including books, but also audio books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, newspapers, research tools and more.

Thomas Jefferson said, “An informed citizenry is the heart of a dynamic democracy” and literacy is at its core. But today, literacy is more broadly defined and libraries must respond by offering services that build a variety of literacy skills, including:

• Financial Literacy – To learn the basics of financial management for households and small businesses.

• Civic Literacy – To encourage active participation in communities through a better understanding of government;

• Cultural Literacy – To understand our own history and appreciate the history of others;

• Digital Literacy – To develop new job skills or ways to communicate in an increasingly complex world;

• Reading Literacy – To reinforce the foundation upon which all other literacies are built. Public libraries are truly remarkable spaces. They are engines that transform communities and each of us are its engineers.

When you step through the doors of the library, things change. Together, we can transform ideas into action.

Gary Wasdin is director of the King County Library System. He can be reached via email at gawasdin@kcls.org.