Ethan Hoagland
Sweet Home’s Public Library is kickstarting a payment plan for people who live out of town and can’t afford to pay $35 upfront for a library card. Library Director Megan Dazey announced the new plan at the library’s board meeting on October 12.
“We’ve had a lot of people asking, that live out of town,” Dazey said at the meeting. “We’ve tried it a couple of times in the last two weeks… and people have been very happy.”
Here’s how the plan works. The library will ask for a five dollar down payment when someone comes to sign up, with a five dollar minimum payment due each month. As they pay off the card, only one person from the household will be able to check out books. Patrons on the payment plan will only be able to check out three books at a time. Once the card is paid off, the full benefits will be available. If the card is not paid off by the time membership is up for renewal (one year from the start date), it becomes inactive.
“I’m not gonna do payments less than five dollars,” she said. “You can’t come in every month and just pay one dollar. I want to do a five dollar minimum so there’s a little skin in the game.”
She expects there to be no problems as more people participate in the program.
“I’m not expecting there to be a high non-return rate,” Dazey said. “But I think it’s a gesture of goodwill and we’ll still get the payments that we ask for.”
Getting the message out there
Talks continued about a new public library building for Sweet Home, and director Dazey wants to make sure the community has the right message about what a new building could provide. She plans for the library to be a “third place” for people, the place they gather outside of their homes or workplaces.
“It’s about meeting people,” she said before the library board during the October 12 meeting. But it can offer much more. For Dazey, the possibilities are near endless and range from fun to health.
“One thing we’re getting a ton of requests for, probably at least every other day, is small rooms to do telehealth appointments,” Dazey said. On top of that, she said those rooms could be used for job interviews.
It could also provide a shelter for young people who may struggle to get school work done at home.
“For teens it’s a safe place that they can just be. They’re not going to feel unsafe, like if they’re just hanging out under the bridge.”
From there, the possible amenities continue to mount. Dazey envisions a kitchen center that offers more than a place to host cooking classes, but a space that local home-based businesses could rent.
“The library is the heart of a thriving community,” she said.
Cost is top of mind for Dazey, who said she plans to forge as many partnerships as she can to reduce any costs for the taxpayer. Right now, she hopes she can triple the library’s current space– up to 15,000 thousand square feet from the current 5,000.
The next library board meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., November 9 at city hall.
New weekend hours
New Friday and Saturday hours have begun at the library. It now opens at 11 a.m. both days. It still closes at 4 p.m.