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Small town ingenuity saved
library
Corner shelf in Bothell Library
might have closed for lack of space
Today’s public library in Bothell has a
“regional” designation to it, and is part of a King countywide
system recognized nationwide as one of the finest and most-used in the
country. The King County Library System, of which the Bothell Regional
Library is a part, has all the markings of a successful corporate model
by carefully having analyzed the needs and wants of its reading and
Internet-savvy public.
Bothell, for example, greets between 1,200 to 1,300
visitors every day to experience service innovations that keep the
traditional, hard cover book lovers coming, and it provides the
necessities for the computer-literate that continue to attract young
readers by the droves.
It wasn’t ever thus. In fact, there was a time Bothell city
leadership wondered if the public library would survive. The problem was
not one of use or interest; it was one of space to accommodate the
city’s first serious growth spurt in the wake of Seattle’s sprawl to
the suburbs in the late 1950s through the mid 1960s.
As Bothell Library supporters prepare to celebrate a
“centennial of services” on June 25, it is important for those of us
who take the library a bit for granted these days to give credit to
those who guided Bothell Library over “bumps in the road” that could
have led to a far different fate.
When Dr. Walter E. Sundstrom took office as mayor in December of
1965 and Laura Corner presided as managing librarian, the Bothell
Library was enjoying considerable prosperity as far as use was
concerned. There were some financial black clouds on the horizon as a
result of this good fortune, however. The county’s library director,
the late Herb Mutschler, had requested a meeting with Dr. Sundstrom and
the city council to discuss where to put all the many books the Bothell
patrons were requesting. At the time, the library and the city council
chambers shared the cramped top floor of today’s City Hall and the
library and Laura’s famous Corner Shelf were fast outgrowing their
limited space.
The mayor took Mutschler’s counsel to heart that the city would
soon have to step up with more square footage for the library or the
county system likely would have to look beyond City Hall for space, and
possibly Bothell altogether. There were those who opposed keeping the
library so close to the King-Snohomish county line, for instance,
because so many Snohomish County residents were taking advantage of
Bothell’s library, but who contributed no tax revenues whatsoever to
Bothell or the King County Library System.
Neither the city nor the county had a financial plan to remedy
this growth dilemma. Few options were available, particularly since the
city would have to come up with a satisfactory, annual source of debt
retirement should Bothell voters agreed to a bond issue to build what
clearly should be a free standing site separate from City Hall.
The library’s needs were just one of many pressing issues
facing the newly elected part-time mayor and full-time physician. He was
getting pressure from his own family as well. He, wife Lois, and their
nine children represented a substantial number of library users,
besides. Mayor Sundstrom proceeded to mobilize forces for a solution,
approaching the City Library Board members who, at that time, had
considerable influence over the Bothell Library budget. Prior to his
election he had urged organization of a Friends of the Bothell Library
in 1963 and turned to both groups to help sell the idea of a bond issue
for Bothell’s part of a joint effort to relocate the library.
King County agreed to match city funds and to apply for a federal
grant so the project could inch forward. As unpopular as it might be,
Mayor Sundstrom said he would support a minimal utility tax to payoff
city bonds for the library. This would provide a repayment source to
satisfy the bond market. Up until that time the conservative tendency of
the Bothell City Council and Bothell’s barely 3,000 population was to
adhere to a pay-as-you-go approach to municipal government. Never mind
that there were builders, engineering plans and home drawings in hand,
circling the community looking for Bothell’s overworked building
department. These developers were eager to extend streets, construct
suburban homes and, as a result, provide even more library patrons.
Dr. Sundstrom patiently, but finally, convinced the council to
place a $70,000 bond issue on the ballot in 1967 and it passed handily.
An 8,300 square foot building went under construction for $310,000 and
was opened in July of 1969 just west of the present 10-year-old regional
library facility in Bothell. Congressman Lloyd Meeds came from
Washington, D.C. to help dedicate the new facility, Laura Corner had her
new library she had dreamed about, and the rest is history. The library
survived, but so did the utility tax.
Today between 1,200 and 1,300 patrons a day cross
through the lobby. Or did I say that earlier. There could be that many
there for the centennial celebration on the Saturday afternoon of June
25.
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