EVERETT — After more than a decade of waiting, thousands of families in the neighborhoods near Mariner High School and 128th Street are getting a library.
The area has needed better library access for a long time, Sno-Isle executive director Jonalyn Woolf-Ivory said.
Sno-Isle is leasing space at 520 128th St. SW. It’s a former yoga studio in a shopping center across the street from a transit center. There are five elementary schools, one middle school and the high school in the area.
The goal is to open the library in early 2017. A date has not been decided, but Woolf-Ivory is hoping for January.
The district signed a five-year lease. During that time, they’ll look into the need and options for a permanent facility, she said.
The Mukilteo School District has been working with Sno-Isle on opening what they call a demonstration library. In the past, demonstration libraries have paved the way for permanent ones. That was the case with the library on Camano Island, which opened last year.
A survey of families in the Mukilteo School District showed that 99 percent of respondents want a library near Mariner High School. The new library is meant to serve the area south of Everett, east of Paine Field and Mukilteo, west of Mill Creek and north of Lynnwood. About 30,000 people live there.
People have petitioned Sno-Isle twice to get a new library. A decade ago, Peggy Nystrom, a retired Mukilteo School District librarian and advocate for the library project, submitted a petition with 1,274 signatures. Recently, another petition was presented with 1,345 signatures.
The Mukilteo School District superintendent and board president also wrote a letter to Sno-Isle in June urging the library district to open a space near Mariner, calling the service “long overdue.”
After the first petition, Sno-Isle started sending a library truck, or bookmobile, to the area. The plan was to set up a permanent library. However, when the recession hit, it was put on hold.
The need for a library has only increased. It’s an area where there are many good-hearted but disadvantaged people, Nystrom previously told The Daily Herald. Many of the families have young children. During planning and research, Sno-Isle officials found that the area has more than double the rate of low-income families compared to neighboring Mill Creek and Mukilteo libraries.
Public comments gathered over the years suggest that people who live in the area want a library that supports local students’ education, is close to public transit, has internet access and technology, and offers space for community meetings and classes, such as English as a second language.
The Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation plans to help cover the lease for the library.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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