EDMONDS — On a brisk December morning, the Edmonds Library is a perfect place to look out over the city’s waterfront, a good book in hand. The rooftop location with its wide picture windows offers a new amenity to a long-cherished community hub: a beautiful view and the feeling of being in a cozy bubble above the streets below.
To look at the library now, you’d hardly guess that just a couple of flights below sits 17,000 square feet of empty space.
After keeping Edmonds well-read through the summer and fall with a pop-up library atop the old space, the library recently announced plans for a complete remodel, expected to finish by summer 2023.
In June, the Edmonds branch of the Sno-Isle Libraries at 650 Main St. shuttered after a burst pipe flooded the space with over 60,000 gallons of water overnight. R.D. Burley, assistant director of facilities for Sno-Isle, described the scene the next morning as looking like “a small ocean, 2 inches deep, with islands of books here and there.”
Miraculously, Burley said, the library’s collection of 1.8 million books, DVDs, magazines and other materials sustained almost no damage. Edmonds Library manager Richard Suico quickly moved planned workshops and storytimes to the Edmonds Waterfront Center. But once the books were either transplanted to one of the other 22 libraries in the network or placed in storage, there was still the matter of the damaged library itself.
Community Libraries Director Diane Laisaid patrons had to pick up their holds at the Lynnwood location for just a few days, but staff’s priority was getting the library back up and running as soon as possible. Besides accessing books and computers, she said, library staff knew the importance of offering a warm space, power and comfort for everyone as the weather turned cold.
“We had Edmonds’ interests at heart from the beginning,” Lai said. “If there was a way to continue our services in whatever shape or form we can, then that’s what we want to do.”
The library reopened shortly in the form of a downsized pop-up in the building’s rooftop Plaza Room, normally reserved as event rental space. It houses only about 1,000 items, but it provides all the services of the full-size library: patrons can pick up holds delivered from throughout the network, browse the shelves, borrow laptops and charge their phones.
There’s even a corner with a kids’ table reserved for the library’s storytimes. The popular programs had to be split into two sessions, since demand never ceased despite the smaller space, Suico said.
When the dust settled, Lai said staff quickly saw the opportunity to renovate the waterlogged library into an “inspiring space.” Here was a chance to implement ideas and changes patrons and staff had long imagined into the blank slate of an empty space.
The upcoming renovation, still in the conceptual phase, will aim to make amenities more accessible, like ensuring power outlets are easy to reach and bookshelves everyone can browse without stooping or stretching.
And of course, Lai said the update will focus on the library’s long-held priority of creating an inviting, welcoming space. The new library, like the old library, will ideally be a place patrons want to linger a while or gather with friends before, of course, picking up some books to take home.
Sno-Isle recently partnered with Seattle firm Johnston Architects to start the design process, Burley said. Construction is expected to begin in early 2023, and library staff plan to reopen by summer.
“I’m excited for the doors to open up, people to come in and their jaw just drops because the library is better than they ever imagined it,” Burley said. “It’s just what we need for a community that loves their library this much.”
Riley Haun: 425-339-3192; riley.haun@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @RHaunID.
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