ANNUAL CIRCULATION at Mason County's largest library in Shelton is about 300,000 items. The county has a library in each of its four corners.

WILLIAM G. REED
LIBRARY, Shelton

Circulation in Shelton for past decade 1997: 340,225 1998: 315,914 1999: 299,158 2000: 283,296 2001: 299,108 2002: 310,036 2003: 319,543 2004: 312,946 2005: 323,269 2006: 298,127

Librarian: Patty Ayala Ross. Size: 16,000 square feet. Collection in 2006: 118,679 (115,852 in 2005). Annual circulation, 2006: 298,127 (323,269 in 2005; library was closed most of June 2006). Staff: 13 full-time equivalent. Hours per week: 58 (54 in summer). Location: Seventh and Alder. Hours: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also open Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m., except for June through September. Phone: 426-1362. To reach reference librarians: 704-4636 from Shelton; from elsewhere, 1-800-562-6022 toll-free.

The five-county Timberland Regional Library leased a building built to its specifications in 1974 in the unincorporated area near Sanderson Field north of Shelton and called it the South Mason Timberland Library. Timberland purchased the building in February 1985 in addition to three adjacent lots. The only incorporated city in Mason County, Shelton, had its own independent library. In May 1989, the City of Shelton began contracting with Timberland for library services. The city was in the process of building a new library at Seventh and Alder, and Timberland provided a grant through its partnership program and a loan to the city to complete the building. The South Mason building was closed and the property sold. The Reed Library, which started serving South Mason and Shelton residents, is one of six large libraries in the Timberland system.

HOODSPORT TIMBERLAND LIBRARY

Circulation in Hoodsport for past decade 1997: 35,905 1998: 37,051 1999: 34,768 2000: 37,213 2001: 35,170 2002: 33,000 2003: 35,541 2004: 32,779 2005: 36,566 2006: 32,030

Librarian: Nancy Triplett. Size: 3,600 square feet. Collection in 2006: 17,652 (17,663 in 2005). Annual circulation, 2006: 32,030 (36,566 in 2005). Staff: 1.8 full-time equivalent. Hours per week: 25. Location: 40 North Schoolhouse Hill Road. Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursday, 1 to 8 p.m. Phone: 877-9339. For information from reference librarians: 1-800-562-6022 toll-free.

A small Hoodsport library opened in a building on Lake Cushman Road near Highway 101 in September 1989. It was a leased storefront. Because of the need for a larger facility, Timberland Regional Library purchased 1.7 acres on Schoolhouse Hill for a library site.

An idea which began as a grassroots effort by library supporters and community members grew into a media event when the old North Mason library in Belfair was moved by barge down Hood Canal to the new site on a foggy morning in October 1996. The old library was destined to be demolished in Belfair until the recycling idea was hatched, and the building came down the canal to Hoodsport in three pieces.

The remodeled building on the hill above Highway 101 opened in March 1997. The view from the library's deck and east windows is a panorama of downtown, Hood Canal and the Tahuya Peninsula on the other side of the water.

Hoodsport and Belfair are unincorported, so Timberland has no contractual arrangement with a city in either location as it has with Shelton.

NORTH MASON TIMBERLAND LIBRARY, Belfair

Circulation in Belfair for past decade 1997: 101,245 1998: 133,674 1999: 135,247 2000: 135,999 2001: 136,175 2002: 138,212 2003: 139,054 2004: 145,665 2005: 152,611 2006: 159,264

Librarian: Victoria Rexford. Size: 14,800 square feet. Collection in 2006: 56,525 (56,245 in 2005). Annual circulation, 2006: 159,264 (152,611 in 2005). Staff: 6 full-time equivalent. Hours per week: 48. Location: 23081 NE State Route 3. Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: 275-3232. For information from reference librarians: 1-800-562-6022 toll-free.

The North Mason library began in 1950 in Dorothy Newkirk Harper's Belfair Drug store. When the drug store was sold in 1966, the library was moved to leased space in the back of a TV shop.

In July 1976, it was moved to a slightly larger leased space across from Belfair Elementary School on Highway 3 until September 1979.

A new library nestled in the trees beside Highway 3 was opened in November 1979. The Friends of the North Mason Library purchased the land for the library building and deeded it to Timberland.

Timberland purchased additional land at the current site on which a new 14,400-square-foot library was built at 23081 NE State Route 3. The new $2.8-million building, featuring much height and light, was opened in March 1998, and circulation immediately jumped. It had about four times as much space as the old library.

The old Belfair library building was recycled and moved by barge up Hood Canal, where it reopened as the Hoodsport library in March 1997.

MATLOCK

Timberland Regional Library also collaborates with the Mary M. Knight School District in a "cooperative library center" on the MMK campus in Matlock. It is in a portable building near the elementary school. The school asks that patrons check in at the school office before visiting the library.

The cooperative library has what is called a "blended collection" of Timberland books and MMK books. That is, patrons can check out books belonging to the school district as well as any of the Timberland volumes.

Computers in the library give patrons access to Timberland's electronic catalog, so a person living in the west end of the county can check out a Timberland book not available at the Matlock library and have it delivered to that library, saving a trip to Shelton or another Timberland site.

The library is open during the school year from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays. It will close for the year June 15 and reopen in September. Questions may be directed to the MMK office at 426-6767.

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