By MICHAEL WHITNEY
Published July 18, 2012
Library board may let nonresidents get library card
EVERETT - Hundreds of people leave empty handed from Everett’s two libraries every day.
They can’t check out materials because they live outside the city and don’t want to pay $100 to get an Everett library card.
For some, that could change soon. The library board is considering changing the rules to let people who work in and own property in the city eligible for a library card.
The five-member library board all support the idea, library director Eileen Simmons said. The library board has final say on the matter.
The library board is next scheduled to talk about the idea next month. The Tribune could not reach board president Larry Goulet for comment last week because he was on vacation.
Simmons is concerned, though, that letting more people check out materials might strain the library’s small Evergreen branch. That branch on Evergreen Way holds 64,000 items versus the downtown library’s 200,000 items but Evergreen receives a lot more visitors from outlying areas.
By opening the door to just people who work in Everett, Simmons hopes the impact won’t be as great.
“We are hoping by limiting access to a smaller section of Everett that this will be something we can handle,” Simmons said.
Both branches turn away hundreds of people each day.
The Evergreen branch turns away about half of the people who visit. Most of those people live in Mill Creek, Mukilteo and the outlying areas of the city. The downtown branch turns away about a third of the people who visit the branch, Simmons said.
The library board’s decision would open up the two branches to nonresidents who work for big employers such as Boeing, Providence and the city. (Even the library’s resident historian David Dilgard has to buy his own nonresident library card.)
Without buying a library card, nonresidents are prohibited from checking out items and limited to about 10 minutes of Internet use. If you ask for a library card, staff will check your residency.
Sno-Isle Libraries cardholders used to be able to check out materials at Everett’s library system. The arrangement ended 14 years ago.
