Timberland Regional Library (TRL) is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

system serving the residents of western

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washingto ...

, United States including

Grays Harbor Grays Harbor is an estuarine bay located north of the mouth of the Columbia River, on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington state, in the United States of America. It is a ria, which formed at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels flood ...

, Lewis, Mason,

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and Thurston counties. Timberland Regional Library has 27 community libraries, 2 cooperative library centers, and 3 library

kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist i ...

s. It was founded in 1968, following a four-year demonstration project, and is funded through property taxes and timber taxes.

History

A two-year demonstration library system, the Timberland Library Demonstration (TLD), was established in 1964 to serve Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties, using $310,000 in funds from the federal

Library Services and Construction Act The Library Services and Construction Act, enacted in 1964 by the U.S. Congress, provides federal assistance to libraries in the United States for the purpose of improving or implementing library services or undertaking construction projects. The ...

and local sources. Each of the counties had cities with independent library systems and several rural library districts, including the Grays Harbor County Rural Library District and South Puget Sound Regional Library, who chose to either join or opt out of the demonstration project. The Timberland Library Demonstration relied on the

Washington State Library The Washington State Library is a government agency that operates public libraries in Washington state's prisons and mental hospitals, and maintains collections related to the state government. Based in Tumwater, it is a service of the Washingt ...

to process its books, which were also stored in municipal libraries. The system debuted its

bookmobile A bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookm ...

in September 1964, based in Centralia and traveling on ten routes between rural areas in all five counties. The formation of a permanent library district would require a public vote, which was pushed back from 1966 to 1968, waiting for a more favorable general election. The South Puget Sound Regional Library, which comprised Mason and Thurston counties, threatened to leave the demonstration later in 1966 over the effectiveness of the program for their counties. After months of negotiation, the two counties reversed their decision, allowing the demonstration project to continue for another two years. On November 5, 1968, residents of unincorporated areas in the five counties approved the establishment of an intercounty rural library district, with four counties having large margins in favor of the library. The Timberland Regional Library became the state's third intercounty district, following the

North Central Regional Library NCW Libraries is an inter-county rural library district in northern Washington state. It was founded as the North Central Regional Library (NCRL) in 1960 and is headquartered in Wenatchee, Washington. NCW Libraries provides library services t ...

in northeastern Washington and the Sno-Isle Regional Library in the northern Puget Sound area. The new library formed its board the following month and opened its headquarters at the 1914 Carnegie library in Olympia. In the 1980s and 1990s, the district expanded and built several new branches in rural communities with funding from strong timber sales.

Library relocations

On October 21, 1996, the North Mason branch in

Belfair Belfair is a census-designated place in Mason County, Washington, United States. Located at the mouth of the Union River at Hood Canal, it serves as the commercial center of North Mason County. The population of the surrounding area grows in ...

was divided into three sections and shipped by barge on

Hood Canal Hood Canal is a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins,Hoodsport to be reused as the new building for their branch. The move was chosen due to its cost savings compared to construction of a new building and demolition of the North Mason building, which was due to be replaced. The Hoodsport branch opened in March 1997, following renovations and the replacement of the roof. The new building for the North Mason branch opened in March 1998 after a year of construction. The TRL proposed a similar building swap in 2023 to relocate the

Amanda Park Amanda Park is a census designated place on the Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by ...

branch to

Randle Randle, as a surname or a given name, may refer to: Surname: * Betsy Randle (born 1955), American actress * Bill Randle (1923–2004), American disc jockey, lawyer and university professor * Brian Randle (born 1985), American NBA coach and basketba ...

, to the east. The Amanda Park branch had served a small population with a severe decrease of book holds and physical checkouts since 2011, while Randle was due to receive a new building that would cost $1.8 million to construct.

2009 ballot measure

On February 3, 2009, approximately 53% of voters within TRL's five-county district turned down "Levy Lid Lift Proposition 1" in a special election. This proposition would have lifted the 34.5-cent (per thousand dollars of assessed valuation) cap on TRL's property tax levy rate. As a result, the Library Board determined that approximately 2.5 million dollars would need to be cut from TRL's 2010 budget.

Branches

The Timberland Regional Library system has 27 community libraries and four kiosks serving most cities in its five-county area. The cities of Mossyrock, Napavine, Ocean Shores, Pe Ell, and Vader are not part of the library's district. TRL also offers access to information services via online reference databases, library catalog, toll-free telephone 6 days a week as well as many other resources 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Ebooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

and digital

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

s, provided by the digital distributor

OverDrive Overdrive may refer to: Organizations * OverDrive, Inc., a digital distributor of entertainment media ** OverDrive Media Console, a media player developed by OverDrive, Inc. * Overdrive PC, a subsidiary of Velocity Micro Technology * Overdrive ( ...

, can be downloaded from the library's website. *

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

(North Mason) * Centralia *

Chehalis Chehalis may refer to: People * Chehalis people, a Native American people of Washington state ** Lower Chehalis language **Upper Chehalis language * Sts'Ailes people (Chehalis people), a First Nation in British Columbia * Chehalis First Nation, Bri ...

* Elma * Hoodsport * Hoquiam * Ilwaco * Lacey * McCleary * Montesano *

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film ''Horton ...

(kiosk only) * Naselle * Nisqually Tribal Library (kiosk only) * Oakville * Ocean Park * Olympia * Packwood *

Rainier Rainier may refer to the following: People *Rainier (name), a list of people with the given name or surname Places United States * Rainier, Oregon, a small city * Rainier, Washington, a small city * Rainier Beach, Seattle *Mount Rainier, a strato ...

(book drop only) *

(Mountain View) *

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ...

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

(kiosk only) * Salkum *

Shelton Shelton may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire * Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire * Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bed ...

South Bend South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

*South Puget Sound Community College, Hawks Prairie campus (kiosk only) * Tenino * Tokeland (Shoalwater Bay Tribal Community Library) * Toledo (kiosk only) * Tumwater * Westport * Winlock *

Yelm Yelm () is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. Its population was 10,617 at the 2020 census. At the beginning of the 21st century, Yelm was the 10th fastest growing city in the state in regard to population. History The wo ...

Zine collection

The Olympia branch has a special collection of

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very s ...

s, many created by local authors. There were over 2,000 zines in the collection .

Reciprocal library systems

TRL participates in reciprocal borrowing agreements with the following public library systems in Washington State. Under this program, TRL cardholders can obtain free accounts at these library systems, and vice versa. *

Fort Vancouver Regional Library District Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries is a public library system in southwestern Washington (state), Washington state. The library district was established in 1950 as the first inter-county rural library district in Washington. The district has gro ...

(Clark, Klickitat, Skamania Counties) * King County Library System *

Kitsap Regional Library The Kitsap Regional Library is a public library system in Kitsap County, Washington. Founded in 1944, the library system serves over 260,000 Kitsap residents with nine locations across the county and through a variety of outreach services. Th ...

Longview Public Library Longview or Long view may refer to: Places Canada * Longview, Alberta, a village * Longview, British Columbia, a former cannery town *Longview Range, British Columbia; a mountain range United Kingdom England * Longview Psychiatric Unit, a hospit ...

(Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Grant Counties) *

North Olympic Library System The North Olympic Library System (NOLS) is a junior taxing district providing public library services to all of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The Library System is governed by a five-member volunteer Board of Trustees, the members ...

(Clallam County) *

Pierce County Library The Pierce County Library System (PCLS) is a library system serving the residents of Pierce County, Washington. The Pierce County Library System has 20 library locations serving 580,000 people in unincorporated Pierce County and 15 cities and t ...

Seattle Public Library The Seattle Public Library (SPL) is the public library system serving the city of Seattle, Washington. Efforts to start a Seattle library had commenced as early as 1868, with the system eventually being established by the city in 1890. The syst ...

* Sno-Isle Regional Library System (Snohomish, Island Counties) *

Whatcom County Library System Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) provides public library services for residents of Whatcom County, Washington through 10 library branches, a bookmobile, and on the web at http://www.wcls.org. Christine Perkins is the current WCLS Executive Dir ...

References

External links

Timberland Regional Library
{{Authority control County library systems in Washington (state) Education in Grays Harbor County, Washington Education in Lewis County, Washington Education in Mason County, Washington Pacific County, Washington Education in Thurston County, Washington Government agencies established in 1968