Changes incoming at Ephrata library

EPHRATA — The North Central Washington Libraries branch in Ephrata is, like the majority of NCWL branches, slated for some remodeling and upgrades in the near future, said Aaron Loeffelbein, supervising librarian at the Ephrata location. 

“We are doing what’s called the Reimagining Spaces Project system-wide,” Loeffelbein said. “Almost all of our branches will be improved by this project. (Ephrata), along with Soap Lake, are in the first cohort of branches. Some of the branches that are not being done are Wenatchee because they just had a remodel not long ago, and Winthrop — they just built a beautiful brand new library.” 

The Ephrata library staff has made multiple efforts to get community input on changes at the library, he said. Surveys, community engagement events, being present at other organizations’ events and just paying attention to what library patrons want and need in a library have all been a part of the process. A workgroup looking at how the design of the building — owned by the city but maintained by the library system — will be remodeled is working on details now. 

Loeffelbein said a lot of the work revolves around setting up a better flow for the library given its space and what people want from the library after the community engagement events last year.

“We had over 600 people that were part of those events. We were at the (Ephrata Chamber of Commerce Wine Walk) and we had a kiosk up at the Halloween downtown trick-or-treating event here at the library, and we did a special event with some stakeholders where we talked about what makes Ephrata unique. We did some polling about what people want to see the library look and feel like and how they want to use it,” he said. 

Generally, there were a few goals that came out of that community engagement. Loeffelbein said the library system discovered that it needs to have its branding be more prominent so that patrons know their local library is part of a larger system of branches that work together to provide a broader range of services than what most people are aware of. In Ephrata, the library’s constituents also expressed interest in family fun and play, creative arts and outdoor learning programs from the library, so the design will reflect that usage to some extent. 

“There’s certain aspects every library has. Every library will be getting certain things, and then, beyond that, is what the community we’re listening to wants. So, (Ephrata) picked the family fun and play and creative arts as their top two (program areas),” he said. 

Design will also try to incorporate something that makes each library unique, he said. While all of the libraries will have certain commonalities based on the purpose of any library, the design and overall feel of each library will be unique to its community. 

A timeline isn’t set in stone for the remodeling project, Loeffelbein said. However, it will depend on the usual issues that come with a large project such as determining costs, material availability and that sort of thing, but he hopes to keep with a solid timeline overall.

“Construction on our original timeline was slated to begin this fall sometime, and we’re hoping to stick with that. We hope that’ll happen but not sure if that’ll stay. I mean, everything construction-wise is taking longer than it used to, so we’ll be ready whenever,” he said. 

Staff have already been working on getting things prepared for the project. The library will close during construction, but patrons will be able to go to the other branches in the area to get access to NCW Libraries resources, Loeffelbein said. The library system is funding the remodel to ensure patrons have modern, functional libraries.

“They have a fund that is earmarked for building improvements,” he said. “It’s funded through the library system. It’s already there.” 

R. Hans “Rob” Miller may be reached at editor@columbiabasinherald.com. A resident of Ephrata, he lives there with his wife, their three dogs and a list of home improvement projects that is hip-deep.

    The Ephrata Library is getting a facelift. It is not determined what the end result will be, but those deciding on the final design are working to ensure the facade and interior reflect the fact that it is Ephrata’s branch of the North Central Washington Libraries system.