As the new Woodland Community Library prepares to open its doors, the historic 700 Park St. building will cease operations as a library after almost a century.
Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries (FVRL) will host a grand opening ceremony for the new library building, 411 Lakeshore Drive in Woodland, at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. The new facility will operate Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The community library on Park Street closed as of Monday, Sept. 23. Originally built in 1909, the two-story building became a community library in 1927 and has operated under FVRL since 1997. Woodland branch manager Jennifer Hauan fondly remembers the old facility, noting the library has been a beloved fixture in the community for years.
“It’s a lovely little building. It really is charming. We have multi-generations consistently come in and say, ‘I came to this library for story time, and now I’m bringing my grandchildren to story time.’ So there’s a lot of sentimental attachment to it,” Hauan said.
As Woodland’s population grew, however, the need for a larger, more modern space became apparent. The new library will span 7,560 square feet, significantly larger than the 2,376 square feet of the old facility. Hauan explained that the previous building struggled to accommodate the volume of visitors and the technological needs of today. Currently, the library sees around 2,500 visitors each month and checks out roughly 35,000 items annually. With the new facility, those numbers are expected to increase substantially.
In addition to increased space, the new library will be fully ADA-compliant, a notable improvement over the old building. The previous library’s bathrooms, for example, were only accessible via a narrow flight of stairs.
“Accessibility [to] our children’s area [and bathroom] was upstairs. So now [that it’s] all on one floor, we have total accessibility to all the areas in the library for everybody, which is huge,” she said.
The new library will also offer expanded amenities, including 10 computers — an improvement from the four available in the previous building — along with three Chromebooks available for public use. It will feature designated spaces for children, teens and community use, including two study rooms, indoor and outdoor seating, and a large community room equipped with a projector. The collection of books and materials will also be enhanced.
The $8.6 million project has been in the works since the early 2000s, with funding sourced from a mix of community contributions and state funds. A feasibility study conducted by FVRL in the early 2010s underscored the need for a new library, as the programs and offerings outgrew the existing facility. Over time, the community rallied behind the project, raising funds to make the new building a reality. Groundbreaking finally commenced on June 17 last year.
The funding breakdown of the new facility is as follows:
• FVRL: $5.2 million
• Friends of Woodland Community Library: $717,000
• FVRL Foundation for the benefit of Woodland Library: $195,000
• Washington state Department of Commerce: $2 million
• Altrusa International: $10,000
Judy Musa, business development officer for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation, reflected on the decades-long effort to fund the new library. She noted community members have gathered funds for an expanded library for over 25 years. A donor wall will be placed beside the library’s entrance, naming over 100 businesses, organizations and individuals who contributed.
“The amount of time and energy that they have put in … it makes me overwhelmed. … It makes me actually get teary[-eyed] because they were just phenomenal and some of them aren’t even alive anymore. … [It’s] the true spirit of a small town. … We should probably write a book about it,” Musa said.
For Hauan, the new library is a pivotal moment for the Woodland community and its future.
“I am thrilled for the community, our patrons, the library staff, the district in so many ways. It’s such a good thing. Having this modern but warm and welcoming building is a catalyst, I think, for the rest of Woodland and their future development,” Hauan said.
The grand opening will include flag-raising and ribbon-cutting ceremonies, tours of the new building and special activities for children. Refreshments will also be provided. The former library building on Park Street will revert to city ownership.
