Ohh, the books, the books

Owner Dacia Hanson, with her current read " Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me - Robert Crumb Letters" by R.Crumb

The return of the independent bookstore to Renton is finally here - and the wait was well worth it. 11 year veteran of McDonald's Book Exchange in Redmond, Dacia Hanson opened her doors this week in the Louisa Building on Wells Ave. S. in a lovely space and shelves that are filling rapidly.

With an emphasis on reasonable prices and customers bringing in books for exchange and credit in the store, now is a great time to spring clean at home. A cool bonus is that your credit will be honored at the sister store in Redmond, owned by Dacia's friend and previous employer, Ann St.Germaine. Though two separate businesses, the idea for this Renton store began when Ann and Dacia noted that McDonald's Book Exchange had enough books coming through the door to fill another shop. Customers from as far away as Olympia and Chehalis were coming to exchange their books on the store's generous terms, so obviously there was a large market that was still yet to be tapped.

All genres are represented at the shop, though a steady overturn in the Romance section is to be expected. Already boasting a good selection of Philip Roth books, a couple of vintage editions of Black Beauty and volume one and two of Art Speigelman's Maus, Dacia is pleased with the growth her new shop has already seen.

If you don't see her as often as you would like this week - it's because she had a car accident recently and is working on getting a new set of wheels. I can already tell that it will not be long before both Dacia and her shop feel like old friends in the DTR.

Old Renton Book Exchange
227 Wells Ave. South
425.430.BOOK / 425.430.2665

Across the street from the bookstore, Dawn Finn has opened the doors of her thrift and swap shop and is now accepting donations and has stall space up for rent for interested parties. This street in Renton has got so many new moves, it is hard to fathom.

Remember the metal detector store? Seems like the empty store front has finally been rented and that a beauty salon will open soon. Yep, right there on Wells Ave.S.

What did I tell ya - this block is the current bomb of activity.

Black History Month at the Renton Public Library

Librarians are beloved creatures. They help us find books we didn't know how to find and remind us of books that we should consider reading. Black History Month is being celebrated at Renton Public Library with a special cart full of goodies for us to peruse.

This cart is found near the front counter and is full of interesting check-out possibilities for the avid reader and library goer. I immediately took one home. I love being challenged to read new books.

Tomorrow marks the last and final day for voting on Prop.1 in our local special election for whether we keep our library local or farm it out to KCLS. I say, Vote No and let the librarians who know us all so well continue serving us and our greater community.

Renton Public Library
100 Mill Avenue South

Library it up during the Holidays

The weather is turning chilly, so it maybe time to warm up with a good book. Or learn to make something you have been thinking about into a new pasttime, by researching it with the help of a few written guides and the help of the librarian to find just the right supporting literature.

Whatever your reason for venturing through the front doors, you will always find a warm and bustling place full of smiling and helpful faces and lots and lots of really good reads. I don't want to harp on the DVD's you can also find - the librarians would love to not feel as if they were working at Hollywood Video and so often are sorely tempted to ask a movie laden goer "would you like a book with that?" In a world of Kindles and computers, let's take these days of longer nights and fall in love with a good book once again.

And with it being the season of sharing and giving, you could also bring along a spare pair of mittens, or a hat or scarf for the library Mitten Tree. All the warm goodies will be donated to the Renton YWCA mothers and children. You have until December 31 to add a gift of comfort and warm another's heart.

If you are ever at a loss as to what to read for this time of the year - there is an entire table of suggestions just waiting for your eyes. Just like when I venture into independent booksellers and read the favorite book lists of the employees, I gleefully look at whatever the Renton Library staff has put out. So many books, so little time. There is always another good book right around the stacks, waiting for discovery.

This and many other reasons are why there meets monthly a group of concerned Renton citizens that do not want our public library (independent for the last hundred years) to join with KCLS (King County Library System), an issue that comes up for our vote in the near future. If you are interested in finding out what you can do - join in the meeting
Sunday, December 6th at 2pm
A Terrible Beauty Irish Pub
in Downtown Renton /201 Williams Ave.S.

To find out more information about this upcoming vote on the library, please visit the blog that has been established to flesh out the issues and provide interested parties with some answers, because up until now, however you might view this concern, there has been an extreme lack of information.

http://votenotilyouknow.wordpress.com/

Library Updates and Love

Through out the summer, there has been an alarming discussion about the status of the Renton Public Library and the obvious need to secure more funds to update our library system. In 2006, it seems that a 20 year master plan was commissioned, with two sources, Miriam Pollack & Associates and Tina Roose of Roose Research, who researched the library's condition and concluded that the library should remain autonomous and raise funds to service the needs of a fast growing city population (annexations have brought us to nearly a population of 83,000 here in Renton). What concerns me, as we now know that voters will be weighing in on whether the library will join the King County Library System (KCLS) since it was decided in city council meetings to put it to the public to decide, is why we are not being given a better cost analysis break down about the funds that the taxpayer will be liable for whether or not we join KCLS. At the end of the day, money will be needed. Where is our real incentive to join KCLS (outside of the fact that our bill for using their services has increased dramatically recently), because we all must acknowledge that there will be price tag to all of this, even if we let someone else run our library it will not clear up the bill we must face for improving our library services.

"Annexing means King County Library System would take over Renton’s library services. If that happens, Renton residents would get better facilities, resources and services than exist in the current Renton Public Library. But according to the master plan, joining would also mean a loss of local control and services geared specifically to Renton, probable higher taxes, and the possibility that either the downtown or Highlands library would close."
Renton Reporter 8/15/09

My friend and cohort in blogging crime, Miss Lynar of All About Renton, took the time to read the 80 some page master plan for the library and proceeded to put a poll on her blog to see how people felt at just an instinctual level about whether or not to have the library remain a "Renton" concern (ie not join KCLS). The response was dismal.

For many of us, the library is a weekly, sometimes daily ritual. Books are a passion and the friendly and familiar library staff an added bonus that makes the trip in all the better. It is what living in a town that has a small town feel is all about - a sense of community, a sense of belonging and of having a place in your own shared world that matters.

My fear is that we will wake up one day and realize that we let a great opportunity to maintain our connection to our community, through our library resources, slip away. It will be too late to reclaim what the rest of the world is so easily seeing erode away - human connection, programs that are geared to us and not processed and implemented miles away from our daily reality, a friendly librarian face that knows our name, the books and DVDs we like to borrow and greets us with a smile when we head their way.

Today begins the National Library Card Sign-Up Month and if you don't have a tendency to borrow books and DVDs, maybe it is time that you started. You need a valid driver's license that has your current Renton address on it, or a photo id with a utility bill, or personal check, or something official that states your Renton residency. Since the Renton Library also has reciprocal book exhanges with the King County Library System, you can check out a book if you have a KCLS card or can apply for one if you live inside the KCLS service area, or in King County and outside of the Enumclaw and Seattle city limits. If you are under 18 and not emancipated, you have to have help with your parents/guardians to get your card. Find more facts here.

Update on the Library Vandalism of 6/24:

As far as the library goes, we have a suspect identified in the burglary at the library and there is probably cause to arrest him at this time. He's "dodged" us a couple times and is aware we're looking for him.

Cyndie Parks, Renton Crime Prevention Unit

PLEASE NOTE:
The Library will be closed September 4th - it's a Furlough day, and in fact the whole city is closing down and taking a day off (trying to cut back on costs).
However, the library will be open on Saturday.
Monday, is a holiday, and the library will also be closed that day, September 7th.