Vashon Library

Love the time and hours– it’s a small space– which means either I or my husband stays in the car with the 2 year old because he makes such a ruckus while someone else and the 3 year old goes inside… the culture is QUIET but they did a nice job remodeling. My three year old always wishes for more movies she would like, but they have a great kids selection. My husband and I request most of our books and DVDs and King County is pretty quick. We are here almost everyday– wish that our kids didn’t have to whisper in order to enjoy the library– but I totally get the other side of the coin– it’s a small space.

I don’t know what the library was like BEFORE they moved into the new building, but I sure do love it now. There’s a great kids section in the back, so the kids have a safe and fairly quiet place to hang out. There’s quite a few laptops up front near the checkout area (about 2 dozen) where you can log on for approx an hour, with up to 75 free print outs (black and white) per week (library members only). They have regular book sales. A decent magazine selection. And some of the nicest, most helpful staff I’ve ever encountered in a library. The building is clean, modern and full of natural light. The only CON is the teeny, tiny parking spaces in their parking lot (for those with larger vehicles, I suggest you park on the street or at Ober Memorial Park next door).

Vashon is clearly a place of readers. Can’t help but be impressed by a library that even sells «friends of the library» tee shirts. REally warms the cockles of my heart!

As a community library, it is a bit on the small side. My high school library was about the size of the one here. This is significant because my high school is tiny. Still, I like the location as it is conveniently located within the town of Vashon.
It really does seem like a school library, as there were youngsters all around during school time here when I visited. There is some seating, but not a whole lot. And when they have activities for kids here, the place seems a bit too crowded.
Still, it is better to have a library than none at all. Not many places on the island have wi-​fi and this is one of the few. At least with the library here, you do feel a little more connected to the world off the island.

For such a small place, it offers a lot of services. It has puppet shows and shadow puppet shows for the under five crowd. It has babysitter training courses. It has a meeting room that is frequently rented out by the middle school for «late night at the library». It has a children’s section with little computers, giant bean bags and (of course) hundreds of books within reach for little fingers.
An odd note though– for a library that offers so much for children librarians don’t seem too happy so see the under seven set. Also the kid’s section– which was obviously designed for children with children-​sized chairs, tables and bean bags– it demands that all children be attended to. I have to tell you, after five minutes of standing up, you think about sitting on a little bean bag only to get the stink-​eye from several parents who act as though your compliance with the library norms are a threat to their children. I’m just saying-it’s awkward and even though the library pretty much demands you Bogart the bean bags… the librarians still tell you to stand and suffer as the kid in your life plays away at library-​created games.
The video section is okay, and the Young adult section (marked clearly by a stylized skateboard thing emblazoned with TEEN mounted on the wall) seems to have more «real» books than regular old fiction. The «romance» novels where many compared to the few adult books not containing «adult» material. Be prepared to order a book.
There is a whole wall devoted to finding your own darn book and checking it out at the self check-​out. The last few time’s I’ve been there one of the check-​out spots has been out of service.
All and all good library.