“Stepping inside a library is like opening doors of possibility,” Public Services Librarian at Newcastle Library, Vicki Heck, describes. “Every library holds the opportunity to learn, grow, create community, and, of course, find some great books.”
These values have been the focus of Newcastle Library for over a decade, with the library celebrating its 10th year anniversary last month on Dec. 8.
That Saturday, Dec. 10, residents joined in celebration with guest speakers, a musical performance and cake in honor of the big double digit birthday.
The anniversary celebration being one example, community is at the forefront of everything the library strives to do. They host frequent events of their own, as well as offer one of just a few public gathering spaces to work or meet in Newcastle.
In fact, this sense of local community is instilled in everything, down to the design of the building itself. The architects described the concept as "a community celebration of knowledge," according to a 2015 King County Library System report.
Events, often co-sponsored with local organizations like Newcastle Arts Council or Newcastle Historical Society, strive to range in topic and cater to all age groups and backgrounds, a reflection of the city’s increasingly diverse population. Examples include frequent music and arts related programming, like a Frozen (2013) singalong watch party, to guest speakers and informational sessions, such as a ‘Citizens Academy’ that brought library staff, city officials and volunteers together to teach residents the inner workings of how the city operates.
“What I love most working at Newcastle Library is the strong relationships we developed over the years,” Heck said. “I’ve learned the more we work together, the stronger the community becomes.”
One of almost 50 branches in the King County Library System (KCLS), Newcastle residents have access to a collection of 48,000 books, music and movies as well as computers (including abilities to scan, fax, print and copy) and online resources for working both in the library and from home.
“We have so much to offer to the community and all you need to access it is a free library card!” Heck said.
However, while some may say it's hard to imagine the city without its library, opening one in town was a decades-long process. With the City of Newcastle’s incorporation in 1994, residents recognized the need for a library and voted overwhelmingly the same year to join the KCLS, and take advantage of the resources that would come with it, rather than build an independent operation.
It took until 2010 for construction to begin with the library’s groundbreaking on Oct. 20 and its Opening Day 14 months later on Dec. 8, 2012.
Now standing on the corner of 129th Avenue SE and Newcastle Way, finding a location for the project was one of its first challenges. The current space was eventually agreed upon as ideal, being in the heart of the city’s main business district and close to major roads like Coal Creek Parkway. Students were also kept in mind with the decision as the surrounding Renton, Issaquah and Bellevue school districts continue to expand.
Besides location, another important aspect of the building’s design are its environmentally conscious features, elements that in 2013 earned the building a Civic Design Merit Award by the American Institute of Architects. These features include a geothermal-well heating and cooling system as well as special attention to water conservation in the form of low-flow bathroom fixtures, a 100,000-gallon storm water cistern and a green sedum roof to reduce stormwater runoff.
“This community was so excited when we opened our doors for the first time in 2012. They’d been waiting a long time,” Heck said. “Newcastle Library is a well-used, much-loved library and I think we accomplished everything the original planners envisioned.”
Just as the City of Newcastle continues to grow and evolve, so will its library, striving to serve its citizens as they need, just as all good libraries should. “Newcastle citizens have shaped our library over the last 10 years and will continue to do so over the next 10 years as we learn and grow together,” Heck said.
Heck, who has been with the library since its opening, first found her love for books as early as five years old in awe of her local Burien library. Now, she hopes to instill that same sense of wonder into her work in Newcastle. She says, “[Newcastle Library] hopes to imbue that same feeling of wonder, awe and gratitude that I got when I was 5 years old walking through the doors at the Burien Library and make lifelong library lovers of everyone that walks through our doors.”
This article was the cover story of the January 2023 edition of Newcastle Living magazine.
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