The Scenic Regional Library Pacific branch is cool. Any time. But especially in summer when temperatures soar.
The library is an official cooling center during all library hours and has been since the day it opened. Library hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The 8 p.m. closing time at the library is especially helpful because late afternoon is usually the time of highest temperatures.
I have to tell you . . . I did not know this when I posted earlier in the week that the Senior Center was open longer hours as a cooling center. And the next day posted that the Senior Center was closed due to COVID. In the interest of full disclosure, I should have known that the library had alway been a cooling center, but did not.
I was writing about cooling centers in the hope of starting a dialogue about any citizens that might be at risk during the heat wave that is plaguing the midwest. I wanted to alert citizens to pay attention to their neighbors who live alone, are elderly or do not have air conditioning in their homes.
Some 18 people died from heat related causes in Missouri last year, 600 died nationwide.
I thought the Senior Center was the ideal spot for a cooling center, which it was until one of the volunteers tested positive for COVID and Terry Ruyle, the director, opted to close it for Wednesday. It will be closed for the rest of this week for special cleaning.
I looked at the weather forecasts for the next ten days and saw that temperatures are expected to be in the 90s every day, except for three days when they can reach 100 degrees and more. Then I learned that the National Weather Service had extended the heat advisory through Thursday on its web page.
So the fact that the library is a cooling center is great news to this blogger. I made a trip to the library to see how it all works. Library staffers don’t know how many patrons show up just cool off, but counting patrons is not their goal.
“We don’t ask why people are here. They are just welcomed, no questions asked,” Lori Jane Perdew, library manager said. “They can use a computer, read a book, or just hang out.”
At this time the spacious library feels even cooler than usual, Perdew said, thanks its summer reading program titled, “Oceans of Possibilities.” Huge waves of blue bunting rolll along the ceiling, A big blue whale and blue octopus swim through the air. A huge blue banner displays an ocean of colorful fish and coral.
“All the blue just feels cool,” Perdew said.
Whether they come to the library to read or to cool off, patrons would never get bored here. Huge signs direct patrons to each department. If patrons so much as wrinkle a brow, Perdew, or staffers Tracy Proemser and Ali Heisler are right there to ask, “Can I help you find something.”
Folks who venture to use the library computers can get all kinds of service free that they would have to pay for on a home computer. They can log onto ancestry.com to check our their family history. Or they can log onto newspapers.com to read scores of newspapers and what they have reported about our town.
My friend John Havinear spent many days sitting at those computers, using one finger to write the story of his life. His biggest challenge wasn’t the keyboard. He scoped out where all the keys were. But he was unsure of his spelling. Over and over, for upwards of as a year, as he pecked out the word to tell his story, staffers were there to help when he looked up and said, “How do you spell . . . .” Staffers were so taken with Johnny’s project that a copy of his book is in the library and they plan a special program in July to help him introduce it to the public. We’ll keep you posted on the date.
Yesterday I witnessed Heisler complete an application for Eureka resident Mike Woods to get a passport so can travel out of the country. He didn’t have a trip planned, but traveling is in his long range plans.
Kids can play with any manner of toys. Teens can congregate in cozy booths, set up cafe style along the back wall. Seated areas for anyone who just wants to relax, or “just hang out,” as Perdew said, are scattered around the rows of books and technology center.
And, she added, “We’re a warming station in the winter, too.”
