07/27/2008

Associated Press

Residents of the unincorporated pockets of Santa Clara and River Road near Eugene were paying $80 a household to use the Eugene Public Library each year and were tired of it.

So three years ago they started their own. In that time it has grown from about 4,000 books to 14,000 for a fee of $10 a year. Eugene residents pay $15.

"We love to come here," said patron Jana Hazelton, who was there recently with 8-year-old son, Brady, and his friend Landon Nicholsen, also 8.

"They have a lot of great materials and lots of reading incentives and a summer reading program."

The library occupies most of the River Road Water District office and is staffed by volunteers who open it 22 hours a week.

The library has issued 378 cards and typically sees six to 10 patrons a day.

"It's surprising to me how many people I run into who live in that area who do not know about us, even though we've advertised kind of extensively," said Betty Bartlett, a former school librarian who serves as head librarian.

She has been there from the beginning, and was approached by founder Rob Batchelor, a co-worker of hers at the Eugene Invitrogen lab, who knew she had a background in library science.

She and most other volunteers haven't subscribed to the Eugene library and have no interest in being annexed and paying Eugene taxes, even though her neighbors on two sides are in the city.

It has a few Spanish-language books, all donated.

The library off-loads much of the surplus and raises money through twice-yearly book sales.

With an annual budget of just over $8,000, the library relies heavily on grants and donations, said Patrice Philpott, who coordinates children's programs.

Recently, the Siletz Tribal Council awarded the library $1,500 for a community awareness project.

"The biggest issues we have are marketing and space," Philpott said.

the shelves in the two rooms are packed and labeled boxes of overflow books are lined up behind the check-out counter.

"Everyone would love to grow the collection," she said, but added that there's not much room.

Still, Philpott said, if anyone wants to get rid of children's books in good shape, the library could squeeze them in.

Participation has grown 160 percent since the first year.

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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com