CG Library keeps residents busy during the summer

From the Cottage Grove Sentinel: 

As libraries around the country, state and neighboring counties are getting shut down due to a lack of funding, the Cottage Grove Library is alive and well.  

But this is not the stereotypical library that comes to mind when libraries are discussed. This is a library because that is what it says on the entrance when you walk in and because there are mountains of books of all sorts on the shelves, but that is not where this library stops.

What makes the Cottage Grove Library successful is a combination of commitment to being more than just a building with books and working with groups around the community. The space located on Gibbs Ave., that was once a grocery store, is part art museum, hang out spot, amateur concert hall and computer lab. There’s books, too. The library is predicated on being a place for the people.

“Libraries have become almost community centers; the hub of a community where there is

activities, where there is interaction where there are workshops and author events and food

events,” said Cottage Grove Community Services Director Pete Barrell. “I think we are in a real exciting era for

libraries. It’s really opened up, I think, this form of communication and exploration to broader 

audiences.”…

And this particular library has been embracing this role. Four years ago the library made sure that it was ready for the busiest time of year: summer. With students active and needing a place to go, it was ready to take them in. While the summer programs it runs involve the typical summer reading programs that libraries hold, it also features weekly trips to places like Wildlife Safari or white water rafting and hands on activities centered around science. 

Last week a group of seven to 12 year olds took a bus to Rujada, a hiking trail outside of Cottage Grove, where they were treated with yoga in the morning and hiking in the afternoon. This, and all the other programs, is a free trip that includes meals from Food for Lane County. 

“It’s trying to expose them to more cool stuff and to life beyond Cottage Grove. Believe it or not, I met teens from Cottage Grove who were born and raised here who had never seen the ocean,” said Barrell. 

And while these trips are fun, they are also educational. 

“We let them supervise wonder and it is cool how many of them went into this citizen scientist mode,” said Natasha Chitow the Head Librarian. “They are like, ‘Oh man look at these things.’ They were just overcome by the joy of discovery.”

While in a few weeks summer will be drawing to a close, the library will not be slowing down. Each year the library applies for and receives various grants from around the country. In the past they have teamed with outlets varying from the Smithsonian to NASA.

“We have a population that is interested in learning,” said Barrell.