Invest in Yale Valley Community Library

A new library for the Yale Valley

Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries has worked with Yale Valley Library District to build a new library in the Yale Valley of Cowlitz County.

Features of the new library include:

  • Library access seven days a week
  • High-speed internet access
  • Community meeting room
  • Programs for children and adults

Progress

Future site of Yale library
  • September 26, 2021: A Grand Opening Celebration was held!
  • July 6, 2021: The library is now open 15 hours a week, with staffed hours Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
  • June 2, 2021: The library is now open for limited in-person service on Wednesdays from 1-4 pm. Expanded hours coming soon!
  • March, 2021: As you can see in the slideshow, the library is starting to be furnished!
  • Late January, 2021: See the latest photos for construction progress, including handicapped parking spaces, interior final coat, and more. Still to come: some electrical work, flooring, plumbing, monument sign, cable installation, and trim painting. Weather permitting, construction will be complete by early February. After that, furnishings!
  • January 7, 2021: The exterior has been painted (but not the trim, due to the weather). The concrete curbing has been poured and we're hoping to pour sidewalks the middle of next week. The interior has been sheetrocked and taped, and we're waiting for the mud to dry to do the final coat. 
  • November 2020: It's looking like an honest-to-gosh library! The metal roof will be added soon. Be sure to look through the photo album.
  • August 5, 2020: Three exterior walls are up, and we're working on interior framing. Next week: the trusses will be delivered!
  • July 28, 2020: The framing is going up!
  • July 21, 2020: The concrete slab is poured! It will need to sit for about seven days—which means we may start framing later next week.
  • July 6, 2020: Foundation is in place. Currently adding plumbing and electrical that goes under the concrete slab.
  • June 2020: Construction has started! The footers are poured, and the foundation is being worked on. See updated construction photos above.
  • March 3, 2020: Yale Valley Library District is currently accepting bids for construction.
  • January 2020: The Yale Valley Library District Board of Trustees voted to put the building construction out for bid sometime in February.

Thank you to our generous donors:

  • Arlene Price Foundation
  • Community Foundation of Southwest Washington
  • Twin Falls North County Foundation
  • Weyerhaeuser Foundation
  • Pacific Power Foundation
  • Colf Family Foundation
  • Friends of the Yale Valley Library
  • Westby Associates
  • Individuals like you!

Background:

2019: • July 2019: The Yale Valley Library District Board of Trustees voted to request a cost estimation for the construction of the next phase of the building project. The results of the report will help determine the timing of the bid process for the construction.

• May 2019: The Washington State budget for 2019-2021 includes a grant for $300,000 for Yale Valley Community Library.
• As of May 2019, the project is 80 percent funded.

2018: The YVLD Board hires Westby & Associates to work with them on finding some private funds through grants and donations to help cover the gap between the estimated construction costs and the library reserves. Site work is completed in July and August by Halme Excavating. This prepares the site for water, power, sewer, and the future foundation for the building.

2017: Yale Library Express is now serviced by Woodland Community Library.

2016: YVLD starts working on a design for a new library for its communities in Southeastern Cowlitz County. The planned building is a 2000-square-foot library that includes a meeting room as well as computers and seating areas (see slideshow). The original budget for the project is $600,000, including construction, furnishings and fixtures, site work, utilities, architect's fees and permits. Money for the project has been saved by YVLD over the past 14 years. FVRL serves as the consultant on the facility and furnishings needs for the library.

2015: In August, YVLD signs a free, 50-year lease with Woodland Public Schools for property to the west of Yale Elementary School.

2012: The Clark County bookmobile is retired in June. In the fall, FVRL opens Yale Library Express in Yale Elementary School one day a week. Yale Library Express is serviced by Battle Ground Community Library.

2003: In May, citizens in the Yale precinct of Cowlitz County successfully vote to form a partial-county, rural library district. Yale Valley Library District contracts with Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries for services, which included weekly bookmobile visits to Yale Elementary School and Cougar.

 

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