New Chehalis Library Manager Ready to Expand Offerings

After about six months of settling into the community and feeling the pulse of Chehalis, Kayce Austin, the new library manager at the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library, is ready to make some things happen.

“We want to be a hub for the community. We want people to gather here,” she told The Chronicle Wednesday. “But you can’t come into a library and a community and say, ‘Oh, I know what's best.’ You really have to get to know the community before you start changing a bunch of stuff.”

People know the stately building across from Chehalis City Hall as a place to rent a book or maybe look something up online, but Austin wants to expand the community’s understanding of what a library is and what it can be.

“I have so many plans for programs and events … I don’t think we have enough adult programing,” she said.

Austin plans on drawing more people into the library by increasing the ways they can use its resources. She’s planning to show movies, increase creative and arts programs in the building and try to bring in more men by offering book clubs centered around more masculine genres. She hopes to offer more teen programing as well, but the plans in that category are still developing.

Austin grew up in Atlanta and moved to Chehalis from a library system in Southwest Florida. She said she fell in love with the Pacific Northwest while doing an internship in Portland, Oregon.

“I went home, finished my degree and got some work experience, but I had it in the back of my mind as soon as possible I’d get back to the Pacific Northwest,” she said.

The Vernetta Smith Timberland library has the elegance of a research library on a university campus.

That ambiance can put patrons in the mood to do some reading, but it can feel too formal for younger readers, she said.

To be more inviting for children, Austin said there will soon be more fun literacy-based programming and skill builders which will be installed before the first of the year.

Compared to other library services, including that of her previous employer, Austin said the Timberland system is unique in that its five-county reach enables it to have a deep collection of content that might no longer be in print or isn’t available on the internet due to copyright issues.

She also said many people might not be aware of the sheer breadth of materials available to patrons. For instance, the library offers free music downloads, ebooks, digital magazines and streaming video services that can be accessed for free rather than bought online.

“People don’t realize the resources they have here,” she said.