Stories | Upper Skagit Library

Service Stories

Our goal is to support our community. To do this we aim to provide a wide variety of resources – physical and online – as well as technical and reference assistance, engaging and diverse programming, and a welcoming and inclusive environment.

03/07/18

A family was in checking out movies and while Tess was serving one person at the counter, Nancy walked around the counter to serve another person. Another patron wryly commented, “Yeah, they come out into the crowd to serve us!”

10/31/18

A wonderful lady came in with a book donation to trade us for a book she borrowed from our “free” book case. She asked if it would be a fair trade so that she could send the book she took to her daughter at college because it was funny and made her laugh. She then recommended another book from our donation shelf to Beth; saying that “the book will make you feel good, even though it makes you cry.”

02/09/18

A lady came in and commented about how cute of a town Concrete is and that she wanted to see books about old Concrete. One of our staff found two books, one of which was Men of Concrete, to which she joked, “Oh, that’s what I’m looking for. Where are all the good ones?” She browsed the rest of the books in the library and thanked us when she left.

10/20

: A patron emailed our info email and needed help understanding how to use the Wifi. Loly answered her email with a detailed explanation. Later the patron emailed me [Amanda] to tell me that because of Loly’s help she is now able to access our Washington Anytime books.

8/25/20

“Hello Chazlyn, Hope you had a relaxing weekend. I’m writing to pass along some praise from Christine Hemp regarding the 8/18 event: “The host, Chazlyn Lovely was the best host I've had in both my real-life and virtual presentations. She is organized, affable, and enthusiastic. We met beforehand to get the tech stuff smooth and all went perfectly. She also did some good promo and she was an excellent introducer as well!” Just wanted to thank you for being such an amazing host! We hope to partner with you again soon. Best wishes, from Humanities Washington”

3/25/20

A patron sent us an email inquiring as to the ability to sign up for a card online while the library is closed. Loly was able to set up a Temporary E‐Card system so that potential new patrons can access online resources for 90 days in the same day that the first inquiry came in. We have now had several patrons signed up for a Temporary E‐Card.

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11/5/19

A patron came in looking for a very niche book – nonfiction, on the subject of dogs and essential oils. The patron knew it was a long shot that we would have a book that contained both subjects, but as luck would have it we had exactly one book that fit the bill! The patron will be using the book to do research for a potential business venture, and was very grateful we had something that would help!

7/20/19

A young patron had a $15 bill on his account and no parent present to pay it. An adult patron overheard the conversation and decided to pay his bill for him, stating that no child should leave the library without the materials they wanted to check out. (After some gentle prompting) the young patron thanked the adult and left the library smiling.

5/24/19

A regular tween patron came in and was excited to pick up some books we had ordered for her. She said that the library is her favorite place in the whole town because of our books and that other libraries and other librarians aren’t helpful, but we are. Chazlyn commented, we try hard. The young patron said, “Well, you succeed!”

1/5/22

A patron emailed us to let us know that they enjoyed our “Year In Review” series posted to our website, newsletter, and social media. They thought seeing the statistics rounded up at the end of the year were fascinating.

12/18/21

Today we had two families show up to LEGO Club; one of the kids drove up from out of town to come to LEGO Club! He has the choice between sports or LEGOs and he chose LEGOs, so they plan on coming every week for the foreseeable future. Both families were so excited about the new kits, especially the BricQ and the kids didn’t want to leave at the end! Direct quote: “Why is LEGO Club every two weeks instead of everyday?!”

11/3/21

A patron posted the following to Facebook: I took the kids to do some school at the new library today it was the first time we had visited since they moved. We all loved it so much! There is a separate teen room and a separate children’s room that is very big and has a door that can close. The children’s librarian Miss Emily took my toddler and read to him and played games and Miss Chazlyn helped my picky teen find books he actually was interested in! We spent hours there doing school work and exploring it was a really great experience! Go check it out! Also the Friends of the library book sale had so many great books I ended up spending all my cash for this amazing stack of books I love but will never have time to read! I have a book addiction and someday will have to build a separate room for my library!

10/23/21

A mom saw the craft advertised for teens on social media and wanted to know if her younger kiddos could participate. Since there were no teens that day, I thought that'd be fine. Mom, Dad, Sister, and Brother all had fun with the DIY Glitter Unicorn Craft before heading over to the Children's room for more fun crafts there.

8/12/21

A woman came into the library needing to print her COVID-19 test results before her surgery the next morning. We went through a bunch of hurdles to try and get the patron logged in so that she print the results, but everything we tried didn’t work. It took an hour and half but we eventually figured out a work around and the patron was able to take the test results in for her surgery. She was very happy that we were persistent and patient and determined enough to make sure she had everything she needed so she didn’t have to worry about it.

8/12/21

We opened up the library as a cooling station this Thursday, since the heat was predicted to be extreme. Several folks came into the library even if it wasn’t as hot as predicted, just to look around and take a rest. One woman came in to look around and perhaps get some tech help with her phone. She was visiting from Anacortes and ran out of room on her phone to take pictures of Rasar state park. She thought that perhaps a librarian could help her find a book that might help her figure out how to free storage on her phone, but instead she and Chazlyn spent an hour fixing her phone, freeing up storage, and fixing her notifications. She was so delighted with the tech help, conversation, and local information she was given. When Chazlyn told her to have a nice day as she was leaving, the woman told Chazlyn that she had made it a nice day and had even saved the day because now she could take photos of the park!

6/3/21

A teacher from the school district called and asked about pooling some resources. The teacher wants to encourage their students to read over the summer, but didn’t have the time or resources to create their own reading log. The teacher asked if they could send students to us and if they could have some reading logs to distribute in the classroom. We’re happy to oblige!

12/15/20

A patron called to double check that they needed to return their Wi-Fi hotspot and that they couldn’t renew it. A staff member told them that all of the Wi-Fi hotspots were checked out and that there was a waitlist for them and that there was no possibility of renewal. The patron was delighted, saying that they had been telling everyone about the hotspots and was happy that they were flying off the shelves. The patron thanked staff for providing the hotspots and the clear instructions on how to use them.

9/1/20

As as staff member was leaving the library a patron stopped me to tell that she was so glad that Tina was working at the library. She came to the door just before Curbside Service ended and wanted a movie but was unsure what she wanted. The patron said that Tina was so helpful and patient and helped her get the movie that she wanted. Tina just celebrated her 6 months with us as Library Assistant and we are glad to have her.

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12/28/18

A young patron came zooming into the library first thing in the morning (after we were closed for the Christmas holiday) and went straight to the children’s section and grabbed the brand-new Dog Man book. He brought it up the desk and said, “I spied this through the window yesterday and wanted to be the first one to check it out!”

12/04/18

Chazlyn had the opportunity to help a customer that wanted to print on the computer using American Sign Language. The patron was delighted.

12/22/18

We offered patrons a DVD check out limit of 4 (rather than the usual 3 video limit) for the weekend before Christmas. One patron was so pleasantly surprised she said that it was “probably the only gift I’ll be getting this year!”

04/26/19

Tess was unable to purchase an entire series for a patron, but she did research which of our reciprocal libraries had the entries we do not, and wrote a list for the patron with the names of the libraries and the books they have in their possession. The patron was delighted, and told Tess that she went “above and beyond!”

9/20

As I [Amanda] was leaving the library on September 1, 2020 a patron stopped me to tell that she was so glad that Tina was working at the library. She came to the door just before Curbside Service ended and wanted a movie but was unsure what she wanted. The patron said that Tina was so helpful and patient and helped her get the movie that she wanted. Tina just celebrated her 6 months with us as Library Assistant and we are glad to have her.

6/20

A young Dutch girl emailed us because she saw on social media that we were going to have a Virtual Author Event with Karina Yan Glaser, who is her favorite author and who she wants to grow up to be like. She asked that, even though she is not from America, if she could tune into our Zoom event to just watch Karina speak. We allowed her to do so, even though the program was geared for patrons from Skagit County. On the day of the event, we saw her name amongst those attending the Zoom event.

3/3/20

A couple of patrons came to the library for their allotment of DVDs. After looking at our collection for a moment, one asked if we had disc two of the second season of Game of Thrones – they had been to four different libraries and none had it. As it turned out, we had it on our holds shelf, but the patron it was on reserve for had not claimed it for several weeks. We took it off hold, checked it out to the couple, who said that “of course this library had it – they’re the best of them all.”

12/18/19

A patron came in a month and a half or so ago, looking for help updating his resume after an absence from the workforce after an injury. The resume was updated, printed, and put on a USB key (a new technology for the patron) and was submitted to a large company in the area. The patron kept us apprised of his progress from application to interview to hiring. The patron is now working at the company and very happy. He’s thankful for the USL helping him get back to work.

8/6/19

A patron came in just before closing, asking to get a library card. They didn’t have proof of residence with them, so they couldn’t get a card at that moment, but were thrilled anyway to find out that they didn’t need a card to print and make copies. The staff found a book with a picture of a Macaw parrot, and they hand-wrote some text, and made a few copies – the end result was posters that they could put around town regarding a lost pet.

6/21/19

A patron had just finished 3,000 miles of driving in 5 days and was needing to find a phone booth. While she used our wi-fi, after ten minutes of being here she saw us check out books and movies to patrons, make copies, and help someone on the computer. When we sat down with a patron to help them use a laptop and search for rate comparisons on Amtrak versus flying, she said, “Wow, this really is a full-service Library! I am impressed!”

5/18/20

Staff members collaborated with a patron over a period of a few weeks working to find relatives of a stock that the patron found. After some research the USL located the relatives, but because of the limits of property searches in California, they could not be contacted. We provided the patron the contact info for the Seattle Public Library. The patron returned to inform us that the Seattle library was able to contact the relatives and that both the Seattle library and the relatives thanked us for our part in the research.

12/22/21

Today was a really successful craft and storytime day! We had multiple families in the kids’ room and two homeschool families that had never met before. The kids of each family had a lot of the same interests and they ended up spending a lot of time hanging out together. Both families, as well as one of the kids from the last LEGO Club meeting, plan on coming to the LEGO Storytime on 12/29. Each of the parents from these families have told me how important it is that this area is here for kids in the area and how much they love LEGO Club, the collection, and the crafts and activities that are available!

11/20/21

Our wand-making pre-teen came back to teach our teen librarian how to play chess, and this time brought her bestie in with her. The three had fun playing chess, exploring both the teen and children’s rooms, and diving into our new manga collection. The new teen table was a hit - there was a lot of doodling happening in-between chess moves. The duo’s grandma and mom respectively were very appreciative of the time the teen librarian took to play with the girls and spend time with them, and were very impressed with our space and our collection. The girls plan to come back to the library on as many Saturdays as they possibly can.

10/30/21

A pre-teen saw a flyer for the teen crafts and wanted to join in. When she came in she wasn't sure what craft to choose (all options were available on the 30th). After talking a bit ("You're the nicest adult I've met here!") I discovered that she was celebrating Halloween by dressing up as Hermione from Harry Potter, and while her mom had knitted her scarf, they had forgotten to get a wand. I have left over supplies from our Harry Potter Day craft from 2020, and so I pulled those out and helped her make a wand for her costume. She learned how to use a hot glue gun and learned about what services the library has to offer, and is eager to return. As she was leaving, two pre-teen boys saw the wand she had made and wanted to make their own, so I scavenged to find enough to supplies for them and they had a lot of fun getting creative and making their own wands too. They expressed interest in coming back for more crafts at a later date.

8/13/21

A visitor staying in Rasar State Park got a surprise job interview over the internet. She called the library asking for internet and a space to do the interview. Unfortunately, the interview was scheduled for Monday, and we’re closed on Mondays. We offered information about other libraries in the county (Sedro-Woolley would be closed on that day) and how to use wi-fi from a car outside of the building. The latter solution seemed to please our visitor friend, who said her day was made by having any solution at all. She plans on testing out the wi-fi during open hours on Saturday just to be prepared for Monday.

8/12/21

A couple who had recently moved here from Texas came in for the first time. They were really excited to see us open and be able to escape the heat here. They also signed up for cards and were extremely excited by the books on the Friends shelves.

8/10/21

Boys and Girls Club was a roaring success. The young kids loved having Erica read The Book With No Pictures and loved the craft masks she brought with it. We were hugged on our way out of the building! With the middle schoolers, we had a lot of fun creating alternate scenarios from existing stories, building their empathy and critical thinking skills. One middle schooler was so enthralled with her book that she didn’t want to let us take it back!

5/11/21

We were contacted by someone at SeaMar looking for an exemption to the one-week loan period for our Wi-Fi hotspots so that she can hold Zoom meetings and classes with one of our patrons who is a patient of hers. The patron will be able to loan both the requested hotspot and an iPad on an indefinite basis so long as they check in with us weekly and stay in good standing. Both patron and SeaMar rep are very excited about the exemption.

1/21

Patrons have been MOST grateful for the return of printing services. Returning users have noted that there have been no other options in our absence.

10/17/20

A patron stopped by our walk-up door to tell us that she appreciated our attempts at continuing programming throughout the pandemic and that she was especially impressed with our website layout and how up-to-date it always is.

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45952 Main Street, Concrete, WA 98237. P.O. Box 99