Watching out for walls at the library:

According to the King County Library System administrative office, KCLS’s Kay Johnson (kayjohn@kcls.org) will forward your feedback about the Federal Way Regional Library expansion to the architects.

I urge anyone who uses the library to look at the plans and send feedback now as KCLS is trying to finalize everything and will be sending bid requests out before January.

To view the plans, start at www.kcls.org. Select “About KCLS-Library Bond Information.” You will be sent to “Capital Improvement Projects.” On that page click on “Federal Way Regional” from the list of libraries. You can click on “floor plans” to see the architect’s two proposals.

Notice that the wall separating the multipurpose room from the rest of the library is missing on both drawings.

The community uses the multipurpose room, either divided into two or as one large room, daily for various programs, organizations’ meetings and classes. Mithun Architects also wants to open up the lobby by removing that wall that keeps the “outside voices” of people just entering the library from penetrating the library itself. Removal of either of these walls will reduce the “study” atmosphere of the library and increase the noise level.

Many students are in the library after school each day and on the weekends. They do use the building to do homework and research, and they deserve to have a quiet place for that.

The architects need to keep that purpose in mind, and make sure the library is usable for study, including keeping the two walls up. I hope you will give KCLS some input on this and your other ideas about the expansion.

Margaret Nelson, Federal Way