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Growing Community: Garden Home and West Slope Community Libraries

Growing Community – Garden Home & West Slope Libraries Graphic featuring a gnome in front of a tree.

Beginning in the summer of 2025, the Garden Home Community Library Association will become the owner and operator of the West Slope Community Library facility, supporting West Slope’s ongoing service to the community in Raleigh Hills and West Slope. WCCLS is excited about this opportunity to deepen the existing partnership between West Slope and Garden Home, two similarly sized libraries serving neighboring communities. This project is called Growing Community, because together, we are strengthening library service in the West Slope, Raleigh Hills, and Garden Home communities.

The West Slope Community Library will continue to operate in the existing building on the grounds of Raleigh Park Elementary School. Neighborhood residents will benefit from a community-based organization managing the West Slope Community Library, and from more efficient operations that come from one agency operating two library buildings. Garden Home leadership has a spirit of inclusive community service, and they will be thoughtful stewards of the neighborhood treasure that is the West Slope Community  Library. Garden Home Library director Molly Carlisle says, “Our board and staff are excited about this opportunity to maintain both Garden Home and West Slope Community Libraries as vibrant and vital community hubs, and working together to serve our neighbors in West Slope, Garden Home, and Raleigh Hills.”

In partnership with Garden Home Community Library, WCCLS is working on a project timeline and transitional details, with the work to be completed by summer 2025. We are working to minimize service impacts at West Slope Community Library during this time, and this is a complex project. Expect regular updates about the project on this page and included in the monthly email newsletters for Garden Home Community Library. Sign up today. 

If you have questions about the Growing Community project, please email the team at growingcommunity@wccls.org.

 

Exterior view of West Slope Library

Background

West Slope Community Library is operated directly by Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS). It is the only library in the county that is not operated by a city or non-profit organization. 

The Board of County Commissioners (Board) appreciates the vital role that libraries play in our communities, and the Board is committed to the continued success of our library system in Washington County. Like many public agencies in Oregon, Washington County continues to experience increasing community need, and the cost of delivering services to the community outpaces the revenue available. Under the Board’s leadership, Washington County sought to ensure that library operations are led by partner cities or non-profit agencies; WCCLS explored an alternate model for operating West Slope Community Library with the goal of keeping this location open and continuing to serve the community.

As West Slope Community Library’s closest collaborators and neighbors in library service delivery, Garden Home Community Library wanted to find a way to deepen the existing partnership with West Slope Community Library by incorporating it into their non-profit agency, Garden Home Community Library Association (GHCLA). This would align West Slope Community Library with the operational model for public library services in urban unincorporated areas of Washington County, where the libraries are operated by non-profit organizations. 

Exterior view of the Garden Home Library.

Study Completed

WCCLS engaged a consulting firm, Library Strategies, to create a recommendation and transition plan for merging West Slope Community Library into the GHCLA non-profit. The Board of Commissioners reviewed the transition plan this summer; both the Board of Commissioners and the GHCLA Board decided to move forward. The study recommends an increased funding allocation to GHCLA from WCCLS for GHCLA to operate the West Slope Community Library.

Find the final recommendation here.

Summer Reading Program

Garden Home and West Slope Community Libraries will host a joint Summer Reading Program this summer. Summer reading sign-ups begin June 1 at both locations. To participate in summer reading after the West Slope Library closure on June 12, please visit the Garden Home Community Library or look for the bright and cheerful Wallace outreach van in the West Slope Library parking lot from June 16 to July 30 on the following days:

  • Mondays, 11 am to 1 pm
  • Wednesdays, 3 pm to 5 pm 

We hope you’ll join Wallace and the WCCLS team every Monday and Wednesday for Summer Reading Program sign-ups, crafts, free books, music, and even a surprise storytime or two!

Board of County Commissioners materials

Updated: October 11, 2024