On a breezy Thursday, the library, in all of its goodness and imagination it is capable of creating, alights on Lions Park in Cosmopolis.

It’s the first visit of the Anywhere Library, a program run by the Timberland Public Library, to Cosmopolis — or to anywhere in the county.

“We’re in all these rural areas. Not everyone has a physical presence of a library. It allows us to get out into more communities and reach people more directly,” said Brenda McGuigan, the Anywhere Library Mobile Services Coordinator. “We try to set up stops where people are already meeting. Our agency stops can be at schools, retirement centers.”

Grays Harbor is the latest of the counties to come onboard for the Anywhere Library, as TRL starts up the program, which is less than a year old, meant to fill coverage gaps where there might be a population that doesn’t have access to a fixed branch location.

“I’m excited,” said Mayor Linda Springer, who worked with the library to establish Cosmopolis as a stop. “I’m a huge fan of the library, books, all of it.”

With the first stop in Cosmopolis, the roving library will visit a number of other locations on a rotating basis, as they work to incorporate more locations into the schedule, said Arianna Scott-Zechlin, who is responsible for the program within Grays Harbor.

“People will reach out to us, But also we will reach out to them,” Scott-Zechlin said. “Looking at places in Grays Harbor — maybe they’re not close to a branch, or maybe we think they’re high-priority.”

The Anywhere Libraries have offerings from kids to adults, including story times and access to summer reading programs, which rewards kids with books and other prizes, for reading and other developmental activities, Scott-Zechlin said.

“Early literacy is extremely key in order to build those early skills that allow students to do well in education. By providing early literacy tools — things like story times, word books, pictures books, early readers — we provide literacy tools that students might not otherwise be able to access,” Scott-Zechlin said. “Those tools give them a leg up when they arrive at school that they might not otherwise have.”

Visitors to the Anywhere Library locations can check out and return books or other materials such as DVDs or audiobooks, pick-up requested materials, and soon, access printers which will travel with the van, according to the TRL’s website. All they need is a library card, Scott-Zechlin said, which the Anywhere Librarians can create on-site.

“They need to have a library card. But I can create library cards. All they have to have to get a library card is an ID of some kind,” Scott-Zechlin said. “We’re pretty flexible. If we can get you a library card, we’ll do our best.”

The concept of the Anywhere Library is broader, a step beyond the bookmobiles of yore, Scott-Zechlin said.

“We call it mobile services because it’s not just … you walk on to a van or bus filled with books now. We really try to bring the library to you,” Scott-Zechlin said. “We’re really trying to take the library out to where people are — as many of the aspects of the library as possible.”

Managing that isn’t simple, Scott-Zechlin said — it’s all the work of a fixed branch, as well as dealing with the mobile aspects.

“Each of us are on our own, a self contained branch. We’re effectively our own branch library, in a van, by ourself. It is a lot to keep track of,” Scott-Zechlin said. ”You have to keep track of all the circulation. You have to build your collection. Every single day, I will say, I’m never bored.”

It’s a rewarding experience, Scott-Zechlin said, particularly in seeing the enthusiasm from those people she’s encountering.

“So far, it’s just been the excitement I’ve seen from people that I’ve met with that don’t have a library. The exuberance,” Scott-Zechlin said. “They had a list of 15 questions for me like … can you do this? Can you do that? Can you do this?”

From books and movies, including Spanish-language and large-print versions, the library has something for most, and if they don’t have it, they can get it, Scott-Zechlin said.

“We have plenty of things. Come check it out,” Scott-Zechlin said. “If we don’t have what you want, let me know, I’ll put it on hold for you and you can pick it up next time.”

The library is scheduled to visit Neilton on the Aug. 6, Westport on Aug. 20, Humptulips on the 21, before returning to Cosmopolis on the 22. Precise times and locations, as well as the form to request a visit, are on the TRL’s website at trl.org/anywhere/

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or michael.lockett@thedailyworld.com.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World The Timberland Regional Library has stood up the Anywhere Library, a mobile program bringing library services to places in the county without a fixed library location.