By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews
WALDPORT — George Clooney and Matt Damon don’t hang out at the Waldport Public Library — but a tribute to someone responsible for one of their movies does. And in a way, it symbolizes how regard for the past is helping propel the library into the future.
Mark Sponenburgh of Oregon was one of the real-life heroes on whose work the 2014 movie “The Monuments Men” starring Clooney, Damon and Bill Murray was based. The film is a gripping and sometimes funny look at a very serious job — to find and recover millions of art objects stolen by the Nazis during World War II.
A noted sculptor, art collector and professor, Sponenburgh was an actual Monuments Man. A captain in the 9th Engineers Command, he was one of more than 300 men and women charged with identifying and retrieving stolen treasures and returning them to their countries of origin.
Sponenburgh died in 2012 at his home in Seal Rock and a photo of one of his sculptures still hangs in the library over a dedication to “Our ‘Monuments Man’ and Benefactor.” He bequeathed money to the Friends of Waldport Library, a non-profit that helps provide support to the city library.
Today, library staffers and supporters are on a mission of their own to construct a new facility, possibly adjacent to the former school property that the city recently bought at Hemlock and Bay streets. But “We’re still a ways from starting anything,” says library director Sue Bennett.
There’s no architect’s rendering, no budget, no projected size — just a need to expand beyond the 4,000 square foot building at 460 N.W. Hemlock St.
The familiar blue building bustles with books, reading programs, community activities and a rich local history of its own.
Summer programs
Right now, the library is plunging into a summer full of events — reading programs, in-person performances and club meetings. Whether your interests embrace marine life or bees, sing-alongs or chess, 3-D printing or photography, there’s likely something going on in the library and off premises to catch your interest.
For a full rundown of the summer schedule, go here. To see a day-by-day calendar of activities, go to the library’s website.
Some 120 children, teenagers and 50 adults are signed up for the library’s varied summer events, many funded by a $6,100 grant from Braemar Charitable Trust, obtained through Friends of Waldport Library.
“One thousand dollars of that grant will go to giving away books; we have a big push for that in the summer,” said Bennett.
The library operates on a yearly budget of $394,000 — $284,00 coming from the countywide library district, $100,000 from the city and the rest via grants and fees. That helps provide programming and two full-time staffers — Bennett and senior library assistant Pam Fodness plus part-timers Sharon McCrum, Alison McGrath and Norm Klusman.
Together, these five help bring to the community at large a world of resources: 27,186 physical books and other media, plus access to over 90,000 e-books and audiobooks through a statewide program called Library2Go. Then there’s a book-sharing program with several coastal towns and community college libraries, plus access to book-borrowing through a national search.
And don’t forget the eight computers available in this town of 2,256, the 3-D printer (adults only for printing from their own files), the Wi-Fi hook-up, and the numerous tables and chairs where visitors can read or simply sit.
“It’s all about partnerships”
It all adds up to a resource that’s remarkably robust for a small coastal town.
“We have so many programs because we have so much help … it’s all about partnerships,” says McCrum, the family outreach coordinator responsible for most of the family and children’s programs.
Some examples from the start of summer programs was a “Pollinator Day’ last week to help the bees at the community garden. Volunteers came from the DaNoble House, Wetlands Conservancy, Lincoln County School District’s STEM program, the Seal Rock Garden Club and Oregon Central Coast Backpackers, said McCrum.
“… it’s all working with the community,” she said. “That’s how we’re able to do a lot of the programs.”
In her earlier career, McCrum taught pre-school and kindergarten, and ran programs that weren’t so successful.
“I realized we needed to work with people to make programs succeed. In a small community, you have to work together.”
How can Waldport residents show their regard?
“By supporting Friends of Waldport Library,” says McCrum.
“We get letters, donated books, donated prizes for contests … we feel appreciated,” says Bennett.
That appreciation was recently shown when it was time for teenagers to sign up as team volunteers.
“Eighteen kids showed up, plus five more afterward,” McCrum said. “They just want to be here.”
Two of the teens are graduates of the library’s Baby Story Time program years ago.
Another pair, former teen volunteers who helped every summer while in high school, recently came back to visit and to take McCrum to lunch.
“Those are good feelings,” she says. “This is like their home.”
One young teen didn’t start out so positively. When at the library, his behavior was “disruptive,” Bennett recalls. “We thought we’d have to ask him to leave.”
But McCrum noticed that the boy had checked out a classic novel by Somerset Maugham and decided to probe a little.
“Do you want more responsibility?” she asked the boy. The answer was yes, and he got involved in setting up the 3-D printing lab, and later became a library volunteer. He also helped the library choose laptops for kids who wanted to play video games at the library.
“We had only public desktop computers at the time; it got loud and tied up the computers,” McCrum says. Thanks to funds from Friends of Waldport Library and tech advice from the formerly-disruptive boy, both gamers and grown-ups got what they wanted.
100 years of use
No one can claim that Waldport taxpayers haven’t gotten their money’s worth from the familiar blue structure on Hemlock. Dating back over 100 years, the building has served as a schoolhouse, the town’s City Hall, a sheriff’s office and fire department headquarters.
For a time, a much smaller version of the library occupied just a back corner of the building, and anyone who wanted to enter had to go through a narrow alleyway.
Still, that was progress from Waldport’s first lending library, which was founded by John H. Glines in 1912. Location? Mr. Glines’ home.
In 1994 the library expanded to occupy the entire 4,300 square feet of the downtown building.
The library’s potential new home is a big question mark on its ossible size, budget, features and location. But Bennett is definite about the need.
“We need more space for programs, books, a parking lot, rooms where the community can have meetings,” she says. “We want to at least double the space so we’re building for the future, not just our needs now.”
Community support for the library seems strong — at least according to a 2020 survey. Although only 238 people were queried, 94 percent said they use the library, and 77 percent said they want it to remain in the downtown area. After conducting a needs assessment, a consulting firm involved recommended a building of approximately 14,000 square feet.
Meanwhile, the library continues to “do a lot with a small number of staff,” Bennett says. “I want to thank the community in general for being such a part of this, and for helping out by supporting Friends of Waldport Library.”
Captain Sponenburgh would salute that idea.
- Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com
WFD occupied the old City Hall building until the current fire hall building was built, if I recall correctly. The library was in the rear of the building, with the main entrance on the right side. In the center was the city hall entrance. Library card numbers were started or restarted with #1 in the late 50’s or early 60’s.
A wonderful article that missed an opportunity to mention the Waldport Library Foundation, a non-profit, established to raise funds for a new library. The Foundation is raising money for architectural drawings, construction costs and other needs to build a new library. You can show your support for a new library by supporting and donating to the Waldport Library Foundation at waldportlibraryfoundation.org.