Cathlamet Public Library: New Library Trustee

Did you know there is Board of Trustees which oversees and governs the Cathlamet Public Library? And as you know, the library serves all of Wahkiakum County. Anyone in our county can get a library card for free.

Well, I’m one of the library trustees, and a recent one at that. And I thought, “Hey, if we are a library for the whole county, we should have voices from the whole county on the board.”

I knew about the Johnson Park Library but had never stopped by to check it out, so a few weeks ago I stopped in and met Carillon Nicol who is the librarian. The very first thing I asked her was, “What can the Cathlamet Public Library do to help your library?” I emphasized that we, the board and our librarian, just wanted to reach out and offer any help we could provide. So, we talked about how we could help. And we’re exploring some basic hands-on projects we might be able to provide support with. More to come.

Also, as we sat and talked, one thing led to another, and Carillon and I thought what a wonderful opportunity there would be in her becoming a Cathlamet library board trustee. We both recognized the tremendous value in having a voice, a representative from the west side of the county on the board. To keep the story short, Carillon is now a board trustee, confirmed and appointed by the Cathlamet Town Council and Mayor as of January 21, 2025. I’m most grateful to all who helped. It’s great to have a voice on our board from the west side of our county, one who can provide insight and help the rest of us on the board to understand the real library needs and desires of those westside county locales. And speaking of library board trustees, there remains a current opening for one more trustee on our board.

So, a big Welcome Aboard! to Carillon Nicol. Let’s make things better for our libraries. Let’s make things better for Johnson Park Library. Let’s make things better for Cathlamet Public Library. Let’s just make things better for all the readers of Wahkiakum County.