The ‘third space’ lending library hosting my first Gallery Walk
- Fu Bao Hartle
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
By Fu Bao Hartle
I am collaborating with Lodestone Library for Gallery Walk for my first time on Friday, Dec. 5. I will be having a slideshow of my adventures and be selling my calendars and new magnets. Many readers know me from my Voices column so today I am going to talk about Lodestone.
Lodestone Library is a good community hangout spot downtown. I think it is really cool because people can hang out and drink tea, and chit chat and meet new people. I asked my friend Lesley Kalbrener to answer my questions about the library.
1. Who started Lodestone Library?
Lodestone Library is a program of Green Ray Center Inc., which is a nonprofit organization my sister, Patty, and I founded in 2021. In the fall of 2023, when we moved our office from Lemon Creek to our current location downtown, we started building a crew before we even opened our doors to the public. Our first volunteer was a person who had seen us putting the library together through the window and wanted to be a part of it. Then we soft-launched at Gallery Walk ‘23 and met several more people who were excited about the project. Suddenly we had a core group of volunteers and, with input from everyone, Lodestone started to grow.
2. Why did you start Lodestone?
At the time — this was early post-pandemic — everyone was so eager to find a sense of spiritual purpose and reconnect with each other, so the mission kind of grew out of that. The original name of the nonprofit was actually Mind Matter Exchange. We wanted to create a protected space for people to amalgamate ideas and explore bold solutions to real human problems. The problems that keep a person up at night. Lodestone was a solution to the problem of years of isolation from one another. And it keeps evolving! Every new season, every new person that walks through the door keeps informing us of exactly what is needed from a space like this. It’s a refuge for seekers. It’s a place to workshop new ideas and reflect on old opinions, meet like-minded people or maybe find common ground with people who think differently. It’s an invitation to heal, and also to come as you are and meet others where they are. It feels like a living room but it isn’t your living room, you know? There’s a sense of ownership that our regulars feel over the space which is really special.
3. Who is involved now?
We currently have 12 volunteers of all ages and walks of life who actively keep the shop open. The Lodestone family is constantly growing, and it would be impossible to put a number on the amount of people who have donated their time, expertise, books, tea, artwork. Everything. Vacuum cleaners. Ovens. The list goes on and on.
4. Please tell me more about what Lodestone is, so people that don’t know about it can learn more.
People often call it a “third space” (not your work, not your home, but a third space). We have an ever-growing coffee and tea bar and, except for a few specialty items with prices, it’s all by donation. And it’s self-serve, you just help yourself and use the cash jar or ring yourself up on the card reader so it’s great if you’re in a rush and just need to snag a cup of coffee to-go. We also have cookies for sale which are bonafide “grandma cookies” baked by our mother, and they have become a big part of the Lodestone experience. The funds from coffee, tea and cookies cover the bulk of our rent for the space. But the heart and soul of Lodestone is the lending library which is made up of books that fall within the five “empowerment zones” of the nonprofit: Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, and Creative. We like to think of the library as an airport. Where are you coming from? Where are you going? The joke is it’s from Alchemy to Zen! You can grow your own herb garden or learn about lucid dreaming or eastern medicine or different religions. Art. History. Philosophy. We even have a growing fiction section. The books are a bit of a jumble still, so people tend to walk in and take what jumps out at them. It’s meant to have something for everyone.
If I had to put it simply, it’s an inexpensive place to find a thought-provoking book, maybe have a chat and drink out of a fancy teacup. Good, organic local coffee (Coppa!), fresh cookies, and hopefully a place you can feel good about supporting.
5. When did the library open?
It’s hard to pin that down because it happened in stages. We’ve had our books in the space for about two years now, but we finally put open signs in the windows last January.
6. Where is it located?
The address is 299 N. Franklin St., but that can trick people because our entrance is really on 3rd street, opposite Northrim Bank. Long-time Juneau folks might remember our location as the back rooms of the wonderful Observatory Bookstore.
7. Why do you think some people come by or volunteer?
Our volunteers have lots of different reasons for supporting the project and giving it their time. We have people who are new to town and see it as a way to connect with the community. We have retirees who like the weekly engagement with a quiet, cozy, public space. We also have volunteers who are engaged in different modalities that fit with our mission and use the space for workshops or meetings. Some of our volunteers just like their shifts to be quiet time for reading or working on their own projects. But everyone who is involved tends to share the belief that this type of space is important to individual and community health.
8. How can someone volunteer?
People who are interested should fill out a volunteer application that can be sent electronically or picked up in the shop. Currently, we are looking for coverage on Mondays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Tuesdays from 12-5 p.m., but even if you aren’t available during those hours, please still let us know when you are available because it is very helpful to have backup in case our scheduled volunteer can’t make it in. Shifts are usually 2-4 hours, usually weekly, but some prefer every other week. Whatever works for people!
9. How can people contact you?
You can email us at lodestonelibrary@gmail.com or message us on Instagram @lodestonelibrary. Check out our website lodestonelibrary.org for upcoming events and workshops and our recurring clubs like Silent Reading Club, Astrology Club, Knit and Crochet Club, Tarot workshops, and more!
10. What is your vision for the future?
Although we are limited to the smaller (cozier!) size of our shop, we hope to grow into an event space that can host music and larger groups of people. We are currently working on ways to expand our pastry menu and potentially offer hot food for lunch and dinner. As Lodestone becomes more self-sufficient, we would love to see Green Ray Center, Inc. create more programs to support its overall mission. My sister and I both have young children, so we are not in a rush with any of this. We like to say “ODT” to everything, which stands for Only Divine Timing! Helps take some of the pressure off so we can enjoy every stage of our evolution.
• Fu Bao Hartle is a Juneau Special Olympics athlete and advocate, and a commercial photographer.
