STATE LIBRARY BOARD HONORS BILL SULLIVAN
At their April 11th meeting in Salem,
the State Library Board honored retiring Board member Bill Sullivan for his
eight years of service on the State Library Board. The Board held a luncheon
for Sullivan in which Board Chair Doug Henrichs thanked Sullivan for his long
service on the Board and for his passion for improving library service, especially
for Oregonians who are without public library service. "We will continue
to hear your voice," Henrichs said, "even when you are no longer with
us." State Librarian Jim Scheppke also thanked Sullivan for his years of
service to the State Library and also noted his leadership in the Eugene Public
Library Foundation and his continued leadership in the Lane Library League.
As a State Library Board member Sullivan led efforts to normalize the practices
of the Board with Board bylaws. He also initiated a practice of recognizing
Library staff for outstanding effort, donating his own books to give to staff.
At the April 11th meeting Sullivan did this for the last time, donating copies
of his new book, Oregon's Greatest Natural Disasters.
At their April 11th meeting the Board also saw a demonstration from Patty Sorensen
of the Oregon School Library Information System 2.0 which was launched in March.
They also conducted a self-evaluation using a set of Board "best practices,"
and approved proposed changes to Library key performance measures. In addition,
they voted to take two budget issues to the next meeting of the Legislative
Emergency Board in June. The next meeting of the State Library Board will be
held on June 13th at the Stayton Public Library in Stayton.
OREGON POETRY COLLECTION LAUNCHES
National Poetry Month
was an appropriate time for the State Library and the Oregon State Poetry Association
(OSPA) to launch the new Oregon Poetry Collection. On April 25th the Library
celebrated the new collection with a reception and poetry reading at the State
Library. Oregon Poet Laureate Lawson Inada kicked off the event by reading a
poem composed for the event, "It Goes Without Saying." The collection
will be housed in a special section of the historic State Library Reference
Room. The section is being renamed the Oregon Poet Laureate's Reading Room.
About seventy-five OSPA members and other guests attended the celebration of
the new collection and reading room.
The Oregon Poetry Collection is a joint effort of the State Library and OSPA
to preserve, promote, and make accessible publications of Oregon poets. Publications
included in the collection are written by Oregon poets, past and present, or
deal substantially with Oregon subject matter. Part of the Oregon Poetry Collection
is available for circulation from the State Library and part of the collection
will reside in State Library Special Collections. When the Library receives
extra copies of books beyond those needed for the Collection, the Library will
offer the books to other Oregon libraries to help them build their Oregon poetry
collections. The entire collection is accessible in the State Library catalog
using the subject term "oregon poetry collection."
TALKING BOOKS PROVIDES
ACCESSIBLE VOTER'S GUIDE
This spring, the League of Women
Voters Nonpartisan Voters' Guide is available in large print, cassette,
and CD thanks to a partnership between the Secretary of State, Talking Book
and Braille Services, and the League of Women Voters. To order a copy of the
Voters' Guide for a print-disabled patron, just contact Talking Books
at 800-452-0292. If the individual is already receiving Talking Books, they
may already be on the list to get the Voters' Guide. The guide is available
to anyone needing the Voters' Guide in an alternate format in accordance
with the Help America Vote Act.
ANNOUNCING THE 2008 LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE WINNERS
Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing contest for students in grades 4 - 12. Students write a letter to an author (living or dead) explaining how that author's book changed the way the student thinks about the world or him/herself. We will celebrate Oregon's winners, runners-up, and honorable mentions May 7 at the State Library from 4:00-5:30pm. The Oregon Level I (4th-6th Grade) winner is Hunter Hastings, runner-up is Ali Hentzel, and honorable mentions are Sydney Haggart, Colleen Ellis, Maria Amanda Flores, and Robert Stewart. The Oregon Level II (7th and 8th Grade) winner is Jesse Turner, runner-up is Adele Zawada, and honorable mentions are Xoren Frazier Gorby, Qiddist Hammerly, and Micaela Saling. The Oregon Level III (9th-12th Grade) winner is Maya Lim, runner-up is Erin Kahn, and honorable mentions are Stephen J. Staszewski, Anna Grabhorn, Hayley Anderson, and Shenna Hillsman.
OREGON READS 2009 WEBSITE LAUNCHES
The Oregon Reads 2009 Website launched at the OLA/WLA conference in April. Oregon Reads 2009 is the first statewide community reading program. This Web site provides the tools you need to plan for the event at your library, and in your community. It features information about the selected titles, authors, and statewide events. You will find resources to help plan for the event at their library such as a speakers bureau, programming ideas, book discussion questions, storytime ideas, book club tips, and much more. The Oregon Reads 2009 Website is always having more content added as it is developed so keep checking back to see what’s new!
ANNOUNCING THE 2010 SUMMER READING PROGRAM SLOGANS AND 2011 THEME
The Collaborative Summer Library Program met April 23-25. A lot of work was done at this three day meeting, but the most exciting work was selecting the slogans and the theme for upcoming summer reading programs. This is an extensive process, requiring input from children's librarians all over the country. The 2010 children's summer reading slogan will be Make a Splash-READ!, the 2010 teens summer reading slogan will be Make Waves at Your Library, and the 2011 summer reading theme will be world cultures. Thanks to all the children's and teen librarians in Oregon who contributed to the selection process.
CONGRATULATIONS ¡HOLA! GRANT RECIPIENTS
The Oregon Library Association's
¡HOLA! (Helping Oregon Libraries Achieve) Grant provided an all-expenses-paid
trip to the 2008 OLA/WLA conference for nine Oregon librarians who had never
attended the conference before. Library staff from Adams Public Library, Gilliam
County Library, Helix Public Library, Lyons Public Library, North Powder Public
Library, Siuslaw Public Library, Sheridan Public Library, Ukiah Public/School
Library, and Wallowa Public Library were greeted by a mentor when they arrived
at the conference, and participated fully in all conference sessions and events.
The grant recipients will use the new ideas and resources from the conference
to improve library services and, they are now connected with other Oregon librarians
in the Oregon Library Association.
The ¡HOLA! Grant was developed by OLA, and made possible with a generous
grant from the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation. The grant is designed
to provide opportunities in small, rural libraries to send an employee to the
annual OLA conference. Twenty Oregon libraries serving a population of 10,000
or less applied to send one of their employees to the conference, and ten applications
were selected. The ¡HOLA! Grant will be available again for the 2009 OLA
conference.
SOUL OF A PEOPLE LIBRARY OUTREACH GRANTS AVAILABLE
The National Endowment for the Humanities
is offering grants to enhance and increase the nationwide impact of a documentary
film, Soul of a People: Voices from the Writers' Project. The film and library
outreach programs will acquaint public, academic and special library audiences
with the story of the largest cultural experiment in U.S. history - the Federal
Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration - told against the
backdrop of the Depression and 1930s America. Following an application
process, 30 libraries will be selected to receive a $2,500 grant from the
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to present five different public
outreach programs during the period of the national broadcast of Soul of a People
(planned for Spring 2009). The grants will be used for scholar honoraria, book
purchases, publicity and other program-associated costs. The deadline for applications
is July 11, 2008.
In my remarks at the OLA Conference
this year, I noted that we passed a milestone this past February. The opening
of the Winston Branch of the Douglas County Library marked the 100th new or
expanded public library in Oregon just since 1990.
As I told the membership of OLA, I believe this era of Oregon libraries will
be remembered for all of the new buildings we have built. One hundred new public
libraries represents just under half of all of the public libraries in the state.
We have also built 19 new or expanded academic libraries since 1990, including
all but one of the Oregon University System libraries. The latest new academic
library is at Linn-Benton Community College.
Some of our county libraries have achieved what you might call a "total
makeover" in that all of the buildings have been replaced or renovated.
Examples of this are the Multnomah County Library, the Deschutes Public Library,
and the Baker County Library. I believe the Jackson County Library is only one
building away from joining this group.
The 100 new or expanded public libraries built in the past 18 years is about
three times the number of libraries built in the last big building boom. For
that you have to go all the way back to the beginning of the 20th century, 1901
to 1915, when Andrew Carnegie paid for 31 new public libraries to be built in
communities around the state.
Another remarkable thing about our latest library building boom is that nearly
one in four of all the new public libraries in the state were designed by one
architect. Richard Turi got his start designing the North Bend Public Library
in 1990. He went on to design new libraries in Florence, Brookings, Roseburg,
Monmouth, Silverton, Prineville, Coos Bay (an addition), La Pine, Redmond (a
remodel), Wilsonville, Wolf Creek, Yoncalla, Bandon, Burns (another addition),
Sisters, Alsea, Siletz, Tillamook, and Sutherlin. Turi is retiring this year,
but not before he finishes his last library projects in Gold Beach, Port Orford,
and Seaside. What a legacy! And very appropriately, Turi was honored at the
OLA Conference with an Honorary Life Membership.
As you travel the state, especially along the Oregon coast, look for Rich's
libraries. They mostly all share similarities in design. They are very attractive
on the outside and on the inside (Rich especially likes high timbered ceilings).
They are also designed to be easy for limited library staff to manage. Rich's
contribution to so many Oregon communities will be a lasting one and one that
will probably never be equaled. - Jim Scheppke
Technical Assistance: 503-932-1004.
Library Development: 503-378-2525, MaryKay
Dahlgreen, Val Vogt, Darci
Hanning, Ann Reed, Patty
Sorensen, Katie Anderson.
Talking Book and Braille Services: 503-378-5389, Susan
Westin.
Government Research and Electronic Services: 503-378-5030, Robert
Hulshof-Schmidt.
State Librarian: 503-378-4367, Jim
Scheppke.
LTLO Editor: 503-378-2464, Robin
Speer.
Letter to Libraries Online is published monthly by the Oregon State Library. Editorial office: LTLO, Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301-3950, 503-378-2464, editor: Robin Speer.
Letter to Libraries Online is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form on the publications page at the Oregon State Library's homepage: http://www.oregon.gov/OSL. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Oregon State Library. News items or articles should be sent to Robin Speer, or mailed to LTLO, Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301-3950.
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