Letter To Libraries Online

An Electronic Newsletter from the Oregon State Library.......Volume 17, Issue 8, August 2007

Library Board News

BOARD WILL CONSIDER CHANGES TO ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

At their October 19th meeting in Salem, the State Library Board will hold a public hearing on changes to the Oregon Administrative Rules for the Ready to Read Grant Program. Rule changes are needed as a result of the passage of HB 2116 in the 2007 Legislative Assembly. HB 2116 changed the focus of the Read to Read Grant program to early literacy programs and summer reading programs. Prior to the passage of HB 2116, grant funds could be used for any program that improved library services to children. The Administrative Rules will need to reflect these changes to the purpose of the grant program. In addition, HB 2116 calls upon the Board to adopt a definition of “the statewide summer reading program.” At issue is whether Ready to Read Grant funds could be used for any summer reading program, or whether funds must be used to support the statewide collaborative summer reading program co-sponsored by the State Library and the Oregon Library Association Children’s Services Division.

A draft of the proposed rule changes will be sent to public library directors and made available to other interested persons in mid-August. A public hearing on the proposed rule changes will be held at 10 a.m. on October 19th in Room 102 of the State Library.

BOARD OFFICERS FOR 2007-08

At their June 21st meeting in The Dalles, the State Library Board of Trustees elected Doug Henrichs of Milton-Freewater to chair the Board for a second year. The Board also voted to have Yvonne Williams of Portland continue as Vice-Chair of the Board. “I am honored to be asked to continue as Chair of the State Library Board,” commented Henrichs. “Our primary goal for next year will be to develop our agenda for the 2009 legislative session to address some key needs and issues for the State Library and for Oregon’s libraries. I am very interested in looking at the possibility of Oregon moving toward what has been done in Georgia with their open source integrated library system. I think this is something with exciting potential.”

State Library News

LEGISLATIVE WRAP UP

The 2007 Legislative Assembly was a successful one for Oregon libraries. Virtually all of the objectives set by the State Library and the Oregon Library Association were met, including increased funding for the Ready to Read Grant program, protecting the privacy of library user email addresses, and exempting librarians from prosecution for furnishing sexually explicit material to children. Here is the rundown of bills and when they become effective.

HB 2116
Targets Ready to Read Grant funds on early literacy and summer reading and establishes $1,000 minimum grant. Effective date: July 1, 2007.

HB 2640
Refers a constitutional amendment to voters in November 2008 to remove the “double majority” requirement in any May or November election. Effective date: July 1, 2007.

HB 2843
Exempts librarians from the crime of furnishing sexually explicit materials to a child. Effective date: unknown; at press time Governor had not signed.

SB 950
Exempts library user’s email addresses from disclosure as a public record. Effective date: January 1, 2008.

SB 5523
State Library’s appropriation for 2007-09; includes a 25% funding increase to the Ready to Read Grant program. Effective date: July 1, 2007.

READY TO READ APPLICATIONS DUE AUGUST 31, 2007

Ready to Read applications for the 2007-2008 grant cycle are due August 31, 2007. Applications must be signed, mailed, and post-marked August 31. Faxes will not be accepted. Applications can be downloaded at Oregon State Library: Ready to Read. Several changes to the application have been made due to the passage of House Bill 2116. If you have any questions please contact Katie Anderson, 503-378-2528.

OREGON LIBRARIANS PRESENT AT OREGONASK POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT TRAININGS

Twelve Oregon youth librarians are giving presentations at the statewide training series, Positive Youth Development. 4-H Afterschool Resources and three Oregon libraries will be hosting trainings. Trainings are taking place in 12 locations across the state between June and September 2007. These trainings are for providers of afterschool care and programs for youth ages 9 -18. At each training a local youth librarian will give a 45 minute presentation on the resources, programs, and services their library has for 9-18 year olds and for afterschool providers.

This opportunity for Oregon libraries to reach out to afterschool providers was made possible though the State Library’s partnership with OregonASK. Thanks to the 12 youth librarians presenting and the three host libraries, Oregon libraries are playing an important role in a statewide effort to improve afterschool care and programs across the state.

CHANGES TO THE INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM CLEARINGHOUSE

The Oregon Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse (OIFC) collects reports on challenged materials from all types of Oregon libraries. OIFC uses challenge reports to compile the list of books challenged in Oregon for Banned Books Week events in schools and libraries. Challenge reports are also the best resource OIFC has when helping other libraries deal with challenges. When a librarian calls OIFC for help with a challenge, the most valuable information is learning how another library successfully dealt with a similar challenge.

In the past several years the number of challenges reported to OIFC has steadily declined, limiting the ability of OIFC to effectively help libraries. In order to address this issue, OIFC conducted a needs assessment by consulting with OLA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee and ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom. Based on the results of the needs assessment, OIFC will be making four changes:

1. Library names will not be published in the Title Index of Challenges starting in 2006-2007.
2. OIFC will now use ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom challenge report forms so libraries only have to fill out one form.
3. Libraries only need to send challenge reports to OIFC. OIFC will copy your challenge report, black out any information identifying your library on the copy, and send the copy to ALA’s Office of Intellectual freedom with OIFC’s Annual Report.
4. OIFC will send a letter to library directors the beginning of August each year reminding them to send in their challenge reports.

More information will be coming as the changes are implemented and the OIFC webpage is updated. If you have any question contact Katie Anderson, 503-378-2528.

Other Library News

OSU LIBRARIES TO LEAD OSU PRESS

The Oregon State University Press is now a division of OSU Libraries, an administrative change made earlier this month to ensure the continued success of the state’s only university press, OSU officials say. The 46-year-old academic imprint had most recently been part of OSU’s Division of Academic Affairs. But a university task force examining business trends affecting the OSU Press recommended last spring that it be made part of OSU Libraries. The task force noted that several academic presses nationwide have achieved greater financial success and stability in relationships with their respective libraries. University Librarian Karyle Butcher, who has held that position at OSU for 26 years, will serve as director of the press. “The OSU Press plays a vital role in OSU’s mission to serve the people of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest,” Butcher said. “The library shares with the press commitments to ensuring that knowledge is widely accessible and that there is a venue for research to get published and disseminated.”

Tom Booth, formerly the press’s marketing manager, had served as interim director over the past year. He now becomes assistant director with a focus on increasing the acquisition of manuscripts and the visibility of OSU Press books. Authors interested in working with the press should contact Booth at (503) 796-0547, or Mary Elizabeth Braun, the press's acquisitions editor, at 541-737-3873.

DOUGLAS ESD RECEIVES $299,475 SCHOOL LIBRARY GRANT

The U.S. Department of Education announced in late July the 2007 grantees for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program. In total, only
78 grants were awarded in only 28 states. A list of grant awards are on the Department of Education web site. The Douglas County Improving Literacy through School Libraries Project has three major goals which will be supported by hiring a certified library media specialist to work with staff in all six districts on instructional and collection development activities: improve student reading skills and academic achievement in grades 6-12; provide infrastructure to support achievement in information literacy, information retrieval and critical thinking skills of students; and improve the extent to which students of these six school districts learn about and use library resources and technology. Anticipated outcomes for the Douglas County Improving Literacy through School Libraries Project include an increase in student achievement in reading skills as demonstrated on the state assessment and increased usage of library resources, by students and classroom teachers, especially non-fiction collections and online databases.

HERITAGE CONFERENCE SET FOR MAY 2008 IN EUGENE

Mark your calendars. The 2008 Oregon Heritage Conference, including the Oregon Heritage Excellence Awards presentations, will take place May 4-6, 2008, in Eugene. The Oregon Heritage Conference, sponsored by the Oregon Heritage Commission, annually brings together people involved in heritage efforts from around the state to learn, to be inspired, and to network. If you have a speaker to suggest, a presentation you want to make or hear, or want to participate in planning the conference, please contact conference coordinator Kyle Jansson.

P.S. (From the State Librarian)

Not a lot of ink has been spent to document the rich history of Oregon libraries. That history begins around 1820 with a small library of 54 books at Fort George, a fur trading outpost at what is today Astoria. When Fort Vancouver was completed in 1825, the library was moved there and became the basis of what is now sometimes known as the Columbia Library, a rather remarkable circulating library for all of the outposts of the Hudson’s Bay Company throughout the northwest.

Other interesting 19th century Oregon libraries were the Multnomah Circulating Library, the first subscription library in the Oregon country at Oregon City, the Library Association of Portland, the most successful and long-lived (1864-1990) private library association in the state, the Territorial Library, precursor to today’s State of Oregon Law Library, and the University of Oregon Library, begun with $500 raised by students and operated by students for its first five years beginning in 1876.

All of these early libraries have interesting histories, but you really have to dig to learn about them. A librarian at the State Library, Mirpah Blair, wrote an informative article that appeared in the Washington Historical Quarterly in 1926, and Wilbur Rowe expanded upon Blair’s research in his Master’s thesis, published in 1939. Joanne Passet’s book Cultural Crusaders, focuses on how women librarians led library development in the West (including Oregon) at the beginning of the 20th century. And I made a modest contribution with an essay about the origins of the Oregon State Library, published in the Oregon Historical Quarterly in 2006.

Not a whole lot more has been written, until now. Tom McClintock, a retired history professor at Oregon State University has shared with me his 260 page manuscript that is primarily a history of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, but it also puts that history in the broader historical context. The first three chapters of his book describe the origin of public libraries, their development in the U.S. and their early development in Oregon. These chapters will make his book one that every Oregon library will want to own.

The remaining 17 chapters provide a history of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library that is rich in detail and surprising in many ways. Today the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library is one of the best public libraries in the state. But as McClintock shows, the Library got off to a very slow start, and for many years was a real underachiever. The best evidence of this, for me, is an incident in 1921 when State Librarian Cornelia Marvin came to town to shame the Corvallis Women’s Club into action. The headline recounting Marvin’s appearance read: "MISS MARVIN HITS CITY LIBRARIANS BETWEEN EYES; SAYS WE ARE SOUND ASLEEP, AND ONE OF TWO CITIES IN STATE OUR SIZE SO DEAD.”

I hope when this book is published it will inspire more Oregon libraries to find a local historian who can tell their stories in as thorough and engaging a way as Tom McClintock has. Thanks Tom! – Jim Scheppke

Contacts at the Oregon State Library

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, Marcia Martin.

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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