[Libs-Or] SOLF Newsletter, Winter 2004

Anne Gruel agruel at jcls.org
Sat Jan 24 15:46:00 PST 2004


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                SOUTHERN OREGON LIBRARY FEDERATION


                                NEWSLETTER


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Winter issue  Vol. 25, no. 1                                   January 2004
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            WINTER MEETING

                        Friday, February 6, 2004
                        11:00 am - 3:00 pm

                        Jackson County Library Services
                        Ashland Branch, Gresham Room
                        410 Siskiyou Blvd
                        Ashland Oregon
                        541-774-6996

            DIRECTIONS AND PARKING:

>From I-5 heading South:

Take the first Ashland exit (Valley View exit)
Turn Right onto Valley View Rd. Valley View will dead-end shortly at Highway 99, a major stoplight
Turn left onto 99
Continue on 99 through downtown Ashland, the street name changes to Siskiyou Blvd
The library is at the end of the downtown strip on the right at the corner of Siskiyou and Gresham
Turn right onto Gresham and look for parking on the residential streets near the library
If you see the Safeway on your left, you have gone one block too far

>From 66 from Klamath Falls:

Stay on 66 all the way to Siskiyou Blvd
Turn Right onto Siskiyou heading North
Go past the SOU campus
When you see the Safeway on your right, the library is just one block away
The library will be on your left just before you enter the main downtown area, on the corner of Siskiyou and Gresham
Turn left onto Gresham and look for parking on the residential streets near the library

Parking

Parking in the library lot off of the alley behind the library is very limited. As a courtesy to library patrons, please allow time to park on the street and walk to the library. The SOLF meeting will start an hour before the Ashland library is open to the public. The front entrance on Siskiyou will be closed: Please enter from the back of the library off Gresham Street.
                            
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                AGENDA

11:00   Call to order                                  Sue Luce, SOLF President
            Greetings & lunch logistics             Anne Billeter, Manager, Jackson County Library Services
            Introductions                                 Everyone
            Approval of minutes                      Chris Crow,  SOLF Secretary
            
11:15    Presentation on                             Ronnie Budge, Director Jackson County Library Services 
            Jackson County Library 
            building process and  status     


12:15   Lunch     

1:00     Treasurer's report                          Amy Kinard, SOLF Treasurer
            SOLF Newsletter                         Anne Gruel, Newsletter Editor

1:15      Tour of Ashland branch                Anne Billeter

2 pm     Next SOLF meeting:                    Sue Luce 
             place, topic, date 

             News and issues                          Anyone
             of SOLF libraries

3pm       Adjournment  

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                LUNCH for the February 6th Meeting

                Sandwich and Salad Box Lunch from Market of Choice 
                Inclucdes ½ sandwich, salad, cookies and bottled water

                $7.00


Please order by Friday January 30
Email your name and menu choice to Amy Kinard, Jackson County Library, Ashland Branch:
akinard at jcls.org 

Payment of $7.00 can be made at the meeting



1. Half-Sandwich (they are generous).  Choose (or mix) from the following:

 

            Breads:  Hoagie Roll, Sourdough, Wheat, White or Rye Bread

            Meats:  Ham, Turkey, Roast Beef or Turkey Pastrami

            Cheeses: Swiss , Cheddar, Provolone or Pepper Jack 

            Vegies: Lettuce, tomato, avocado, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, sprouts, black olives, pickles

            Condiments: Mayonnaise, Mustard, Dijon

 

2. Small salad: Pasta, Fruit or Potato


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            SOLF SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS


Congratulation to the 2003 SOLF Scholarship winners!

        Rita Radford, Douglas County Library, Myrtle Creek Branch
        Deniece Davis, OIT Library

Each winner has received $200 to attend an Oregon library conference of their choice     

           
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            GRAND OPENING INVITATION

Everyone is invited to attend the Grand Opening of the new Jackson County Central Headquarters/Rogue Community College Library at 205 South Central Ave. in Medford on Sunday, April 4 from Noon to 5:00pm.  

Grand Opening events will include author readings & book signings, a juried art show, performances of Coyote Tales by the Tears of Joy Puppet Theater, stories for children by the Storytelling Guild, visits from Mother Goose, music, refreshments, and more. 

The new Central  Library is nearly five times the size of the 1912 Carnegie building it replaces and will be the first library in Oregon to be a joint use facility shared by a public library and community college library. It features three community meeting rooms, a 30-person computer lab, audio-visual and language labs, a retail coffee shop and Friends Bookstore.

Privately raised funds have been used to enhance the beauty of the building which includes bronze gates designed by Oregon sculptor Peter Helzer, carved quotations by internationally acclaimed sculptor Alan Collins, and a stone garden by Robert Murase Associates.

-- Meghan O'Flaherty, Central Headquarters Manager, Jackson County Library Services

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            PEOPLE NEWS

TATIANA FOX began her new postition as Library Technician III, Government Information Specialist, in December at the Southern Oregon University Library. ANNE RICHARDS, the former Government Information Specialist who retired last
June, has been helping to train her. Tatiana formerly oversaw the day-to-day digitizing activities of the Southern Oregon Digital Archives project.

LISA MCNEIL, Cataloging Coordinator, has left the SOU Library to take a cataloging position at the Orange County Public Library in southern California. She has family there and looks forward to being nearer to them. The Library will be replacing her and has recently placed ads on a variety of online professional sites.

The SOU Library has had to reduce our staffing as part of the overall campus-wide budget reductions. As a result, we've reorganized and combined Circulation and the Information Technology Center (ITC) into a new unit, Access Services, and eliminated the Head of Circulation position. CHARLIE SALT, who held that position, left the Library at the end of December. KAREN HILL, formerly the ITC supervisor, has been appointed the new Head of Access Services.

Oregon Institute of Technology regrets to announce that SUSANNA FLODIN, our Technical Services Librarian, has left us to take a  job with Clackamas Community College. She will be greatly missed by all of us in the library.

RUTH KRATOCHVIL, library director for Curry Public Library District, has retired, due to the changes in PERS.  She officially retired on June 1st of 2003, but worked for the library through July. Ruth has moved to Portland and is working on publicity for the OLA conference as well as working as an on-call reference librarian for Clackamas County and Oregon City. 

Management at Jackson County Library Services has been re-organized due to the retirement of BOB WILSON and budget constraints. ANNE BILLETER will continue as the manager Children's and Young Adult Services, and is now also the manager for the South Region, which includes the Ashland, Talent, and Phoenix branch libraries. She has passed on the management of Outreach to the Homebound to LORRIE KOVELL. Lorrie adds the management of Outreach to the Homebound and Volunteer Manager to her duties as the manager of Collection Development at JCLS. Lorrie no longer manages the courier and mailroom services. The courier and mailroom services have been combined with the library business office into Support Services, managed by JUDY BAALMAN, longtime Business Manager for the library. 

LARRY TAYLOR, Courier for Jackson County Library Services, was named Employee of the Year for 2002-2003. Larry began his library careers as an extra help shelver in 1990. He was hired as a permanent employee in February of 1992, then promoted to Library and County Mail Courier in May of 1993. Larry's unfailingly upbeat and positive attitude, calm and courteous manner in all situations, and ability to see the "big picture" were among the reasons Larry was nominatied and selected for this annual award. Congratulations, Larry!

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                 LIBRARY NEWS

JOSEPHINE COUNTY LIBRARY

The Josephine County Library is hanging in there with our reduced hours and staff.  The public and staff are coping reasonably well. The Josephine County Library Board has established a Long Range Planning Task Force, composed of members of the Library Board, the Library Foundation,  the Library Friends and members of the public. The charge of the Task Force is to update the library's 5 year plan (that "ended" in 2001) and to explore ways to achieve stable library funding. 

The task force has made some preliminary recommendations to the Library Board: to hold off on any "stable funding"  election until November of 2006,  and to consider another try in May or Nov 2004 for a supplemental levy to get us through to November of 2006. If a "bridge" levy passed in May 2004, the library would get the proceeds with the Nov. 2004 tax
bills. The Other option would be to wait until Nov. 2004, when a double majority isn't needed.  If the levy passed then, no tax revenues would be received by the library until Nov. 2005. That would make two years with severly cut services. 

--Sue Luce, Library Director

DOUGLAS COUNTY LIBRARY

The Douglas County Library can heartily recommend the Lewis and Clark Discovery Box Presentation being offered by the Oregon Nation Guard as their contribution to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial celebration in Oregon. The program, put on by National Guard training officers, lasts 1 1/2 hours and consists of a lively, anecdotal talk on the expedition; trivia questions; and the National Geographic video Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West narrated by Jeff Bridges.

Best of all, they bring Army Corps of Engineers supply chests packed with historically accurate replicas of items Lewis and Clark took with them on the trip and items they found along the way. Items include a uniform, sextant, beaver  pelt, quill pen and powdered ink, cast of a grizzly footprint, prickly pear (encased in resin!) and much more. All the replicas are for the audience to unpack and handle.

Although the program is geared to grades 4-6 and schools are the primary venue, they will also do community and library programs aimed at the whole family, as we did. We booked them for our Yoncalla Branch, which had 70 local schoolchildren
walk to the library for the program, and later in the afternoon for the Douglas County Headquarters Library. We had an audience of over 90 comprised of children, adults, seniors and homeschoolers.

Contact information for the Lewis and Clark Discovery Box Presentation : Major Alisha Hamel, 503 584-3996, Alisha.Hamel at or.ngb.army.mil

--Chris Crowe, Public Services Librarian

SOUTHERN OREGON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Like other libraries these days, Southern Oregon University has had its share of continuing budget woes. But there have been some positive things happening as well. For example, the Library has been able to provide increasing numbers of electronic full-text journals in recent years. Although the exact number constantly changes with the addition and deletion of databases, and with the changes within databases, the Library offers about 12,000 - 13,000 titles which students and faculty can access from offices, dorms and homes.
The transformation of the Orbis union catalog into the Summit catalog, as a result of the creation of the new Orbis Cascade Alliance, doubled the size of the catalog. Orbis Cascade now includes some 28 libraries including all the state universities in Oregon and Washington, an increasing numbers of the private colleges, and some community colleges. There are about 22 million items in the Summit catalog that SOU's students and faculty can request and have in their hands in 2 to 3 days.

Our building project continues to move forward. The 1st floor has been renovated and the new addition has taken shape with exterior walls being framed, brick going up, the guts of the building nearing completion, and the entrance rotunda beginning to act as a beacon for the "new" library. The addition will be completed in early May, at which time I'm sure the entire staff will celebrate by taking a trip to the new coffee shop. The next steps will be the renovation of the 3rd and 2nd floors, with project completed scheduled for February 2005.

Our Southern Oregon Digital Archives (SODA) project has reached the two-and-a-half year mark with over 1,300 items digitized, available on the web, and searchable. This project continues to seek out, preserve, and make available publications relating to the southern Oregon bioregion and regional Native American tribes. To our great satisfaction, it has become a model for libraries across the nation.

--Sue Burkholder, Library Director

OREGON INSTITUE OF TECHNOLOGY LIBRARY 

The Shaw Historical Library and the OIT library are busy gearing up for the start of our Water in the Klamath Basin Digital Library project. We are making decisions about which hardware and software to purchase and a search is being held to find a Digital Library Project Manager. Things are hopping for the OIT library staff, then, with the search for the Digital Library Project Manager, the search fro Susanna Flodin's replacement in TS, and with getting along with one fewer librarian. On the brighter side, our College Union is beginning to look less like a maze and more like a gathering place. If this keeps up,  OIT may actually be able to host a SOLF meeting on campus by the end of the year.

--Karen Kunz, Access Services Librarian

KLAMATH COUNTY LIBRARY

In conjunction with our Centennial Celebrations we are planning to launch a capital improvement campaign to expand and refurbish the main library in Klamath Falls. To this end the County Friends group has entered into a contract with the Metropolitan Group. The Metropolitan Group is a marketing and grant writing consultant firm based in Portland. They have advised and developed grants for many libraries in the Oregon as well as working with OLA on the summer reading program. 

We have also a number of activities planned to commemorate the 100 years of service in Klamath County. We will try to have a Klamath Reads event, an essay contest, author tours, and progressive dinner. The actual date that the first lending library opened in Klamath Falls was November 1905.

Recently we have been making strides in improving library services to our rural communities. Almost all our branches are on-line via the Internet. Circulation and patron registrations are increasing. Children and adult programs are becoming routine. Much of the progress being made can be attributed to Chy Ross's efforts and attention. Chy is our new Branch Librarian and came to us last year directly from the University of Tennessee's library program. He has done a good job in motivating and supporting the paraprofessional staff serving in our ten small community branch libraries.

The Chiloquin branch will soon be relocated into a new 3,300 square foot building. A community non-profit group, called Chiloquin Visions in Progress or CVIP,  is responsible for the new facility that will house the branch and the community art association's workshops and store. The building is being built totally with grants from large and small foundations and donors. I am very proud of CVIP. This group has donated thousands of hours their time and energy to improving the quality of life in Chiloquin. 

--Andy Swanson, Library Director

JACKSON COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICES

The Jackson County Library is preparing for an upgrade to their automated library system. Polaris 3.0 will be installed in February, and the changes are significant enough that all library staff are attending training. Changes to the system will streamline circulation, make placing holds easier, and allow patrons using the PAC to save their searches and reading lists if they desire.

On January 20th the Ashland Branch Library hosted the first of a year-long series of after-school storytelling programs. The "3rd Tuesday at the Library" series features professional storytellers telling their  tales for the after-school crowd. Snacks at 3:15, then an hour of story magic should be a winning combination for elementary kids. The program is sponsored by Friends of the Ashland Branch Library (with funds from a Trust Management Services grant), Albertsons, and  Ashland's Bed & Breakfast Network.

The Friends of the Ashland Public Library presented the Tears of Joy  Theatre in a performance of "Coyote Tales" for their annual meeting, held  at the Ashland Middle School on Sunday, January 11, and enjoyed by an audience of 170 of all ages.

The Jackson County Library joined the Josephine County Library this past holiday season in offering a "Food for Fines" program. From the end of November through early January, the library waived $1.00 in fines for each non-perishable food item a patron brought in. The food was donated to Access Food Share, a local social services agency. "Food for Fines" was a huge success: Patrons were able to eliminate their fines in a way that was easier for them than paying cash, while doing a good turn for people in need. The library collected an estimated 350 cartons of canned and boxed food for the community.

The construction contract for the Eagle Point branch library was awarded to The Acme West Company on November 5, 2003. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 20th and preliminary work on the new library site has begun. 

The shelving is going up in the new Central Library in Medford. Touch-ups are being made to the interior, while the landscaping and water feature are being finished outside. The last open day at the current location in the Carnegie library will be Saturday March 6th. A grand opening celebration in the new building is set for Sunday April 4th, with the new library opening for business on Monday April 5th.


--Amy Kinard, Librarian II
--Anne Billeter, Manager of Children's, Young Adult, and South Regional 
--Anne Gruel, Libarian II, with help from the Jackson County Library Services Newsletter, Intercom


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                SOLF OFFICERS

President: Sue Luce, Josephine County Library, sluce at co.josephine.or.us
Treasurer: Amy Kinard, Jackson County Library, akinard at jcls.org
Secretary: Christine Crowe, Douglas County Library, cacrowe at co.douglas.or.us
Director #1: Gary Sharp, North Bend Public Library, glsharp at coosnet.com
Director #2: Christy Davis, Klamath County Library, cdavis at co.klamath.or.us

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Issues of the SOLF Newsletter are emailed via the LIBS-OR electronic mailing list.  
Please notify the editor if you wish to receive the SOLF Newsletter directly.

Anne Gruel, editor
agruel at jcls.org
(541) 774-6417

                              
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