[Libs-Or] November Letter to Libraries Online

[April Baker]

Letter To Libraries Online
An Electronic Newsletter from the Oregon State Library.......Volume 18, Issue 11, November 2008
Library Board News

STATE LIBRARY BOARD MAKES 13 LSTA GRANT AWARDS
At their October 19th meeting, the State Library Board of Trustees made its 2009 LSTA grant awards to thirteen applicants. The grants total $839,770. Some of the grants are for new projects and some of the grants will continue multi-year projects. The Board also approved the LSTA grant program for 2009, including funding for statewide database licensing, the Oregon School Library Information System and L-net. In other business, the Board approved the Library's affirmative action plan for the 2009-11 biennium and completed the biennial performance evaluation of the State Librarian. The Board decided to hold a work session at their December 5th meeting to look at new strategies to address the problem of Oregonians without public library services or with inadequate public library services. The December 5th meeting will be held at the Hillsboro Public Library in Hillsboro.
LSTA COMPETITIVE GRANTS APPROVED FOR 2009
Deschutes Public Library
Library Linx: Bringing the Public Library to Schools $66,410
Eastern Oregon University on behalf of Sage Library System of Eastern Oregon
Test and Implement an Open Source Integrated Library System $80,365
Hermiston Public Library
Ready, Set, Zoom year 2 $28,080
Multnomah County Library
Families Reading Together-Familias Leyendo Juntas yr2 $58,130
Multnomah County Library
Kaboom! (Knowledgeable and Active Boomers) $66,233
Oregon Association of School Libraries
Oregon Battle of the Books year 3 $75,500
Oregon Historical Society
Oregon Tribes Project yr2 $40,500
Oregon Institute of Technology
Crater Lake National Park Digital Research Collection yr2 $92,579
Pendleton Public Library, BMCC Library, Pendleton High School
The Door is Open $66,310
Salem Public Library
Librarians for the Future year 3 $38,000
The Dalles-Wasco County Public Library
Wasco County Outreach Project $58,330
University of Oregon Libraries
Oregon Digital Newspaper Project $79,883
Western Oregon University
Cooperative Library Instruction Project $89,450



State Library News

STATE LIBRARY STAFF MOVES IN NOVEMBER TO MAKE WAY FOR GOVERNOR
About twenty State Library staff will move from the second to the third floor of the Library in early November to make way for Governor Ted Kulongoski and his top staff who will move to the State Library in mid-November. The space on the third floor, formerly devoted to classrooms and computer labs, is being remodeled to accommodate Library staff. The moves were made necessary by the Labor Day weekend fire at the State Capitol that caused extensive smoke and water damage to the Governor's offices. The Governor's staff have moved temporarily to a state building several blocks away from the Capitol. Moving to the Library will put the Governor and his staff in closer proximity to the Capitol while decisions are made about how to address the damage caused by the fire. Several different plans will be considered by the Legislature to either move the Governor's staff back to the Capitol or possibly into a new Executive Office Building. In the meantime the Governor and his staff will be located at the State Library for at least a year and possibly longer.
OREGON READS BOOKS AVAILABLE FROM TBABS
Oregon Reads 2009 is just around the corner and Talking Book and Braille Services is doing its part to have accessible books in the hands of our registered patrons. In October, TBABS notified patrons and interested parties around the state that all three books (Stubborn Twig, Bat 6, Apples to Oregon) would be available in 4-track cassette and Braille. This month we plan to order copies to satisfy the nearly 700 requests we received. Because it is a picture book, Apples to Oregon will be available in a beautiful, Twin Vision Braille format that allows sighted readers and Braille readers to read together. There will be limited copies available for general loan to libraries and schools. The book will be available through the State Library catalog and should be ready by mid-December. For more information, contact Elke Bruton in TBABS.
INTRODUCING JENNIFER MAURER, SCHOOL LIBRARY CONSULTANT
In mid-October, Jennifer Maurer joined the Library Development team as full-time School Library Consultant. She began her career as an elementary teacher in El Paso, Texas. After six years in the classroom, she took a leave of absence and attended Texas Woman's University where she earned her School Library Certificate and Master of Library Science degree. After three years as a school librarian in Texas Jennifer moved to the Portland area. Here in Oregon she was a library media specialist for three years before budget cuts led her into the public library world at the Salem Public Library. Jennifer hopes to cultivate relationships with key players in the Oregon library and education community as she works to provide training, support, and promotion for OSLIS 2.0. 



Other Library News

DEADLINE FOR PICTURING AMERICA EXTENDED UNTIL NOVEMBER 14TH
Libraries and schools now have until November 14, 2008, to apply for an innovative, free teaching tool called Picturing America. Picturing America, presented by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), provides high-quality reproductions of great American art to public libraries and K-12 schools to enhance the study of history, social studies, language arts, literature, and civics. Public libraries; K-12 public, private, parochial, and charter schools; and home school consortia in the United States and its territories are eligible to receive Picturing America materials, which include:


Forty large, high-quality color reproductions of the selected masterpieces (24" x 36") 

A comprehensive teacher's resource book providing a wide range of ideas and background information to support
educators using the works of art in core subject areas.

Lesson plans and additional resources available through the Picturing America website. 
Applications are being accepted now through November 14, 2008, with delivery scheduled for spring 2009. Previous recipients of the Picturing America collection are not eligible for a second award. Application information and testimonials from librarians and educators can be found on the Picturing America website.
CENTRAL LIBRARY GETS AN ECO-ROOF
The Multnomah County Library Central Library became the first library in Oregon to sport an "eco-roof." The roof of the library now has 17,000 plants covering 7,188 square feet. Included are sedums and drought-tolerant grasses. The $180,000 cost of the eco-roof project was largely supported by grants from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Green Investment Fund. The Library expects the new roof to reduce energy costs 6 to 8% in the summer and 50% in the winter and to also reduce rainwater runoff by 70%. The plants will also extend the life of the roof. "If anyone's looking at it from a bottom-line perspective, it definitely pays off," said Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler. The Library will offer weekly tours of the eco-roof to the public.



P.S. (From the State Librarian)

How is it that Oregon public libraries check out more books and other library materials per capita than public libraries in any other state except Ohio? Oregon has held on to the #2 ranking since 2001. When national public library statistics were first reported by the National Center for Education Statistics in 1989, Oregon ranked #9, but since that time we have steadily ascended to the #2 spot, passing up states like Washington, Indiana, Maryland, and Minnesota.
We have known for a long time that demographics are a good predictor of public library circulation. States with comparatively higher education and income levels tend to see more public library use. But demographics aren't everything.
I think that a major factor in Oregon's preeminence in public library quality and performance has a lot to do with a generation of outstanding leaders. These were library directors who saw the potential for Oregon to have some of the best public libraries in the country, directors who were not content with the status quo, but who had a vision for something much better. This was a generation of what you might call transformational leaders who inspired their communities and their staffs to share their vision.
At the risk of offending some of you, I will now name names. These are the transformational public library leaders of the recent past who spring to mind: George Happ, Sarah Long, Ginnie Cooper, Deborah Jacobs, Aletha Bonebrake, Ronnie Budge. I will be able to add another name to this list when Michael Gaston retires from the Deschutes Public Library in a couple months.
Michael should be remembered in Oregon library history as the librarian who pioneered library taxing districts and used this method of public library funding and governance to greatest advantage. Soon after Oregon's first library district law passed in 1981, Michael set about to transform the Florence Public Library into the Siuslaw Public Library District, thereby creating a model for how library districts can be the answer to dramatically improving public library quality and performance. A decade ago, in 1998, he did it again, this time on a larger scale, transforming the Deschutes County Library into the Deschutes Public Library District. If you go to either of these libraries today, you will see great facilities, wonderful collections, cutting edge library technology, outstanding youth services, and communities that love and value their libraries as an "essential service" that they are happy to pay for.
If you want to find out about how Michael did it, just ask him. One of Michael's greatest virtues has always been his willingness to share what he has learned with his professional colleagues. It has been one of the privileges of my career in Oregon to have enjoyed a close working relationship with Michael. He has been one of my greatest teachers on the subject of how public libraries can thrive through good times and bad. Thanks, Michael, for all you have done to set a high standard for outstanding library leadership in Oregon. - Jim Scheppke



Contacts at the Oregon State Library

Technical Assistance: 503-932-1004.

Library Development: 503-378-2525, MaryKay Dahlgreen, Mary Mayberry, Darci Hanning, Ann Reed, Jennifer Maurer, 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, April Baker .
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: April Baker.
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 April Baker, or mailed to LTLO, Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301-3950.
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