[Libs-Or] Wallowa County Library closing (?)

[Pierina Parise]

Thank you, thank you, to everyone involved in advocating for our libraries!

-perri

On Apr 26, 2017, at 10:24 AM, MaryKay Dahlgreen <marykay.dahlgreen at state.or.us<mailto:marykay.dahlgreen at state.or.us>> wrote:

Hello all-
I heard from the library director of the Wallowa County Library yesterday about the closure which is scheduled to be effective June 30, 2017. There is a statute that requires governing bodies to hold public hearings if they plan to withdraw support for the library ORS 357.621<https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors357.html>  I sent an e-mail to the county commissioners yesterday explaining that statute and asking how they intend to comply. I received a response from Commissioner Susan Roberts that they will comply with the statute and hold public hearings so that may hold off the entire closure for a short time. I believe the statute was written for just this sort of situation so that the public has an opportunity to weigh in on the decision.  I expect to hear more from her in the near future and will keep you posted. I have been in contact with Susan Polumsky, the director there. I contacted the OLA legislative committee yesterday with the news and Elsa Loftis, president of OLA, has written a letter which she will post to libs-or and send to the Commissioners.

I am monitoring the situation, as is the OLA legislative committee, and we will send information as it becomes available.

In other news, it appears that Rep. Greg Walden has been told that LSTA partially funds  Oregon Battle of the Books and has expressed interest in learning more about LSTA. I have attached the overview of LSTA spending<http://www.oregon.gov/osl/LD/LSTA/LSTAHandout2017.pdf> that we have created for National Library Legislative Day next week. We are preparing a separate report with each congressional district’s LSTA funding over the last five years and I will share that with you when we have it completed. Also,  please take a look at the American Library Association website for information on LSTA funding issues and how to respond: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/fight-for-libraries.


MaryKay Dahlgreen
State Librarian
503-378-4367 | www.oregon.gov/osl<http://www.oregon.gov/osl>
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[Title: State Library of Oregon]

From: Libs-Or [mailto:libs-or-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of Eva Calcagno
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 9:56 AM
To: libs-or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:libs-or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: [Libs-Or] Wallowa County Library closing (?)

I heard a brief, and not very informative, report on OPB this morning reporting that Wallowa County Library is closing. Anyone know any details (other than what is posted on  FB)?  Infers that a few city libraries will remain open, but the county/rural service will go away. How sad for that corner of Oregon!


Really brief mention about this story on OPB this morning:
http://www.wallowa.com/local_news/20170425/budget-ax-falls-hard-on-county-library

Here’s a statement from the director, posted Friday:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1433827176663793&id=187140731332450

Eva Calcagno, Director
Washington County Cooperative Library Services
(503)846-3233
www.wccls.org<http://www.wccls.org>


<LSTAHandout2017.pdf>
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