PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 63 No.2 Winter 1999
OREGON
Nancy Spaulding, Oregon Representative
People
The Oregon Educational Media Association announced their Media Specialists of the Year at their annual conference in October. Margo Jensen was awarded the 1998 OEMA Elementary Media Specialist of the Year. Ms. Jensen recently moved from the Robert Frost Elementary School in Silverton to a position as Library Media Coordinator at the Willamette ESD in Salem. The 1998 OEMA Secondary Media Specialist of the Year went to Mary McClintock, Roseburg High School.Karyle Butcher has been appointed to the position of University Librarian/Deputy Associate Provost, Information Services at Oregon State University.
Melanie Lightbody is the new director of the Toledo Public Library. She replaces Peter Rayment who moved on to the position of Circulation Service Manager for the Corvallis-Benton County Library. Before coming to Toledo, Ms Lightbody was the Assistant Director of the Newport Public Library.
Carolyn Rawles-Heiser assumed leadership of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library as Director.
The Oregon State Library honored information specialist Stana Smith with a reception in November. Ms Smith is retiring after thirty-five years service at the state library.
Ted Stark has been hired at the Upper Rogue Region Manager for Jackson County Library Services.
After 13 years at Portland Community College, Barbara Swanson retired this summer from the LRC and Instructional Technology Department this summer. Leslie Reister was recruited to fill the position and comes from Arizona Western College in Yuma, where she was Dean of Learning Resources.
Jan Thenell, Multnomah County Library's public relations coordinator, has been appointed to the selection committee of the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award. Jointly sponsored by the H.S. Wilson Company and the American Library Association, the award has been given since 1928.
Terri Washburn joined the Douglas County Library System as Branch Program Manager. Born in Portland, Ms Washburn returns to the northwest with work experience in library software and public library administration.
A celebration was held in June at the North Bend Public Library to honor Sheila Wilma, Director of Library Services and Marilyn Gardiner, Cataloger, for the 20 years of service they have given.
The Oregon library community was saddened by the death of Molly Miles, Fund Development Officer/Consultant at the State Library. Ms Miles passed away September 8, after complications from an unexpected surgery. Although she joined the State Library staff as recently as January 1998, her presence and expertise will be sorely missed.
Also in September, Johannah Sherrer, library director at Lewis and Clark College, passed away peacefully in the company of family and friends.
Oregon Library Association (OLA)
OLA has moved--on the Internet that is. As of January 1, the OLA homepage can be found at http://www.olaweb.org. Another technological innovation beginning January 1999 is the OLA Hotline, issued twice a month, will be delivered exclusively in electronic format.The Children's Division held a series of fall workshops around the state to facilitate the use of the new Youth Services Guidelines. The workshops presented strategies about how to use the Guidelines to improve library services for young people. Full text of the Oregon Youth Services Guidelines are available on-line at the OLA Homepage/Children's Services Division. A paper copy can be requested from Steven Englefried at (steven@westlinn.lib.or.us). A number of other events were sponsored by the Children's Division including Stories by the Sea, a fall storytelling festival featuring Margaret Read MacDonald. The annual OLA Performer's Showcase at the Salem Public Library allowed jugglers, magicians, storytellers, and other performers to demonstrate samples of their programs to interested youth librarians, teachers, and media specialists. The Fall Children's Division Workshop, November 7, included presentations by author Susan Fletcher, presentation of the Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award to the founder of the Libri Foundation, and the unveiling of the 1999 Summer Reading theme and artwork. January 9th, the Division hosted the 1999 Mock Caldecott Workshop.
Other Association activities included a Director's Retreat in September. A practical skills workshop sponsored by the Reference Roundtable included sessions on readers advisory and cataloging for the reference desk (books are from Venus, videos are from Mars, and serials are from Pluto). The International Relations Round Table hosted a luncheon with visiting librarians from China. The Support Staff Division held a successful conference on the coast. "Gateways 1998: An Ocean of Opportunities" was attended, and appreciated by library staff from public, academic and special libraries from around the state.
News
Oregon voters passed a number of local library measures in the November general election. The Deschutes County Library System won approval for library district formation including 4 branches. Voters in Beaverton approved a bond to build a new 67,000 square foot library and building expansions were approved in the Baker County Library and the City of Forest Grove. The Eugene Public Library will be building a new facility funded by urban renewal money and private donations, but the Eugene voters passed an additional levy that included operating costs for the new facility. Operating measures were also successful in Fern Ridge Library District, Josephine County Library System, Scappoose Public Library District, City of Stayton, and Sweet Home Public Library.Reva Basch, author of four books including "Researching Online for Dummies" will be the keynote speaker at the Online Northwest '99 conference. Concentrating on computerized information retrieval and technology in libraries, this 16th annual conference will be held Friday, February 12th at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Portland, OR. More information can be found at the Online Northwest 99 website at http://www.sou.edu/library/onlinenw/.
The winners of the 1998 Oregon Book Awards have been announced. The Angus Bowmer Drama Award went to Dori Appel for Freud's Girls. The Frances Fuller Victor Award for Literary Nonfiction was given to Making It Home by Lars Nordstrom. Graham Salisbury won the Award for Young Readers for his novel Shark Bait. The Hazel Hall Award for Poetry acknowledged Sandra Stone for Cocktails with Brueghel at the Museum Cafe and the H.L. Davis Award for Fiction went to Peter Ho Davies for The Ugliest House in the World. Congratulations to all these Northwest writers.
Oregon students in all grades can now participate in a children's choice award. Public and school librarians help promote 2 new book awards sponsored by the Oregon Reading Association. The Patricia Gallagher Picture Book Award and the Junior Readers Award for chapter books make it possible for students in grades K through four to choose a state winner. These book awards dovetail with the PNLA Young Readers Choice Awards where fourth through twelfth graders vote on a regional award.
Multnomah County Library's renovation of historic Central Library was acknowledged by a 1998 Oregon Governor's Livability Award. Only 9 projects throughout the state received the award for "livable communities through downtown revitalization, education and advocacy for good development". Multnomah County Library also hosted the fall display of "A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the United States Constitution," a traveling exhibit from ALA and the Smithsonian.
Six librarians in the Mutnomah County Library were honored with an MCI Cybrarian of the Year award. Presented to Kate Houston, Walter Minkel, Vailey Oehlke, Jackie Partch, Donna Reed, and Sara Ryan, the award acknowledged librarians for their commitment and innovative use of technology to better serve their community. The library's dynamic webpage, including their Homework Center and Outernet for Young Adults, can be found at http://www.multnomah.lib.or.us/lib/
Ke Shaoning and Zheng Zhiming, librarians from Fujian Province, China, visited eighteen library operations during a recent visit, including the Oregon State Library. They also joined library staff in the Portland area for a luncheon discussion hosted by the OLA International Relations Round Table.
The fall season was full of conference and continuing education opportunities in Oregon. October 9-11 the annual conference of the Oregon Educational Media Association was held in Redmond. The Oregon/Washington ACRL fall conference "Librarians for the New Millennium" met at Corbett, OR on October 22-23. Also on October 23, the Library Information Network of Clackamas Count held its 17th annual network conference "LINCC to Learning".
A new reference book about Oregon is now available. The Oregon Book: Information A to Z by Connie Hopkins Battaile, an Oregon reference librarian, contains nearly everything imaginable. Information about animals, culture, economy, history, places, weather and more are arranged in a short-entry, encyclopedic format. Published by Saddle Mountain Press, the ISBN is 0-9657638-2-X.