[Libs-Or] Wallowa Library Closure & Greg Walden

Wed Apr 26 10:31:58 PDT 2017

Actually, Walden is coming around on LSTA funds. He has recently apologized for not being on top of the LSTA issue.

-Brooke

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M. Brooke Robertshaw, PhD
Assistant Professor & Assessment Librarian
Oregon State University Libraries & Press
121 The Valley Library
Corvallis, OR 97331
Office: (541) 737-1780
Mobile: (541) 870-6136
brooke.robertshaw at oregonstate.edu
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“Numbers have life; they’re not just symbols on paper.” ~Shakuntala Devi

From: Libs-Or <libs-or-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us> on behalf of Anna Beauchamp <beauchamp at sou.edu>
Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 10:29 AM
To: OLA President <olapresident at olaweb.org>
Cc: "libs-or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us" <libs-or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: Re: [Libs-Or] Wallowa Library Closure & Greg Walden

I find it very sad that this libs-OR note is right next to the libs-OR note regarding the struggle for LSTA funding.
Both Wallowa County and Douglas County are in Greg Walden's District 2.  He refused to sign on to support LSTA funding, and apparently shows no interest in protecting the libraries in his district from these closures.  He should continue to hear about this from those of us who care about public library access for all in Oregon.
Thank you for the updates,
Anna Beauchamp
Ashland, Oregon

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 10:12 AM, OLA President <olapresident at olaweb.org<mailto:olapresident at olaweb.org>> wrote:
Hello Oregon Library Community,
I'm attaching a statement about what we know regarding the closure of the Wallowa County Library, but attachments can be a bit unpredictable, so I'm pasting the text below.
We will let you know more as we find out, and we are hoping to forward a petition to keep the library open for you to sign in the very near future.
Thank you for your advocacy and support of Oregon Libraries,
Elsa Loftis

April 26, 2017

To the members of the Oregon Library Association,

On April 25, 2017, the Legislative Committee of the Oregon Library Association was informed that the county library in Wallowa County is due to be closed. For those who are not familiar with it, Wallowa County is located in the northeastern corner of Oregon, with a population of roughly 7,000. The county public library operates two branches in the towns of Troy and Imnaha, and the library website states that they circulate 3,300 average each year, with 2,200 people accessing its services.   The library has been in existence since 1964, when it was created by a vote of the people. It maintains several outreach programs, including “Training Wheels”, “Leap into Literacy”, and the “Up & Away Afterschool Programs”. If you would like to read more about the library and its services, you can access their website here: http://co.wallowa.or.us/community_services/library/index.html

The cities in Wallowa County are served by city libraries in Joseph, Enterprise, and Wallowa, and this closure will not affect these libraries. The services that the county library provides, however, are unique and very important to the people living in the smaller communities. The county is more than 3,000 square miles, and many families will be negatively impacted by this closure.

At this time, we are trying to find out more information about what transpired to get to this closure decision. From what we understand, the Budget Committee made a recommendation to the County Commissioners, and this decision was announced in the last day or two. There has not yet been a public hearing, as required by law, so we hope that the public will have a chance to comment. Representatives from OLA will be monitoring the situation and hope to attend a public hearing. I will let you know what I can as the situation unfolds, and we are hopeful that public involvement and comment will help bring this to a better resolution, but as we understand it now, the two branch libraries of Wallowa County are being closed as of June 30, 2017.

Thank you,

[creen Shot 2016-11-17 at 10.01.44 AM.png]

Elsa Loftis

President, Oregon Library Association

--
Elsa Loftis
OLA President 2016-17

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
-Jorge Luis Borges

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