[Libs-Or] Connections: Your Link to the State Library of Oregon (September 2025)

Fri Sep 5 10:12:39 PDT 2025

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[Connections: your link to the state library of Oregon newsletter header]<https://www.oregon.gov/>
Volume 35, Issue 4 - September 2025
In This Issue:

  *   American Library Association (ALA) Conference
  *   Oregon Center for the Book Selects 2025 Titles
  *   Federal Document Highlights: Every Document Counts
  *   Empowering Older Adults through Digital Literacy
  *   A Note from the State Librarian
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American Library Association 2025 Conference
Our Reference Librarian and State Librarian had a great time at the America Library Association (ALA) in Philadelphia this year!
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Reference Librarian Natalie Brant and State Librarian Wendy Cornelisen at the ALA  2025 conference.
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Caged typewriters, part of a sculpture at the conference center.
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Poster with history of the Book It! program.
Oregon Center for the Book
Selects 2025 Titles
By Max Robinson, Administrative Specialist and Recording Studio Coordinator, Oregon Talking Book & Braille Library
The Center for the Book is a Library of Congress program promoting reading, libraries, and literacy. As the Oregon Center for the Book, we select two titles each year for a nationwide list, “Great Reads from Great Places.” We’re excited to share these Oregon-authored reads.
The 2025 Oregon Young Readers’ Selection is Leslie Barnard Booth’s One Day This Tree Will Fall (Illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman). This lyrical non-fiction picture book shares the long and winding life cycle of tree in a forest: from tiny seed to a decaying home for animals and plants.
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2025 Young Readers Selection: Leslie Barnard Booth’s One Day This Tree Will Fall
(Illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman).
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2025 Adult Readers’ Selection is Elizabeth Mehren’s I Lived to Tell the World: Stories from Survivors of Holocaust, Genocide, and the Atrocities of War.
The 2025 Oregon Adult Readers’ Selection is Elizabeth Mehren’s I Lived to Tell the World: Stories from Survivors of Holocaust, Genocide, and the Atrocities of War. This book features 13 inspiring profiles of men and women who have endured unthinkable cruelty, only to resume productive lives in their new homes in Oregon.
Both books are being recorded by Talking Books here at our studio and will soon be added to the National Library Service collection, making them accessible to people with print-disabilities throughout the country, and the world.
These titles will travel with us to the National Book Festival in Washington DC. Thousands of book lovers and families will be there to participate in the “Roadmap to Reading” activity: getting stamps on US maps and learning more about each state and territory. This year’s festival is happening on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. Visit the National Book Festival’s website<https://oregon.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=91dd1172fce9a235a5e993c03&id=3c05ced512&e=fbb0837c50>.
Federal Document Highlights: Every
Document Counts
By Ashley Wilsey, Government Information & Library Services Support Specialist, Government Information & Library Services
The State Library of Oregon is Oregon’s Regional Federal Depository Library. Our physical collection includes older documents from a number of agencies, many of which have not been cataloged yet.
Cataloging over half a million documents is a daunting task but is necessary. So how do you approach a task of this size with just one person and a limited time frame? The answer: one item at a time.
As Oregon’s designated Regional Federal Depository Library, the State Library houses a large collection of older documents created by a number of federal agencies. Over the last 100+ years of the Federal Depository program, many of these documents unfortunately went uncatalogued: 60.35% of the collection, totaling 644,271 items.
In July 2024, Government Services started a project to catalog these documents, and Allison Hatch wrote about her experience in the October 2024 issue of Connections. Other staff have since taken up the gauntlet and discovered some interesting treasures.
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1976 How to Get Along with Your Solvent
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1971 Save Your Teeth
The largest section of our regional collection, the Health and Human Services (classified as section HE) had just been started. At first glance the HE section is unassuming, only a few rows; how long could it take?
The Department of Health and Human Services covers a broad series of topics including public health, occupational health, radiation safety, infection control, healthy eating, lab safety practices, and so much more. A lot of the documents within this collection are single-page pamphlets, booklets and bookmarks – free bits of information found in the entryway of a building or on a table in the doctor’s office. Each of these pamphlets must be individually cataloged. To protect them, each item must be placed inside an archival quality envelope and labeled properly. Because cataloging had just begun, most of the pamphlet-sized documents were sitting loose on the shelves, making the whole section look deceptively small.
Sometimes pulling a pamphlet from the shelf revealed another pamphlet tucked inside. Two items to catalog in one!
Cataloging one item after another, all day, every day, can become monotonous fast. However, it was quickly discovered that the contents of the HE section are anything but boring.
Thus, the FedDoc of the Day was born.
Every day a FedDoc that is the most interesting, strange, unusual, or just plain weird is posted it to the Government Services Team. Doing so not only broke up the monotony but also boosted team morale. Enjoy a few of the standouts from the world of Health and Human Services.
Over the course of a year, with thousands upon thousands of documents cataloged, we finally made it through the seemingly small, but mightily interesting, HE section.
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1984 The Potato: Underground Hero
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1970 Feet First
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1972 Flammable Fabrics
Empowering Older Adults through
Digital Literacy
By Arlene Weible, Library Consultant and Federal Regional Depository Coordinator, and Tamara Ottum, LSTA and Grants Coordinator, Library Support and Development Services
Trained volunteers and seniors in three rural communities in Oregon are working together to gain confidence using technology, thanks to a digital literacy program supported by a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the State Library of Oregon.
In April 2024, the Oregon Broadband Office published the State of Oregon Digital Equity Plan, with part of their analysis indicating individuals 60+ are one of the state’s populations with “the most urgent need for digital skills programming.” To help fill this need, State Library staff met with Lori Silverman from AGE+, an organization helping rural Oregon communities build capacity to support older adults. Identifying their mutual interest in digital skills training for seniors, they worked together to pilot a digital literacy program.
Three pilot sites were chosen: Baker City, Stanfield, and Talent. Libraries and senior centers were selected as the focal points for collaboration because of their status as trusted organizations in rural communities. Supported by the LSTA grant from the State Library, AGE+ staff worked with libraries and senior centers to recruit Digital Navigators (volunteer computer and technology tutors) and register participants. The Digital Navigators were trained on how to teach older adults about technology through Senior Planet, an American Association of Retired Persons curriculum.
Once trained, Digital Navigators delivered a five-week, 10 session course called Online Basics to three groups of older adults. Participants ultimately wanted to feel safer and more comfortable while using the internet. In class, Digital Navigators built trusting relationships with participants by creating a welcoming environment where questions were encouraged. Some Digital Navigators also hosted “office hours” to give participants extra help outside of class. One Digital Navigator shared, “I appreciate the opportunity to help seniors in my community work toward their technology goals.”
Participants and Digital Navigators agreed the course content was accessible, engaging, and educational. While most participants started the program feeling uncomfortable using a technology device, by the end 80% felt capable of using one.
Many participants shared how much they appreciated the chance to learn at their own pace in a supportive setting. Participants reported very positive experiences with their Digital Navigators, who helped them feel welcome, answered questions thoughtfully, and fostered a strong sense of community within the class. One participant stated, "This program is VERY helpful and makes me feel at ease."
Several participants said they’ve already recommended the class to others. In Stanfield, after the library gave a presentation to City Council, the mayor was so impressed she wanted to know how to join the class.
The results of the pilot program confirmed both the need and opportunity to expand digital literacy programming to better serve older adults across the state. “I learned how much this program is needed,” a Digital Navigator noted. “So many seniors are not educated in how to use computers or smartphones.”
This project also demonstrated the value of existing community assets like senior centers and libraries. Based on the program’s success, AGE+ has secured additional funding to continue offering classes, one-on-one and small-group support, and to assist locally led efforts to strengthen telehealth readiness and meet evolving digital needs in their communities.
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Talent Graduation
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Stanfield Graduation
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Baker City Graduation
A Note from the State Librarian
LSTA funding updates
The federal spending reconciliation bill is now law. This tax and spending bill addresses mandatory and not discretionary spending at the federal level. It provides the overall roadmap for the federal budget but does not resolve the issue of funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS.)
The actual work in constructing the 2026 federal budget started this summer in various appropriation subcommittees. IMLS funding will be tackled by the Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. Oregon’s own Senator Merkley serves on this subcommittee in the Senate.
Because of the complexity of the federal budget process, it is possible that the recent history of using continuing resolutions to extend the budget development timeline may push that process well into calendar year 2026. This uncertainty isn’t any fun, but it does leave a small window for IMLS funding to remain up for negotiation.
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Library Support & Development Services Manager
Buzzy Nielsen<mailto:buzzy.nielsen at slo.oregon.gov>, 971-375-3486

Talking Book & Braille Library Supervisor
Jen Robinson<mailto:jen.robinson at slo.oregon.gov?subject=&body=>, 503-378-5391

Government Information & Library Services Manager
Elke Bruton<mailto:elke.bruton at slo.oregon.gov>, 971-375-3509

Chief Operating Officer
Susan Westin<mailto:susan.westin at slo.oregon.gov>, 503-378-5435

State Librarian
Wendy Cornelisen<mailto:wendy.cornelisen at slo.oregon.gov>, 503-378-4367

Mission
The State Library of Oregon cultivates, preserves, and delivers library and information services to foster lifelong learning and community engagement.

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