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<TITLE>PORTALS Council of Librarians Announces Dissolving of Consortium </TITLE>
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<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Organization: Portland Community College </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Media Contact: Donna Reed, Director of Libraries<BR>
Phone: 503 977-4497<BR>
Email: donna.reed@pcc.edu<BR>
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<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">News Release</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">For Release: November 3, 2008</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT FACE="Calibri">PORTALS Council of Librarians Announces Dissolving of Consortium</FONT></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I> </I></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Effective November 1, 2008, Portland Area Library System (PORTALS) will cease to exist. The PORTALS consortium has been in existence since 1993 and has had a</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri"> number of functions within the local library community. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">PORTALS was initially funded by the State of Oregon and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. Its purpose was to create a regional research library in the Portland-metropolitan area, and for</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calibri">more tha</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calibri">n a</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> decade PORTALS provided resource sharing and database licensing for its member libraries. In recent years, PORTALS</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri">’</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri"> focus has been on providing continuing education for the library community.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">PORTALS</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri">’</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri"> recent activities include the creation of NWCentral [www.nwcentral.org], a community-driven clearinghouse of training resources for the library community in Oregon and Washington that has been partly funded by LSTA, and sponsorship of highly popu</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri">l</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri">ar continuing education events. In 2005, Portland Community College Library became PORTALS</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri">’</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri"> fiscal agent and as such has administered NWCentral and coordinated the classes. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I></I></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">On September 29, 2008, the PORTALS Council of Librarians voted that its present</FONT> <FONT FACE="Calibri">organizational structure was no longer necessary to fulfill the mission of supporting continuing education. The Council voted to transfer its governing authority and resources to Portland Community College (PCC). PCC Library accepted this responsibility</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri"></FONT> <FONT FACE="Calibri">because it is consistent with the mission of the college to support work force development and lifelong learning. PCC Library plans to align the continuing education efforts with NWCentral under the leadership of Roberta Richards (rrichard@pcc.edu), and t</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri">o</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri"> broaden the reach to include the entire state of Oregon.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">PCC Library will work with the NWCentral Advisory Group and others to develop a plan for next steps. It is the hope of the PORTALS Council that this transformation will be the beginning of a new e</FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri">ra of library continuing education and that the effort will benefit all libraries in Oregon and Washington.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Calibri">If you have questions about the transition, please contact Donna Reed, Director of Libraries, Portland Community College at (503) 977-4497,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN><A HREF="mailto:donna.reed@pcc.edu"><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Calibri">donna.reed@pcc.edu</FONT></U></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us">.</SPAN></P>
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<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Donna Reed</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Library Director</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Portland Community College</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Sylvania Campus</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">12000 SW 49th Ave.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Portland, OR 97219</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Mail: P.O. Box 19000</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Portland, OR 98280</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">donna.reed@pcc.edu</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">(503) 977-4497</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">fax: (503) 977-8398</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"><A HREF="http://www.pcc.edu/library">http://www.pcc.edu/library</A></FONT></SPAN></P>
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