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<H1><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><A name=Top></A>Letter To
Libraries Online</FONT></H1>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">An Electronic Newsletter from
the Oregon State Library.......Volume 19, Issue 3, March
2009</FONT></P></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<DIV align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><B><A
name=Board></A>Library Board News</B></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">STATE LIBRARY BOARD
ADOPTS ADMINISTRATIVE RULE REVISION</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">At their meeting on February 20th,
the State Library Board unanimously adopted a revision to the Oregon
Administrative Rules that will allow the Board, in the future, to collect funds
from larger public and academic libraries to partially support the L-net
e-reference service. In adopting the rule the Board decided to delay
implementing it until the 2010-11 fiscal year. The delay will address the
difficulties some libraries face in the current recession and the uncertainties
that all libraries are facing. The Board will decide in October how much funding
to seek from public and academic libraries in 2010-11. Before making their
decision, the Board heard the results of a survey that Library staff sent to all
public and academic library directors in the state. The survey showed that 51%
of the respondents moderately or strongly supported the plan to recover some
costs of L-net and 49% opposed the plan. Academic libraries showed more support
for the plan than public libraries in the survey. Only 27% of academic library
respondents did not support the plan, as compared to 56% of public libraries.
The Board also received many written comments from the survey and written
testimony in response to the public hearing. In the Board’s deliberation on the
rule revision, they discussed the value in having L-net not be totally dependent
on LSTA funding in the future. They also believe that libraries will value L-net
more, and promote its use more effectively, if they are asked to partially
support it.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">SCHOOL LIBRARY BILL
ENDORSED BY THE STATE LIBRARY BOARD</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><A
href="http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measures/hb2500.dir/hb2586.intro.html">House
Bill 2586</A> received a unanimous endorsement by the State Library Board at
their February 20th meeting. The bill was introduced by State Representative
Peter Buckley of Ashland at the urging of constituent Anne Billeter, a
past-president of OLA. Buckley’s staff worked with Portland school librarian
Nancy Sullivan who leads an effort called “Fund our Future Oregon” to improve
school libraries in the state. The bill is also endorsed by the Oregon
Association of School Libraries and the Oregon Library Association. OLA lobbyist
Nan Heim worked with Representative Buckley’s office to get 22 co-sponsors from
both political parties in the House and the Senate. The bill would add school
libraries as potential beneficiaries of an existing Oregon Department of
Education grant program that supports improved student achievement. It would
also require all school districts to adopt plans for a strong school library
program. It’s expected that the fiscal impact of the bill will be negligible,
and for this reason it might have a good chance of passing, even in a difficult
budget year. The bill will have its first hearing in the House Education
Committee, chaired by Representative Sara Gelser of Corvallis. At press time a
hearing had not been scheduled.</FONT></P>
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<DIV align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><B><A
name=OSLNews></A>State Library News</B></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">EDUCATION SUBCOMMITTEE
HEARS STATE LIBRARY BUDGET</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The budget for the State Library in
2009-11 recommended by Governor Kulongoski was heard in the Education
Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee on February 3rd and 4th. The
Governor is supporting the current programs and staffing at the Library,
including continuing to fund the Ready to Read Grant program at $1 per child per
year. The Governor’s budget also would fund more positions in Library
Development Services with state funds, shifting the funding from Library
Services and Technology Act funds. This is necessary to come into compliance
with limitations on the use of LSTA funds for administrative costs. Currently
only one of six positions in Library Development Services is funded with state
funds. The Governor’s budget funds 2.5 positions with state funds to comply with
federal law. Much of the testimony at the hearing dealt with the effectiveness
of the Ready to Read Grant program. State Librarian Jim Scheppke testified that
participation in summer reading programs increased dramatically in 2008, due in
part to more Ready to Ready Grant funding of these programs around the state. On
the second day of the hearing OLA Lobbyist Nan Heim and three youth services
librarians gave strong testimony on the need to continue funding Ready to Read
grants at $1 per child. Deeda Chamberlain (Woodburn Public Library), Pam Pugsley
(Stayton Public Library) and Heather McNeil (Deschutes Public Library) gave
compelling testimony on the effectiveness of the program in promoting early
literacy and summer reading. The Subcommittee adjourned the hearing after two
days and does not plan to call a work session to deliberate on the Library’s
budget for several months.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">ACCESS OREGON TRAIL
EMIGRANT RESOURCES AT THE STATE LIBRARY</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Willamette Valley Genealogical
Society and the State Library have a long history of working together to provide
Oregon citizens with research support in the area of genealogy and state
history. Now WVGS volunteers Evelyn Gatlin and Sandy Graham have compiled a
bibliography of resources, from the State Library collection, that contain names
and personal accounts of the thousands of emigrants who traveled the Oregon
Trail. This resource will be very helpful to anyone who is researching Oregon
history or genealogy. The <A
href="http://www.oregon.gov/OSL/GRES/OregonTrailBibliography.pdf">bibliography</A>
lists 160 resources and includes manuscripts, journals, diaries, interviews,
family histories and other resources. Check the <A
href="http://catalog.willamette.edu/screens/opacmenu_s2.html">online catalog</A>
of the State Library for availability of any the resources. Items that circulate
can be ordered via interlibrary loan.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">LIBRARY SERVICES AND
TECHNOLOGY ACT GUIDELINES AVAILABLE FOR FFY2010 GRANT CYCLE</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Got a great idea for a
collaborative automation project? Outreach program? An innovative application of
technology? The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant program may be
for you! The application packet for FY2010 grant proposals is available on the
web through the <A href="http://oregon.gov/OSL/LD/LSTAcomp.shtml">LSTA
Competitive Grant Program</A> page. The LSTA program uses a two-step grant
process. Short proposals are due April 10. Ideas need to support the <A
href="http://oregon.gov/OSL/LD/LSTA/LSTAfiveyrplan0812.doc">Oregon Library
Services and Technology Act Five-Year State Plan 2008-2012</A>. Feel free to
check out the proposals from past years, as there may be a project you wish to
replicate! We welcome calls to talk over grant ideas, or find out about similar
grants that may have been made in previous years. Contact <A
href="mailto:ann.reed@state.or.us">Ann Reed</A> at (503) 378-5027.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">BROWSING THROUGH
OREGON’S HISTORY & CULTURE</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Patrons of the State Library have a
new collection to browse when they visit the second floor Reference Room. In
addition to genealogy resources, newspapers from across the state, the Oregon
Poetry Collection and current periodicals there is now an <A
href="http://tinyurl.com/ddhwtk">Oregon History & Culture Collection</A>.
This collection, created in honor of Oregon’s 150 birthday celebration, brings a
small fraction of the library’s Oregon books from behind closed stacks into a
space where visitors can browse the shelves. Topics include state and county
histories, local art and architecture, ethnic groups, travel and photography.
The next time you visit the State Library, please stop by the Reference Room and
browse the new circulating collection.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">TALKING BOOK AND
BRAILLE SERVICES CONTRIBUTES TO YOUR COMMUNITY READING PROGRAM</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Talking Book and Braille Services,
along with libraries across the state, are heading into the final months of the
Oregon Reads 2009 community reading project. So far, TBABS has been able to
satisfy nearly 700 requests for <I>Stubborn Twig</I>, <I>Bat 6</I> or <I>Apples
to Oregon</I> in Braille or cassette format for print-disabled Oregonians
throughout the state. As you start planning for your next local community
reading program, please add TBABS to your resource checklist. TBABS can help
your library by serving the print-disabled people in your community and ease the
burden on your audio book resources. For more information, contact <A
href="mailto:elke.bruton@state.or.us">Elke Bruton</A> in TBABS. </FONT></P>
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<DIV align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><B><A
name=OtherNews></A>Other Library News</B></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">PORTLAND PUBLIC
SCHOOLS MAKES PLAN TO IMPROVE SCHOOL LIBRARIES</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Of the 85 schools in Portland
Public School District, only 27 have a certified librarian, and eight have no
library staff at all, including two high schools. Some of PPS’s librarians
decided to take action to improve that situation. Representing the group, Susan
Stone met with the newly appointed Superintendent, Carole Smith, in January
2008. Next they rallied the support of school board member, Ruth Adkins. After
hearing research on how school librarians positively affect student learning,
the Board created a position to assess the library situation and make
recommendations on improving it. Susan Stone was hired in August 2008 as a TOSA,
or teacher on special assignment, to lead the investigation. In the fall of
2008, Suzie Baier, an assistant superintendent who supports this cause,
presented to the Board a memo which became the 21st Century School Library
Initiative. Its two primary goals are preparing students for postsecondary
education by developing information literacy skills and fostering an
appreciation of reading. The focus is on creating information literacy standards
for the district, getting the proper staffing in libraries, and building solid
collections. Their 5-year plan begins in 2009-10 and aims to have all schools
meeting library standards, as defined in the plan, by 2015. There was a public
hearing on the plan in January and another school board presentation in
February. Currently the plan is being evaluated by a budgeting subcommittee of
the school board. For more information, contact <A
href="mailto:jennifer.maurer@state.or.us">Jennifer Maurer</A> at (503) 378-5011,
or <A href="mailto:sstone@pps.k12.or.us">Susan Stone</A>. </FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">MULTNOMAH COUNTY
LIBRARY EARNS FIVE STARS</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In a new assessment of public
library performance, the Multnomah County Library earned a five star rating,
along with four other major urban libraries in Columbus and Cleveland (OH),
Charlotte (NC), and Hennepin County (MN). The <A
href="http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6629180.html">LJ Index of Public
Library Service</A> used national public library data from 2006 to determine the
top performers in four categories of library output measures. Libraries were
assessed against their peers in categories determined by the level of library
expenditures. The output measures were library circulation per capita, visits
per capita, program attendance per capita, and Internet computer use per capita.
Library output measures for every library were compared to the average for their
peer group and awarded scores. In the top category that Multnomah County Library
competed in, five stars were given to the top five libraries, four stars to the
next five and three stars to the next five. In the lower expenditure categories
five stars were awarded to the top ten, and likewise for the next two groups of
ten. No other Oregon libraries came close to earning stars. Not all Oregon
libraries were assessed, because some Oregon libraries do not collect all four
performance measurements. <I>Library Journal</I> plans to continue to publish
the LJ Index of Public Library Service annually as national data on public
libraries is released by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which
collects the data from Oregon and other states and the District of
Columbia.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">IMLS AWARDS PLANNING
GRANT TO OREGON</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Institute of Museum and Library
Services has awarded 23 statewide planning grants, including one to Oregon, to
be used to create statewide conservation plans for collections held in
libraries, museums and archives. The $39,000 Oregon grant was awarded to the
Oregon Museums Association which is collaboratively working on the project with
the Library Preservation Round Table of the Oregon Library Association,
Northwest Archivists, the Oregon Heritage Commission, the Oregon Historical
Society, the Oregon State Archives, the Oregon State Library, Tamastslikt
Cultural Institute, and other partners. The grant is part of an IMLS initiative,
<A href="http://www.imls.gov/collections/">Connecting to Collections: A Call to
Action</A>. IMLS launched the initiative in response to the 2005 Heritage Health
Index report on the dire state of the nation's collections. According to the
report by Heritage Preservation, approximately 190 million objects could be lost
in just a few short years without immediate attention. The report also found
that 65 percent of collecting institutions report damage to collections due to
improper storage and 80 percent did not have an emergency plan for their
collections or trained staff to carry it out.</FONT></P>
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<DIV align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><A
name=PS></A><B>P.S. (From the State
Librarian)</B></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I hope it has come to your
attention that we are once again collecting surplus books from Oregon libraries
to send to our sister province in China. We did this once before in 1993 and had
a lot of fun with it. I’ll never forget the 20-foot ocean-going container parked
right outside the front entrance to the State Library loaded with boxes of books
we received from about 100 libraries, large and small, throughout the state.
Amazingly, we had just about exactly the right number of boxes to fill the
container right to the brim.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The official sponsors of what we
are calling the Books-for-China Project this year are the State Library and the
International Relations Roundtable of OLA. Included are a number of librarians
like Frances Lau and Rosalind Wang who were involved with our previous effort.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The primary motivation for this
year’s collection drive came, however, from the “coolest librarian in Fujian.” I
am quoting Teresa Landers, one of the Oregon librarians who went on the Horner
Library Staff Exchange in 2007. That’s her description of Dehong Xiao who is the
Director of the Xiamen University Library, the largest and best university
library in our sister province of Fujian. Dehong made a visit to Oregon last
fall and spent several days visiting libraries here. He met with Deborah Carver
to begin to work out a sister library relationship between UO Libraries and his
library. We all found him to be a very cool guy indeed — energetic and
gregarious and humorous and full of ideas about how we might strengthen our ties
with libraries in Fujian.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">He talked to a number of us about a
second book donation effort and we were all very taken by his enthusiasm for the
project. When he got back to China he began to work to receive special
permission to be able to waive the usual customs processes so that our books
could be shipped directly to his library without the need for us to make an
item-by-item inventory. His library will distribute the books to libraries
throughout Fujian It took several months to work this out, but now he has, and
we are ready to begin the project. I hope your library is planning to contribute
at least a few boxes of surplus books to the effort.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">One more thing about Dehong: he’s a
big NBA basketball fan. When he was here, as luck would have it, the Blazers
were playing the Houston Rockets whose star center is Yao Ming, the best NBA
player yet to have come from China. Several of us took Dehong to the game. At
the end of the game it looked like Yao had hit the game-winning basket. I kidded
Dehong about bringing Yao good luck. But then Brandon Roy hit a long
three-pointer with one second left to win the game. Dehong was not disappointed.
He went crazy like the rest of the Rose Garden. He’s a very cool guy. – Jim
Scheppke</FONT> <BR></P>
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<DIV align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><B><A
name=Contacts></A>Contacts at the Oregon State
Library</B></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Technical Assistance:
503-932-1004.<BR><BR>Library Development: 503-378-2525, <A
href="mailto:marykay.dahlgreen@state.or.us">MaryKay Dahlgreen</A>, <A
href="mailto:mary.l.mayberry@state.or.us">Mary Mayberry</A>, <A
href="mailto:darci.hanning@state.or.us">Darci Hanning</A>, <A
href="mailto:ann.reed@state.or.us">Ann Reed</A>, <A
href="mailto:patty.sorensen@state.or.us"></A><A
href="mailto:jennifer.maurer@state.or.us">Jennifer Maurer</A>, <A
href="mailto:katie.anderson@state.or.us">Katie Anderson</A>.<BR><BR>Talking Book
and Braille Services: 503-378-5389, <A
href="mailto:susan.b.westin@state.or.us">Susan Westin</A>.<BR><BR>Government
Research and Electronic Services: 503-378-5030, <A
href="mailto:robert.hulshof-schmidt@state.or.us">Robert
Hulshof-Schmidt</A>.<BR><BR>State Librarian: 503-378-4367, <A
href="mailto:jim.b.scheppke@state.or.us">Jim Scheppke</A>.<BR><BR>LTLO Editor:
503-378-2464, <A href="mailto:april.m.baker@state.or.us">April
Baker</A></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><I>Letter to Libraries Online</I>
is published monthly by the Oregon State Library. Editorial office: LTLO, Oregon
State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301-3950, 503-378-2464,
editor: <A href="mailto:april.m.baker@state.or.us">April Baker</A></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><I>Letter to Libraries Online</I>
is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form on the
publications page at the Oregon State Library's homepage: <A
href="http://www.oregon.gov/OSL">http://www.oregon.gov/OSL</A>. Opinions
expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
the Oregon State Library. News items or articles should be sent to <A
href="mailto:april.m.baker@state.or.us">April Baker</A>, or mailed to LTLO,
Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301-3950.</FONT></P>
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