GOVERNOR SUPPORTS STATE LIBRARY BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS
In his 2009-11 budget proposal released on December 1st, Governor Kulongoski
is supporting several of the recommendations of the State Library Board made
in their recommendations to the Governor last August. The Governor’s recommended
budget includes a $15.7 million budget for the Library, up 6.3% from the 2007-09
budget. The Governor’s budget proposal supports continued funding for the
Ready to Read Grant program at $1 per child per year with a $1,000 minimum grant.
The proposal also recommends shifting funding for 1.5 Library Development Services
staff positions from Federal funds to state funds to meet new Federal policy
requirements. In addition, the Governor’s proposal recommends a new student
worker position be added to Talking Book and Braille Services and additional
funds for databases for Government Research Services. The Board’s proposals
to increase Ready to Read Grant funding to $2 per child, and to enhance the
search capabilities on the Oregon.gov website were not included in the Governor’s
proposal. “The Board is very grateful for the Governor’s support for
our programs, despite the serious state revenue problems he is dealing with,”
commented Yvonne Williams, Chair of the State Library Board.
STATE LIBRARY BOARD HOLDS WORK SESSIONS IN HILLSBORO
The State Library Board will meet at the Hillsboro Public Library on December
5th. After a tour of the year-old main library, the Board will hold three work
sessions in addition to dealing with Board business. The first work session
will give the Board an opportunity to discuss how the Library plans to deal
with the problem of Oregonians who do not have public library services or who
have substandard library services. Two other work sessions will focus on funding
for the L-net e-reference service, and whether the Board should consider evaluating
their practices in 2009. After the work sessions the Board will consider a new
long range plan for Talking Book and Braille Services and hear three appeals
of staff decisions to deny Ready to Read Grants in 2008-09. The Board will also
revisit their prioritization of State Library programs, at the request of the
Legislative Fiscal Office, and will elect new members to Board Advisory Councils.
An Open Forum is planned for 10:30 a.m. Anyone may address the Board on any
topic at the Open Forum. The Hillsboro Public Library is located at 2850 NE
Brookwood Parkway in Hillsboro.
DIGITAL TALKING BOOKS ARRIVE IN 2009
In 2009, Talking Book and Braille Services will begin making the switch from 4-track cassette books to digital flash-drive media. In the coming months, our patrons will receive a letter inviting them to add their names to a request list for the digital machines. After the first shipments of digital machines and books are checked in to TBABS we will begin sending the first machines out to patrons. The current news from the National Library Service is that TBABS will begin receiving digital players in May 2009. We are obligated to send machines to our registered U.S. Veterans first which should take about two to three months. This means that the first players for our general population could be going out by September or October 2009.
READY TO READ GRANTS COMING THIS MONTH
The Ready to Read Grants will be mailed to public library directors by the end of December. Included in this mailing will be a list of the libraries receiving grants this year and descriptions of the projects they plan to implement with their Ready to Read Grant in 2009.
2007-2008 was the first Ready to Read Grant cycle that benefited from the increased
grant amounts and minimum grants of $1,000. The State Library is pleased to
report that 15% of libraries receiving Ready to Read Grants in 2007-2008 added
one or more best practices to their library services for children. We encourage
libraries to add best practices which not only benefit children and teens’
literacy development, but also show the legislature the impact of the increase
in Ready to Read funding.
When I click the handy “My Reading History” button on the webpage at my public library, up comes a list of everything I have checked out so far this year. I have personally contributed to the circulation statistics of the Salem Public Library by checking out 82 books and CDs, with one month still to go in 2008. If I don’t check out another thing the rest of the year, I will still have checked out over five times the number of items the average Oregonian did last year (15). Don’t let anyone tell you that the State Librarian is not walking the talk.
Here are some of the best books I’ve read this year that I am happy to recommend to you:
Human Smoke; the Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization
by Nicholson Baker (Simon & Schuster, 2008).
An odd, but haunting book made up entirely of selected newspaper accounts that
Baker uses to argue that, contrary to common belief, WWII was not our just
war.
1001 Books to Read Before You Die by Peter Boxall (ed.) (Universe Publishing,
2006).
What librarian can resist a title like that! The list was chosen by Britons
so it has the biases that one would expect, but it’s still great fun to
see what you might have already read, and still need to read.
The Invention of Curried Sausage by Uwe Timm (New Directions, 1995).
One less book to read before I die. I now see how it made the list.
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American
Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).
If you haven’t read this National Book Award winner yet, it will help you
put our current economic difficulties into perspective.
Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror by
Stephen T. Wax (Other Press, 2008).
The head of the Oregon Federal Public Defender’s office tells the inside
story of the Brandon Mayfield case and the tragic plight of innocent men we
have imprisoned at Guantanamo.
Books: a Memoir by Larry McMurtry (Simon & Schuster, 2008).
Most librarians will enjoy reading about McMurtry’s lifetime love affair
with rare books.
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar
by Paul Theroux (Houghton Mifflin, 2008).
Our greatest contemporary American travel writer repeats the trip he took three
decades ago.
Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How it
Can Renew America
by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008). The first half
of this book will scare the bejesus out of you, and the second half may give
you some grounds for hope.
Wild Beauty: Photographers of the Columbia River Gorge, 1867 – 1957
by Terry Toedtemeir and John Laursen (OSU Press, 2008).
Three cheers for the Oregon State University Press! The quality of the this
book (photos and text both) is stunning. Makes the perfect sesquicentennial
gift.
Best holiday wishes from all of the staff at the State Library. – Jim Scheppke
Technical Assistance: 503-932-1004.
Library Development: 503-378-2525, MaryKay
Dahlgreen, Mary Mayberry,
Darci Hanning, Ann
Reed, Jennifer Maurer, Katie
Anderson.
Talking Book and Braille Services: 503-378-5389, Susan
Westin.
Government Research and Electronic Services: 503-378-5030, Robert
Hulshof-Schmidt.
State Librarian: 503-378-4367, Jim
Scheppke.
LTLO Editor: 503-378-2464, April
Baker .
Letter to Libraries Online 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: April Baker.
Letter to Libraries Online is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form on the publications page at the Oregon State Library's homepage: http://www.oregon.gov/OSL. 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 April Baker, or mailed to LTLO, Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301-3950.
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