Letter to Libraries Online
An Electronic Newsletter
from the Oregon State Library
Volume 22, Issue 7, July 2012
Contents:Library Board NewsState Library NewsContacts at the State Library |
State Library Board of Trustees Member Retires Richard Turner of Portland, who served two terms on the Oregon State Library Board of Trustees, attended his final meeting at the Troutdale Public Library. Richard was an enthusiastic and valuable member of the Board and will be especially remembered for his interest and skill with electronic tools that assure access to information for Oregonians with visual disabilities. State Library Board Accepts Recommendations from Library Services and Technology Act Advisory Council At their meeting at the Troutdale Public Library on June 15th, the State Library Board accepted the recommendations of the LSTA Advisory Council to invite 12 libraries and other organizations to submit full LSTA grant applications for consideration at their October meeting, and to fund three Extending Services to the Unserved Grants that will begin in July 2012. The Board also invited Josephine Community Libraries, Inc. to submit a full proposal, which was not recommended by the LSTA Council. The Board approved the 2013-2017 LSTA Five-Year Plan, which will be submitted to the Institute of Museum and Library Services by June 30, 2012. In other Board business, the Board approved a plan recommended by the Talking Book and Braille Services Advisory Council to spend donation funds in the next fiscal year. Alice Laviolette wins L-net Notable Transcript Award
Horner Exchange Program Information Coming Soon The Horner Library Staff Exchange Project is an exchange of library staff between Fujian Province, China, and Oregon, for the purpose of sharing professional knowledge about library and information science. It was established through a generous gift by the late Dr. Layton Horner to the Oregon State Library and continues through a partnership between the State Library and the Oregon Library Association International Relations Roundtable (IRRT). Our international partners are the Fujian Provincial Library and the Fujian Library Association. Fujian is Oregon's sister province in China, and the Fujian Provincial Library maintains a sister library relationship with the Oregon State Library. In late spring of 2013, the Fujian Provincial Library will send delegates to spend three weeks in Oregon. In late October or early November, the Oregon State Library will send three delegates to China for three weeks. An email will be going out in mid-July with all the details and links to the application on the OLA Website. Four New Library Representatives Join the Statewide Database Licensing Advisory Committee
2012-2013 Ready to Read Grant Applications Now Available Ready to Read Grant application packets were mailed June 26-29, 2012. Library Directors and Children’s Librarians should now have the packets which contain the application, list of proposed grants, and answers to frequently asked questions about the Ready to Read Grant program. The application is also available on the State Library website to download, complete, and mail. Applications must be postmarked August 31, 2012 to qualify for the grant. For more information contact Katie Anderson (503)378-2528. The Ready to Read Grant program will be funded at 80¢ per child in 2012-2013. This is up from 2010-2011 at 78¢ per child, but down from where we started 2009-2011 at 94¢ per child. Government Research Services Receives High Customer Satisfaction Rating Government Research Services (GRS) provides library services to Oregon state employees including reference, access to research databases, and document delivery. GRS also builds collections and provides reference services for Oregon citizens, particularly in the areas of Oregon history, genealogy and government information. Each year, GRS conducts a customer satisfaction survey to measure the quality of its services. This year’s survey was sent to a sample of state employee registered users and walk in users of OSL’s Reference Room. 464 respondents completed the survey, rating GRS services on timeliness and accuracy of service, staff helpfulness and expertise, availability of information, and overall satisfaction with services. GRS staff received outstanding ratings for their helpfulness and expertise, with 98% of respondents rating them as excellent or good. Overall satisfaction was also high, with 95% of respondents providing a rating of excellent or good. These ratings are consistent with those in previous years and represent GRS staff’s dedication to the provision of excellent customer service. Newberg’s Carnegie Library Celebrates Its Centennial
School Library Staffing and Spending Trends For Last Five Years and Beyond Staff at the State Library is often asked about the changes in Oregon school libraries over the last several years. Jennifer Maurer, OSL’s School Library Consultant, recently looked at data received from the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) for the QEM & School Libraries annual report from a new angle.School spending on library books and periodicals, both print and electronic, averaged $10.97 per Oregon public school student during the 2006-07 school year and $8.13 during 2010-11. That is nearly a $3 per student decline in this spending category in five years. During the same time period, the national average price for a children’s & young adult hardcover book rose from $21.60 to $23.85. Also during that five-year span, the number of full time equivalent (FTE) licensed librarians serving public school students dropped from 389 to 308, and the number of students per librarian rose from 1,447 to 1,822. These figures have been tracked since the 1980-81 school year, when there were 818 FTE licensed librarians which equaled about 547 students per librarian. While many libraries are being run or supported by excellent library paraprofessionals, the ideal is to match licensed staff with paraprofessionals and reasonable budgets to create strong school library programs. OASL Committee Develops Oregon School Library Standards
Share Your Library or Organization’s Happenings The Oregon State Library wants to share news in the LTLO about your library or organization’s major events or activities. Please contact Jessica Rondema who will put you in touch with an OSL staff member for a potential interview. Oregon State Library Library Development: 503-378-2525, Ferol Weyand, Darci Hanning, Ann Reed
, Jennifer Maurer, Katie Anderson. Letter to Libraries Online is published monthly by the Oregon State Library. It is available free of charge and is published only in electronic form on the publications page on the Oregon State Library's homepage: http://www.oregon.gov/OSL. To unsubscribe from libs-or, either send an 'unsubscribe' message to libs-or-request@listsmart.osl.state.or.us, or visit the website: http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/libs-or/. All materials may be reprinted or distributed freely. |
Government Research Services (GRS) librarian Alice Laviolette was recently recognized for her exemplary digital reference work with L-net. Her transcript was recognized for her professional and helpful approach to assisting the patron to locate information about his great-grandfather’s service in World War II. We are proud of Alice for not only providing excellent reference service, but also using the opportunity to promote genealogical resources! Alice and other GRS librarians have been regularly staffing L-net since 2006, answering over 2700 questions via chat, email, and text.
The 
Newberg Public Library is one of 10 Carnegie library buildings in Oregon that either has or will be celebrating a centennial this decade. “A 100th birthday is definitely a good excuse for a party,” said Leah Griffith, Library Director. Newberg celebrated with a week-long event including birthday-themed storytimes, a proclamation by the mayor, a performance by the award-winning Newberg High School choir, and an Oreo cookie stacking contest. (Oreos also turned 100 in 2012.) In honor of Carnegie’s Scottish heritage, a bagpiper led the crowd through the original front doors of the building for the first time since that entrance was closed in 1984. The party was a huge hit and garnered front page coverage from the local paper, Newberg Graphic, which had been extremely supportive with multiple articles about the events and the history of the library. Staff is also using the occasion of the Carnegie centennial to step up fundraising efforts for the children’s room remodel. They are asking the community to “Give Like Andrew Carnegie” and match the $10,000 the library philanthropist and industrialist provided for the building in 1912. They are well on their way to making that match with $10 and $20 gifts in the names of children. The library is extending the commemoration with an idea borrowed from McMinnville PL: the 
About a year ago, the 