"Clackamas County library leaders have spent nine months putting together the financial pieces for a five-year local option levy.
Joanna Rood, manager of the county's Library Information Network, said after extensive study, the 11-member library board estimates $16.3 million will be needed by 2005-06 to meet the needs of the 10 city and three county library branches the network serves. "
"We need a levy that will sustain what we now have," said Rood, who spoke last week to Milwaukie's Ledding Library Board. [Read More @ The Oregonian]
'An aspiring young writer, a romantic mouse with big ears and a 12-year-old pipeworker in a dying city are among the characters Club Newbery members will meet this year in Washington County libraries.
Now in its third year, the club is a book discussion group for children in grades 5 to 8. Washington County youth services librarians read newly released juvenile fiction and choose at least six books they think will be candidates for the prestigious Newbery Medal for children's literature.
Club members read books from that list, discuss them at regular meetings, critique them on the Club Newbery Web site and finally, in January, vote for the one they think will win the Newbery Medal. Five years ago, an early version of the club at the West Slope Community Library correctly voted for Louis Sachar's "Holes," which not only won the 1999 Newbery Medal but became a movie this year. ' [Read More @ The Oregonian]
"The resource, called Summit, offers students, staff and faculty access to more than 22 million items in Oregon and Washington university and college libraries.
John Helmer, executive director of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, said the service is more than just a new technological advance.
"The only reason this works is because these institutions banded together to form an organization," Helmer said. "It's the right thing to do to work together."
The Orbis Cascade Alliance is a consortium with 27 member libraries throughout the Northwest. Summit combines the catalogues of these libraries over the Web for students to search for and borrow items that are unavailable at their campus libraries. The Summit catalogue provides access to twice as many items than the University offered with access only to the Orbis catalogue. " [Read More @ The Oregon Daily Emerald]
Very cool! I remember hearing that this was coming during the residency for incoming students (last August) when we had our (far too) brief library orientation session. Glad to see it's ready for prime time!
