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About Kyra Cardella

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So far Kyra Cardella has created 39 blog entries.

A Letter From Your Library Director: January 2021

January 2021 Happy New Year! Like all of you, I am excited to ring in the New Year. Here at the Library, it is our plan to continue adapting our services so that we can offer you the best library experience while balancing community safety. I am proud to share with you that we are currently serving about 620 community members a day, and that is not including digital visits to the Library!  Looking at our comparators, these are some of the highest numbers around the state. To that end, I would like to start this year by saying thank you to Library staff. I am proud and privileged to work with them. Trust me when I say that everyone working at the Library right now misses their old job! We miss singing with your kids, we miss helping you find books, and we miss seeing your smiling faces when you are checking books out. However, we know that you need a different service right now and we are here for you: taking risks, staying flexible, learning new jobs, doing our absolute best to ensure you have a library that is meeting your needs. As we head into 2021, we continue to make plans to improve our services and offer you what you need. Never hesitate to let us know what services matter the most to you! Best, Ashlee Return to all Letters from the Library Director Return to CBCPL Newsletter

2024-01-04T10:32:20-07:00January 4th, 2021|

A Letter From Your Library Director: December 2020

December 2020 Dear Community, Many of you probably remember around this time two years ago, the Corvallis Library was lucky to be the focus of an Eagle Scout Project entitled “Encouraging Reading through Art.” Vincent Bottaro, not even yet a high school freshman at the time, approached the Library about his idea for a potential Eagle Scout project, went through an extensive approval process and coordinated the project from start to finish. . The project involved painting the pillars of the library’s underground parking garage to look like the spines of books in fun colors to brighten up the dark space and the printed titles included the original fonts from their respective book covers. The Library Foundation funded the project and Vincent proved himself a true leader. He collaborated with Elements Graphics lead designer Katy Krupp and a group of volunteers to make the project happen. I am happy to share with you some great news about this completed project. Vincent just won the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. There were only four projects in the western US to receive this award in the past year. Congratulations to Vincent! As you read our newsletter this month, you will see that we are continuing to make improvements to our services. We hope that you are enjoying the library even when things look a little different from usual. Do not hesitate to send us your suggestions and comments so that we can continue to improve. Best, Ashlee Return to all Letters from the Library Director Return to CBCPL Newsletter

2024-01-04T10:32:39-07:00October 30th, 2020|

A Letter From Your Library Director: October 2020

October 2020 Dear Community, Welcome to Fall! I am happy to say that all of our locations now feature walk-up hours of service in addition to holds delivery offered to all patrons who live in our library district. Every day we consider how to improve our services and provide more ways to access the library. Along those lines, we are now offering a new service: Text and Go Holds! To start with, two days a week at the Corvallis Library, you can text ahead for contactless pickup of your holds. On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 AM to 4 PM, signs will be outside of the library with a phone number you can text. When you arrive, just send a text with your name and last four digits of your library card to the phone number listed on the patio signs. We will check out your items, and call your name at the table outside when they are ready! Anyone can use this service, even if you also utilize delivery services. As a reminder, due to procedures based on the most recent library-specific studies available, we are quarantining all returned library items for 7 days. This means items will remain on your account for at least 7-10 days before we can handle them. Thank you for your patience as we work to ensure the safety of our library materials for your use. Lastly, I’m sure many of you have made use of a ballot box inside of the library before. Even though our facilities are not open, ballot boxes have been installed outside of our libraries so that you still have a secure place to drop your ballot, if you need to do so. [Read more]

2024-01-04T10:49:37-07:00October 2nd, 2020|

A Letter From Your Library Director: September 2020

September 2020 Dear Community, As we move into September, we are approaching the changing of seasons. With the arrival of fall, we know the sunny days we enjoy will be fewer than we like. Now that we have both walk-up service and delivery service options for you to choose from, you may find that your needs change as we transition into fall. We hear many questions about these services. I am answering some common questions we hear that might help you decide what service best meets your needs! Can I do both walk-up service and delivery? OCTOBER UPDATE: Yes, you may now utilize either service, or both. What are the main differences between the two? The main difference is immediacy. If you use walk-up service, you know you will be leaving with items right then and there! With delivery service, you may have to wait up to a week, but you have the added benefit of not leaving your home. In addition, you do not need to be home to receive a delivery! Please note you might need to wait in line for service, especially at the beginning of each walk-up session on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  As the weather changes, we understand your needs might change too. Waiting in line in the summer is different from waiting in line in the winter! We do not yet have either of these new service models perfected and are still planning to make improvements to improve efficiency. We are trying our best to balance service, safety and equity. Thank you for your patience and kindness as we work through it all. I do not want to use delivery because it seems expensive. Is delivery cost-prohibitive?   Great [Read more]

2024-01-04T10:49:23-07:00September 3rd, 2020|

A Letter From Your Library Director: August 2020

August 2020 Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our survey regarding the Library’s reopening plans during the pandemic. We received over 1,200 responses and over 36 pages of comments. The results showed that approximately 60% of responses preferred visiting the library in person and 40% preferred to continue receiving deliveries. Because we know there are diverse needs throughout our community, we know that moving forward we need to find a balance in how we provide services. Currently we are working towards all locations in our system being open for walk-up service while continuing to offer delivery services or a contactless holds pickup option to all of our patrons. Right now, our branch locations in Alsea and Monroe are both open for walk-up services. This means we have a new service point near a building entrance where we can assist you with whatever library needs you may have: picking up your holds, retrieval of items in the collection, book bundles, limited browsing, and free printing, for example. We plan to begin offering walkup service in Corvallis in mid-August and in Philomath in September. We have been offering computer use sessions by appointment only at our Corvallis location and will soon be increasing the number of appointments offered and making drop-in computer sessions available. Computer sessions are also available at our open branches in Alsea and Monroe. As a reminder, you can return your items to any library location. We are also happy to make arrangements with anyone who needs assistance in returning items – just give us a call or email us. Thank you for your continued support of our safe reopening! Best, Ashlee Chavez Director, Corvallis-Benton County Public Library [Read more]

2024-01-04T10:50:20-07:00July 30th, 2020|

Paper Airplane

Follow these steps to fold your own paper airplane, and you'll send it gliding in no time. Materials needed: Download and print out our template on this page, or use any 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of paper. Instructions: Step 1: Fold the paper in half lengthwise along line 1 (like a hot dog bun). Step 2: Flip the paper over and lay it flat, fold 2 and 3 towards the new center fold mirroring each other – lines 4 on both sides should line up and lines 5 on both sides should line up. Step 3: On top of folds 2 and 3, fold lines 4 and 5 towards the center fold mirroring each other - lines 6 on both sides should line up and lines 7 on both sides should line up. Step 4: On top of folds 4 and 5, fold 6 and 7 towards the center fold mirroring each other – the library logo should now be on top. Step 5: Refold the paper along line 1 on the other side of the paper. Step 6: Unfold the flap folds made by 6 and 7 to form your wings– your plane will make a T shape if you look at it straight on from the front or the back. See how far it can glide! Back to Craft at Home

2024-01-04T10:51:44-07:00July 15th, 2020|

Make Your Own Smartphone Speakers

Make a small speaker to amplify the sound from your smartphone! Gather your materials: duct tape toilet paper or paper towel tube scissors 2 paper or plastic cups Instructions: Cover the toilet paper or paper towel tube in duct tape. Cut a hole in the tube with scissors so that your smartphone can “sit” in it (use your smartphone to measure the size of the hole). Cut a hole towards the bottom of each cup approximately the size of the tube. Insert the ends of the tube into the holes you cut in the cups, then rest your smartphone in the tube. Now you have a small amplifier! from Ann at the Philomath Community Library Back to Craft at Home

2024-01-04T10:51:55-07:00July 13th, 2020|

A Letter From Your Library Director: July 2020

July 1, 2020 Dear Community, I am excited to share some fantastic news with you. As of July 1, the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library has joined many other libraries around the nation in becoming a fine free library! We have been fine free for juvenile materials since 2017 but now we will no longer charge any late fines for overdue materials. While we will still charge for lost and damaged items, we believe this policy change will create a new level of equity and access for the community. It gives me great pleasure to say that every cardholder is starting with a clean slate and a second chance at using the library. Last year, the American Library Association passed a Resolution on Monetary Library Fines as a Form of Social Inequity. In that resolution, all libraries were urged to “take determined and pragmatic action to dismantle practices of collecting monetary fines.” Further, the resolution states: “fines ultimately do not serve the core mission of the modern library.” We believe that right now, more than ever, there is a growing divide in our community when it comes to access and resources. Eliminating fines is the best next step the library can take to advancing equity in our community. To read more about this change, you can visit our FAQs about being fine free. Best, Ashlee Chavez Director, Corvallis-Benton County Public Library Return to all Letters from the Library Director Access the CBCPL monthly newsletter

2020-07-30T15:18:58-07:00July 2nd, 2020|

Fine Free FAQs

As of July 1, 2020, we are happy to announce that our library is now entirely fine free, meaning we no longer charge overdue fines. Overdue fines are a barrier to library use. In 2019, the American Library Association passed a Resolution on Monetary Library Fines as a Form of Social Inequity. The Urban Libraries Council has written about how eliminating library fees advance racial equity. Increasing access and equity are a core part of our mission and our strategic plan. This decision was reviewed and supported by the Library Advisory Board and City Council. We have waived all fines on patron’s accounts, allowing everyone to have a fresh start. Yes. Patron accounts will continue to be charged for any item checked out but not returned. Please contact Circulation staff if you have been charged a Lost fee. An item is considered Overdue for the first 29 days after the due date. On day 30 the item becomes “Lost” and the system automatically charges the patron the cost of replacing the item. Usually even one “Lost” charge is enough to block a patron from checking out more materials until the issue is resolved. Overdue fines accounted for less than 1% of library revenues. In putting together the budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, we were able to put together a balanced budget without the revenues from overdue fines. This budget was adopted by Corvallis City Council. If you are interested in supporting the library financially, a donation to the Friends of the Library or Library Foundation is always appreciated.

2024-01-04T10:54:13-07:00July 1st, 2020|
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