Director’s Letter

March 2021 Dear Community, Welcome to March! I have some very exciting news to share with you. After years of working towards this goal, I am pleased to say that all Corvallis & Benton County families with children under the age of five are now eligible to register for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library! The Imagination Library mails free, high-quality books to children from birth up until their fifth birthday. Each month, participants receive a new, age-appropriate book, which are available in English and Spanish, as well as Braille/audiobook options. Families can enroll their child online at unitedwaylbl.org/imaginationlibrary or get assistance enrolling by calling the Library at 541-766-6793. The launch of the program is thanks to the Early Learning Hub of Linn, Benton and Lincoln Counties, who provided a $55,000 grant to kick start the program! I remain especially grateful to United Way and the Corvallis School Distract who have been partners with the Library in the journey to bring this program to fruition for several years now. It is vital to have diverse, inclusive books in homes, and for children to feel ownership and pride in those books. Books from a public or school library are important, but the Imagination Library empowers our youth and encourages literacy skills by providing their own personal libraries. Please help us spread the word about this incredible, free program! Enjoy the spring weather! Ashlee Return to all Letters from the Library Director Return to CBCPL Newsletter

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

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]

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]

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