Cedar Mill—Bethany Library Expansion this summer

The Cedar Mill Community Library's Bethany branch will be moving in early summer. They recently signed a lease on a new space in Bethany Village. Plans are now underway to move the library across the street into retail space totaling more than 4,600 square feet.

This is 2 and a half times larger than the library's current space and will provide more room for books, children's programs and computers.

Cedar Mill Community Library @ Bethany opened in July 2007 shortly after voters approved the Washington County library levy.

Community response to the branch has been overwhelming. It was originally forecast that the library would loan 10,000 items per month. Actual lending in 2008 averaged 32,000 items per month and the library is now averaging 40,000 loans per month.

The branch is on track this year to having the highest loans per square foot of all libraries in Oregon.

With the high volume of use, there is a great need for more space to accommodate users, volunteers and books. Storytimes are now at capacity and library patrons often must wait to use the 3 public computers.

Cedar Mill Community Library is the largest non-profit public library west of the Mississippi. Since the library is not part of a municipal government with borrowing or taxing authority the expansion project relies on private support.

Funding for the expansion comes from library reserves, the Second Edition Resale shop and local community support. As community members step up to support the library, the library will be filled with more books, computers and furnishings—making the Bethany Library a comfortable and attractive community resource!

What Do You Think Our Community Needs?

The Washington County Office of Community Development and the City of Beaverton are seeking public input on the need for affordable housing and community resources, such as health clinics, group homes and early childhood development programs through a short, community-wide survey.

Information from this survey will help our community identify what goals we will address with millions of dollars in grant funding from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development over the next five years.

Paper copies in English and Spanish may be obtained by contacting Andrea Lindberg at (503) 526-2533 or visiting your local library.

Cedar Mill & Sunset High collaborate on Immigrant Oral Histories

Cedar Mill Community Library has posted its first oral history project podcast. The first interview, with Philippine immigrant Gloria Rivera, is now live. Podcasts will be updated weekly.

These interviews on the immigration experienceties in with the Oregon’s sesquicentennial and the statewide Oregon Reads project. They will be added to the library’s permanent local history collection.

The Oregon Reads project encourages Oregonians to read Stubborn Twig, Bat 6, or Apples to Oregon — books with an immigrant theme.

Community members who have immigrated, or have family members who immigrated, were invited to share their stories. Under the direction of Sunset High School history teacher Matt Hiefield, students interviewed and recorded the participants’ stories.

Cedar Mill librarian Mark Richardson then edited and posted the stories as podcasts on the library’s website.

The response has been very positive.

The library anticipates a gradual roll-out, posting one oral history per week on the website over the next two months.

4/23: Resume Critique Workshop at Tigard

Have great job skills but a not-so-good resume? On Thursday, April 23 at 7pm, Tigard Public Library might be able to give you a hand.

Give your resume a tune-up with the help of professional career advisor Roger Cook. Bring a paper copy of your resume for a critique and a digital copy to edit at a computer.

Registration required. Limited to 16 participants. Sign up at the Adult Reference desk or call 503-718-2517.

The workshop will take place in Tigard Library's Technology Room, and will last an hour. Tigard Public Library is located at 13500 SW Hall Blvd.

Originally posted 4/16/2009

4/23: Getting Unplugged with Ellen Currey-Wilson

Tigard Library Celebrates TV-Turnoff Week with "Getting Unplugged" Workshop

Ellen Currey-Wilson, author of The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid, will present "Getting Unplugged" on Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. in the Tigard Public Library's Community Room. Portland author Currey-Wilson will share fun ways to kick the TV habit, and improve your health, creativity and connection. This program is for adults, parents and teenagers.

"Getting Unplugged" is part of a series of events at the Library to celebrate TV-Turnoff Week. For more information, please call the Library at 503-684-6537 or visit the Library's Web page at http://www.tigard-or.gov/library/default.asp

The Tigard Public Library is located at 13500 SW Hall Blvd.

Originally posted 4/8/2009

4/20: Tigard Library doesn't close at 6pm.

The power came back at Tigard Public Library earlier than expected! The library will NOT be closing at 6:00pm, as previously announced.

The Tigard Public Library will close at 6:00pm tonight due to a power outage.

They are expecting to be open regular business hours (10 AM - 9 PM) tomorrow.

originally ran 4/20/2009

4/24: 300 at Hillsboro Main

Hillsboro Main Library is presenting the film 300 on Friday, April 24th at 6:30 p.m.

This is the story of the heroic defense of Greece against the invading Persian Army in 480 BC.

After the film, there will be a discussion of the historical accuracy of the movie compared to the ancient sources.

Hillsboro Main Library is located at 2850 NE Brookwood Parkway, just south of Dawson Creek Dr.

New Catalog/Login URL: "catalog.wccls.org"

If you're trying to search the library catalog or access your patron account and you get a "Service Unavailable" message or some other error, try this:

1. Look at the URL line in your web browser where you see website addresses. (They all start with "http://".)
2. Does the URL begin with "http://www.wccls.org/polaris"?
3. If so, replace the "www" with "catalog" so that is says "http://catalog.wccls.org/polaris".
4. Try searching or logging in again.

We upgraded our library software last week--I know, I know, when it's not working for you, it feels more like a downgrade, but anyway...

Part of the upgrade process meant changing the URL. I tried to set up as many automatic detours from the old URL to the new as I could think of, but some bookmarks and Internet Favorites still slip through. So try the above. If it works, set a new bookmark or Internet Favorite.

We've also been hearing from patrons who back in the old days (two weeks ago) could go to the login page and have their barcodes and passwords entered automatically for them by their browser. It won't do that anymore. What gives?

I would've thought that when the URL changed, your browser would ask you again if you wanted to save your password for this site. (My did. Natch.)

I'm still working through this one, but with so many computers and configurations out there, it would help a lot of you would drop me a line at webmaster@wccls.org:

• Tell me which version of whose browser you use.
  
• If you're not sure, click on the Help menu at the top of the web browser window and select "About."
  
• It should tell which version of whose browser you're using.

The details help a lot!

Finally, the online catalog is noticeably flaky since the upgrade, throwing lots of errors, intermittent and not fatal, but confusing and annoying. Our vendor, Polaris Library Systems, is looking into it, and I'm hoping we'll have a solution really, really soon.

In the meantime, if a wordy, strange-looking error pops up during a search, often you can just click the refresh button, say yes to posting the data again, and the search will run successfully the second time.

On the other hand, if you're putting something on hold, or renewing, or doing something else involving your patron account, it's a good idea to stop and check your account to see what really happened before you renew the same book twice.

Upgrading an entire library system is not for the faint-hearted. Thanks for your patience, and please feel free to send questions to webmaster@wccls.org.