OLA Legislative Committee
Monday, June 2, 2015
10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Oregon State Library, Room 202

Attendance: Diedre Conkling; Abigail Elder; Sue Ludington; Ruth Murray; Janet Webster; Kate Lasky; Buzzy Nielsen; Carol Dinges; Emily Ford, Network Coordinator; Candice Watkins, OLA President; Penny Hummel, OLA Past President; Cathryn Bowie, State Law Librarian; MaryKay Dahlgreen, State Librarian; Nan Heim, OLA Lobbyist; Amy Goodall, OLA Lobbyist; Jane Corry, OLA President-Elect;

  1. Review of Previous Action Items
  2. Collecting resources for starting a district: Kate has sent a draft of materials to Buzzy and Sue for feedback and additions. She has asked for ideas about how to best share these with OLA members without making them completely open.
  3. Library computer stations and e-government: This topic seems to have waned. Janet and Abigail will confer on whether to drop it.
  4. Drug-free zones: Janet contacted Ted Smith on our findings.
  5. SB 5519:Janet will revise (shorten) the issue brief on Ready to Read to use at Legislative Day and to advocate for $1. SEE BELOW.
  6. SB 84: Janet, Candice and Nan will draft an amendment asking for inclusion of a standard that requires a school librarian in every high school offering accelerated credits and adequate information resources. SEE BELOW.
  7. HB 2650: Abigail will contact librarians in Springfield, Eugene, Hubbard and Woodburn to get them to contact their legislators with our concerns. Ruth will contact Jenny Takeda and Janet the same with Mathew Boulay. SEE BELOW.
  8. Legislative Day: SEE BELOW.
  9. Nan and Abigail will put together a list of must visit legislators.
  10. Ruth and Sara will continue to gather books.
  11. Abigail will check with Willamette about lunch logistics.
  12. Janet will review our talking points and circulate.
  13. Conference: A committee table worked pretty well and is something to do again if Legislative Day is scheduled after the conference.
  14. National Legislative Day: Buttons and magnets were distributed to Oregon’s Congressional delegation. The meetings went well.
  15. Committee charge: Passed by OLA Executive Board.
  16. School Libraries: Janet and Ruth will find last year’s letter to school boards and get this out to this year’s districts. Pending.
  17. Hotline: Janet sent article about latest federal legislation for May 15 Hotline as well as an update from Salem in March.
  18. Lobbyist Report
  19. Update on legislation
  20. SB 5519 – The State Library budget passed the Senate with some Republican opposition. They are voting against anything that received a higher percentage increase than K-12. It’s up for a vote in House today (June 1).
  21. HB 2650 – Summer Lunch, Libraries and Learning – This is in Ways and Means. We’ve remained neutral on this because we don’t want it funded using Ready to Read funds and it doesn’t address funding of school librarians. Enrichment activities are positive, but are not well described in the current bill. It’s a good concept, but needs work. Nathanson and Komp are the bill sponsors. We do not want object, but would like to have the concept better refined. It’s in Ways and Means now. Nan will continue to express our opinion. We’ll invite Beth Unverzagt from OregonAsk to our summer meeting. Jenny Takeda should also be involved.
  22. HB 3523 – The State Library reorganization bill has passed the house and is up for a vote in the Senate this morning (June 1. It passed.) OLA has been lobbying on this with emails from targeted legislators as well as a general call out to members. We have had a good response.
  23. SB 418 – Accelerated Learning standards is moving forward with no room for amendments. If passed, Nan suggests that find an interested legislator to insert our standard about school libraries. Arnie Roblan or Mark Hass are possibilities.
  24. HB 2479 – This changes the Ready to Read program and is still sitting in Ways and Means. If there is not funding for the expansion, we may ask a legislator to put it in the Christmas Tree bill.
  25. The official end of session is July 11 but that can be extended. There is still time for gut & stuff bills as well as the Christmas Tree bill for spending items.
  26. Debriefing on Legislative Day 2015
  27. Nan was very pleased with the day saying that it was our best ever.
  28. Erin took over 40 photos and these are in the process of being touched up and sent to legislators.
  29. Nan’s office took care of most of the mailing. Janet will get the ones going to public libraries into the courier. The mailing included a nice bookplate and a letter from Candice explaining the donation.
  30. We need to weed the current selection of gift books and solicit more next time around. Jane suggested that she and Korie could do this.
  31. Nan reminded us that next February will be the past session in the Capitol for several years as it goes through renovation. We’ll need to decide what we want to do.
  32. February 2016 session
  33. A general question is to consider our ambitions for the next session. We will need to see how this one sorts out.
  34. School Libraries
  35. This is Ruth’s last meeting and we will miss her. Stephanie Thomas will replace Ruth. She’s from Parkrose High School.
  36. Demand for school librarians is now outpacing supply. Portland Public Schools will probably put a teacher cohort through the certification process to address its need for 41 teacher librarians.
  37. Douglas County
  38. MaryKay is in touch with Harold. The County Commissioners, due to greatly reduced general funds, has directed Harold to transition off of general funds in three years. They are suggesting charging for library cards as a revenue generator.
  39. Douglas County tried for a district once before, but was not successful. We agreed that a district is the best option. Kate suggested that, like Josephine County, they could put a non-contiguous district together based on the areas around existing libraries. The cities own the library buildings, but the county pays for staff and collections. A district could contract with the cities to staff and provide resources and collections. MaryKay will suggest that Harold call Kate for ideas on districts as well as current operations.
  40. We discussed what else OLA could do to provide assistance and keep Douglas County libraries open and improving.
  41. As the County Commissioners are looking are library card sales, Diedre agreed to collect data from Oregon libraries on the number of cards sold in various communities. We don’t think this is a viable revenue source given the experience of others.
  42. Janet and Abigail will draft a letter for Candice that emphasized what is lost if a public library is no longer public in terms of ORS 357.001. Kate has used that argument successfully: if you lose the status of public library, you lose eligibility for Ready to Read grants ($20,000 for Douglas County) and LSTA grants.
  43. We will consider approaching the major Oregon foundations about their definition of a public library – Oregon Community Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust and Ford Family Foundation. A letter from them would be powerful.
  44. If Douglas County moves ahead with a district, Carol suggested getting partners such as the hospital or health district who can emphasize the need for healthy families.
  45. Committee membership
  46. Three members have terms expiring in August 2015: Kate Lasky (Josephine County Library), Nathan Pederson (Deschutes Public Library), Sara Charlton (Tillamook Public Library). Janet and Abigail will talk to all three. As Candice will be going off, we may want to recruit a community college person. Ruth suggested Lori Warmsly (PCC) and Candice suggested John Schoppert (Columbia Gorge Community College).
  47. Emily Ford is stepping down as network coordinator. She has compiled the communications plan for Legislative Day and other procedures that she has used.
  48. Sue Ludington agreed to help keep the web site current.
  49. County Law Libraries
  50. Sue reported on the trend towards public libraries taking over county law libraries. Tillamook and Klamath currently house the county law library in the public library. Deschutes will be assuming this role and Hood River is considering. Sue and other law librarians are concerned with the delivery of legal reference if staff are not properly trained on referrals and resources.
  51. We agreed that Cathryn at the State Law Library should be involved in developing an ongoing training program. Perhaps this is a candidate for an LSTA grant.
  52. Action Item Review
  53. Collecting resources for starting a district:
  54. Complete review of Kate’s draft and archive.
  55. Douglas County
  56. Compile statistics on paid library cards in Oregon - Diedre
  57. Draft letter on definition and benefits of being a public library. – Janet and Abigail
  58. Contact major foundations about bolstering meaning of being a public library in terms of their grant programs. – Janet and Abigail
  59. County Law Libraries
  60. Contact Cathryn about training of public library staff on legal reference and the possibility of an LSTA grant – Sue and Janet

We adjourned early so we could go to the Capitol and watch the floor votes in the Senate and House.

Future Meetings

Summer meeting will be scheduled to discuss OLA’s new duties vis a vis the State Library and to initiate a conversation with Beth from OregonASK on the Summer Lunch, Learn, Library program.