When Kathy Draine retired, we not only lost our Reference Librarian, we lost our art curator. Kathy coordinated shows with artists, and organized the display of each show. Her skills in this area will be missed. In order to fill the void, we have entered into a contract with the Clackamas Arts Alliance, which will hang new art pieces in Sandy and Hoodland each quarter. The first show, a beautiful collection of photographs by Bill Brant of West Linn, was hung on Sept. 3.

Susan Winsinger and I manned the Library table at the ice cream social on Sept. 12. It was fun to share information about the library, and to apply tattoos to the kids and some adults.

Rudy Ubaldo, our newest employee, accepted a job with Multnomah County Library. We asked Ashley Kritzeck, one of the finalists for the job, to take the position and she gladly accepted. We also lost Trevor McMaster, one of our shelvers, who left for college. We received 50 applications for his job, and hired August George as our new shelver on Sept. 16. August is a college student at PSU and is speedily catching on to the job.

Library staff has begun training on our new public software, Enterprise. This new program will be used on the catalog computers in the library, and will be the interface when logging in from home. Most of the staff like it, and its functionality, as well as some of its innovative tools. The target date to go live with the new software is Oct. 22.

Monica offered a teen program with “rhythm facilitator” Cinda Tilgner. Participants enjoyed beating on drums and keeping time with other rhythm instruments. More programs designed specifically for teens are being planned, and we are partnering with the high school and the AntFarm to create a Teen Advisory Board. This board will assist Monica in programming and materials selection for teens.

August is typically a quieter month at the library. The Summer Reading program is winding down and school is not yet in session. But this year we had our adult summer reading program “Let’s Talk About It” on August 20th. Bob Welch, an author and journalist from Eugene, spoke to the group about his book “Cascade Summer : My Adventure on Oregon’s Pacific Crest Trail”.  In addition to this very interesting and entertaining program, Bob presented a program for children earlier in the day. He read and talked about his newest published book “Keyboard Kitten: An Oregon Children’s Story”. This is a charming book with many references to Oregon locations and happenings.

In our summer reading program, Monica served over 400 children and over 200 adults. The kids have so much fun, and are encouraged to read all summer, a great plus for when they begin school again in September.

After some careful editing to keep them in accord with the city’s municipal code, the Library Board adopted their Bylaws and their Policies documents. Both documents are now available on the library’s webpage.