After Jackson County Closure, Two Other Oregon Libraries in Jeopardy
-- Library Journal, 4/10/2007
The 15-branch Jackson County Library Services, OR, closed on Friday, marking the largest library closure in recent years, and now libraries in two other rural Oregon counties are also in jeopardy. Both Josephine and Douglas counties rely on federal payments that replace county revenue from timber harvests on federal lands, according to State Librarian Jim Scheppke, and the renewal of such payments—part of two separate bills in the House of Representatives and Senate—is likely blocked in the short term. That's because the renewal is attached to a funding measure that sets a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and President George W. Bush has promised to veto it. "It's really been excruciating to sit back, knowing that the Jackson County library is going to close, and the Congress and the President are going back and forth on this," Scheppke said.
The solution for all three library system is likely a switch to funding based on property taxes, and the Oregon State Library has hired a consultant, Ruth Metz, to advise local leaders on how to do that. Such a solution was rejected last year by Jackson County residents, but a new election is scheduled for May 15 that would provide support over three years. In neighboring Josephine County, a different election is scheduled for that date, one to support county law enforcement. The library has been reduced to "minimal operations," Scheppke said, and if the vote to support law enforcement is successful, that would add to the county's overall coffers and "take some of the pressure off the library." Douglas County, Scheppke said, has established "more of a rainy day fund," which has staved off immediate cutbacks, "but that library is long-term in as much jeopardy" as those in the neighboring counties. "Some people suggested the state bail out the counties," he said, but Oregon doesn't have the money. So it's trying to give those counties fishhooks rather than fish.
