PORTLAND, OR – Next Friday, June 18, Multnomah County Library launches the largest-ever Summer Reading program for Multnomah County. In total, over 60,000 students will sign up for Summer Reading through school promotion in 2010 — twice as many school sign-ups as 2009. The program runs until August 31.

PORTLAND, OR – Effective Jan. 1, Becky Cobb will be the deputy director of Multnomah County Library. Selected after a national search, Cobb will oversee daily operations of the 17-library system with direct management authority for the library’s support services, including budget and finance, human resources, technical services and collection development, facilities and security, and marketing and communications. Cobb has been with Multnomah County Library for 20 years and was most recently the library’s budget and finance manager.

PORTLAND, OR – Multnomah County Library has been named one of 10 recipients of the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation's highest honor for museums and libraries. The annual award, made by the Institute of Museum and Library Services since 1994, recognizes institutions for outstanding social, educational, environmental or economic contributions to their communities. Multnomah County Library will receive the National Medal at a ceremony held later in Washington, D.C., and a $10,000 award in recognition of its extraordinary contributions.

The public is invited to a forum April 14 to meet candidates and ask questions

PORTLAND, OR – The Office of Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler has named three finalist candidates for the position of Multnomah County library director. In alphabetical order, the finalists are:

Holly Carroll, currently deputy director, Cleveland Public Library, Ohio
Christian Kruse, currently director, Live Oak Public Libraries, Savannah, Georgia
Vailey Oehlke, currently deputy director, Multnomah County Library

PORTLAND, OR – Recently, the national library publication Library Journal unveiled the results of a new assessment tool for public libraries — and Multnomah County Library was the only library in the Pacific Northwest (and one of only a handful of U.S. libraries of its size) to receive five stars — the highest ranking possible.

Five Multnomah County libraries will host new series of book discussions

PORTLAND, OR – Ever wished you could get to all those literary masterpieces you never read in school — but still want to explore? This fall, Multnomah County Library invites you to participate in a new series of free book discussion groups called Read the Classics.

PORTLAND, OR – Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen and Director of Libraries Molly Raphael will host a community meeting on Thursday, May 29 at 7 p.m. at the Kenton Masonic Temple (8130 N. Denver Avenue) to discuss two sites under consideration for the planned new library in the Kenton neighborhood.

The two sites are at 8226 N. Denver St. and 2133 N. Argyle St. (the TriMet site). Both sites: