Oregon has an extensive geologic history, which is viewable from roadside videos. There are also videos of various landforms in the state created by geologic actions. Like other Pacific Northwestern states, Oregon has many volcanoes. Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens are two volcanic peaks close to Portland. The geologic history of the whole Pacific Northwest was influenced by the great Missoula Floods which has left its mark on the geology of the Columbia River gorge.  The geology of Eastern Oregon also features the mammal fossil beds at John Day, which include the Painted Hills. The Pacific Northwest also faces the potential of a massive earthquake, due to the Cascadia subduction zone.

Your body is a pretty amazing place to be.  Every day things try to make you sneeze, make your nose run, make you cough, or even something worse - throwing up!  Lucky for you, your immune system fights them off - most of the time.

So think of your immune system as the Immune Platoon, a bunch of superheroes battling so you can be as healthy as you can be.  Using some great online resources you can get an overview of the immune system, find out how your body responds to an attack on your immune system by playing an immune system game, and even quiz yourself to see what you know!

And you can always contact a librarian for even more info!

Spanish Bilingual Librarian Eddie Arizaga works across the library system, helping get patrons the materials they need: he provides informational services at Central Library; curates Central Library’s collection of Spanish language and other world language materials; conducts outreach at several local organizations; and supports multiple community focused projects. Through all of this, Eddie enjoys surprising people about what the library can offer. 

“I want to break that myth of the ‘shushing librarian’ behind the desk,” said Eddie. “Librarians aren’t magicians. We aren’t trying to hide things. We want to not only give you the information you’re looking for but also show you how to find it.”

Before joining Multnomah County Library in 2016, Eddie began his library career working for public libraries in San Diego, near where he grew up. Though he eventually became a power user of the library as a teen, seeking out stories and information that would help him navigate the world during a formative time, as a child, he was often left disappointed by the lack of materials in his native language. 

“Spanish is my first language, and the library wasn’t always about serving me. Now, we are working towards making the library more reflective of the community and encompassing more of the people who live there. It’s a center of the community.”

Now, Eddie helps build the library’s Spanish and other world languages collections so the community has access to a rich collection of diverse materials. In addition, he’s also focusing his attention outward, visiting locations outside the library and introducing community members to the library’s many services. 

One location Eddie visits, along with other library staff, is the Mexican consulate in Portland. There, he joins other organizations for a monthly health fair that introduces community members to local health and information resources. At another site off Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Eddie speaks with day laborers, sharing information about the library’s free classes on job searching and digital technology help; touting the benefits of a free library card; and inviting the workers to come visit one of the library’s 19 locations. 

“Today’s library is about meeting people where they are,” said Eddie. “The library can be an invaluable resource for so many and sometimes it takes communicating with people directly and inviting them in.”

Eddie is excited by the ever changing nature of his work, particularly the broader effort by the library to ask, “how can we do this better? What else can we be doing for our community?”

“It’s never stagnant,” said Eddie. “We’re barely scratching the surface of what libraries can do.”

Central Library in downtown Portland and Albina Library in Northeast Portland are among a growing list of businesses and nonprofits in Portland increasing their commitment to sustainable practices. Each library has earned City of Portland Sustainability at Work gold certification.

As a public service organization built on sharing resources for the benefit of the community, the library is committed to sustainability practices. But operating 19 individual library branches across Multnomah County requires a more conscious effort to engage staff in sustainability practices and further environmental benefits.

“We felt strongly that there was a better answer than going along with all the waste we were creating,” said Greta G., administrator at Central Library. “We knew there was a way to incorporate sustainability solutions into day-to-day problem solving.”

Run by the City of Portland, the Sustainability at Work program began in 2007. The program offers three levels of certifications, with gold being the highest level of achievement, that recognize businesses for the number and type of sustainability features and processes that they implement.

Albina and Central libraries incorporated more than 45 individual actions into their operations, which aim to improve sustainability in the workplace. Before the process began, the two libraries were already doing a number of sustainable actions, such as installing LED lights, printing on recycled paper and not purchasing plastic water bottles.

To begin working toward their certification, Central Library staff focused on small, detailed efforts. They created simple, visual signage to help others sort various types of specialty plastics for recycling that weren’t allowed in the county’s mixed recycling container.

“It can be difficult to divert some plastic packaging materials from landfills because many vendors no longer accept them,” said Library Facilities Specialist Dan S. “Library staff did extensive research to identify new vendors who would accept the materials and then worked to educate others on the proper sorting so we could ensure they’d be recycled.”

In addition to implementing a more robust recycling plan, Central Library staff partnered with Dan and Multnomah County Sustainability Coordinator Sara M. to make more robust facilities improvements, such as installing water-saving, low-flow faucets in staff restrooms (they’re already installed in public restrooms).

Across the library system, a dedicated group of staff also organized an Environmental Team to help individual library locations make improvements in their overall footprint. The team also pushes for systemwide changes, such as switching to a Vitamin C based, non-toxic receipt paper and investing in green cleaning products.

“Libraries have an important role in the community to provide information and resources— organizing these sustainability efforts allows us to lead by example and put our best foot forward,” said Lili R., an access services assistant at Albina Library and lead organizer of Albina’s efforts to reach gold certification.

At Albina Library, staff partnered with neighbor Whole Foods to further their environmental efforts.

“Albina Library is a leased space, so we weren’t able to add a weekly compost pickup service, but thanks to an agreement with Whole Foods, staff can take a compost bucket from the lunch room over to the grocer for proper disposal in their larger composting bin,” said Lili.

Another notable area both libraries excel is in transportation, with a significant portion of staff at each location commuting with alternative methods such as walking, biking, carpooling or taking public transportation. To add additional incentive for staff to bike, Albina Library purchased a bike repair kit and spare lock to keep at the branch for anyone that needs to use it.

“I’m really proud of this award, and I’m proud of my coworkers,” said Lili. “None of this stuff matters if nobody does it. I could be doing backflips trying to make everything as green as possible but if your coworkers don’t support it, then it doesn’t really matter.”

While the certification is a notable milestone for the two libraries, staff noted it’s important to stay informed of sustainability challenges and changes in the world and to advocate for action.

“We’re never going to be able to make change in our overall waste stream without working from the ground up,” said Greta.  

Lili says that individuals can help by making small swaps that have a big impact:

“An easy change would be to focus on bringing your own reusable travel mug when going to get coffee. Disposable eating supplies are not recyclable so using the staffroom dishware for meetings and small events can go a long way.”

In addition to incorporating green efforts in buildings, the library offers several free, environment- and sustainability-focused classes and programs:

Central Library Eco-Roof Tour
Weatherization Workshop
Seed Saving for Gardners
Upcycled Art

Two other Multnomah County buildings have received the City of Portland Sustainability at Work certification: the Multnomah Building and Inverness Jail. And, thanks to Multnomah County facilities standards, advocacy from the Library Environmental Team, and support from the Office of Sustainability, many libraries, and other county buildings, already meet several of the requirements to receive Sustainability at Work certification. Dan and Sara are looking forward to helping more buildings earn the certification in the future.

To learn more about the City of Portland Sustainability at Work program and certification process, visit portlandoregon.gov/sustainabilityatwork.

Are you a hiker, tracker, or hunter?  If so, you've probably used United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps in your outdoor activities.

The newest USGS topographical maps (published 2009 or later) are created to be used in a digital environment, though it is also possible to print them out.  If you want your own paper copy of a new map and you don't want to print it yourself, you can usually buy them in outdoor-oriented sporting goods stores.

But did you know that the entire collection of USGS maps, for the whole country, are now available free online? Here's how to get to the USGS topo maps online:

Start at the Map Locator & Downloader.

This tool allows you to find maps with a simple search for a place name. For example, if you are looking for maps of the area near Waldport on the Oregon Coast, just type waldport into the search box and then either hit the "enter" key, or click on the name "Waldport, Oregon" when it pops up.

Now you'll see a map of the Waldport area.  There is a marker in the part of the grid marked "Waldport," with a little popup box next to it.  Click on the "View Products" button to see the maps that are available for that spot. 

You'll see a variety of maps in the popup list -- new maps, older maps, and maps that cover at different scales.  To download a nice, high-definition pdf of the map you want, just click on the "View pdf" button for that map.  

Have fun browsing and downloading maps from the USGS!

"Having the contact center has really improved service for our patrons. They don’t have to worry about tracking down the right person or branch to get the item they need or to get an issue resolved," says Nadia.

As a lead contact center representative, Nadia answers, and trains other library staff on answering, hundreds of patron inquiries each day that come in via phone, email, and text message— everything from account related questions and brief reference questions, to hold requests and digital technology help. Along with other staff, she refers patrons to other Multnomah County services or to a team of Multnomah County librarians dedicated to answering in-depth research questions.

"The moment between the phone ringing and the person stating what they need is the moment of anticipation where it could be literally anything," she adds.

Before starting at the library, Nadia would wander Central Library with her three young children. Having decided she needed a change from her career as an elementary school teacher, she saw the library staff and knew that helping connect others to information was the job she was seeking. While finishing her Master of Library Science degree online from San Jose State University in 2013, she began working for Multnomah County Library as an on-call library assistant. In that role, she worked at nearly all library branches helping patrons before coming to her current position in the contact center— a job that she says was “tailor made” for her.

"It’s been very gratifying helping people connect with the library even if they aren’t coming into our branch," says Nadia. “Just recently, I helped a woman in her 90s who was determined to read ebooks. I talked her through downloading the app and checking out her first ebook. And she did it! I was so pleased to help her get to that special “aha” moment and connect with the library in a new way."

As the contact center helps more and more patrons access library services, Nadia looks excitedly toward the future:

"As the ways people access information have changed, the library has changed too. The world is becoming increasingly digital, and the library has to bring people along and help address disparities in digital literacy. The contact center has been an exciting next step in serving patrons, while giving us the opportunity to identify better ways we can continue to evolve our service and make it more consistent. The library is a place where people come to learn their whole lives, and I’m thrilled to be a part of helping others on that journey.

"Today, libraries are competing with Amazon and other entities. Our patrons want the newest materials and quickly. We have to adapt."

A few years ago, the library’s Collections and Technical Services Team re-designed their workflow to help meet the demand. Materials used to sit in the receiving building for 4-6 weeks after they were purchased. Each part of the process — unboxing, sorting, cataloging — taking too much time. Thanks to a new workflow, patrons now get materials in three days or less.

"We’re constantly changing our work and changing the way we think about our work. It’s an exciting time to be at the library. We are re-examining what it means to build a collection in the age of modern libraries."

Josh has a passion for literacy and working with people. While attending a technical high school in Portland, he lost interest in his automotive major but found his way into the school library, where he became a teaching assistant. Directly after high school, he joined Multnomah County Library as a page (now called Access Services Assistant), checking in books and shelving holds.

He wanted to get to know more about each neighborhood, so he began subbing at different library branches, meeting the community and staff at each location. With a curiosity to know more about the technical work of the library, he transitioned from working at a branch to his behind-the-scenes position on the Technical Services team.

Day-to-day, Josh diligently focuses on being a good steward of the library’s resources and helping manage the collections budget. He orders materials from book and media vendors, ensuring the library is getting the items needed, at a good price, and when possible, having them pre-processed so they can get into the hands of library patrons as quick as possible. He is constantly evaluating any changes in how collections budgets are spent and determining whether there are collections that needs attention. He also provides internal customer service, buying materials for the library’s youth and adult outreach programs, such as Books 2U, Summer Reading, and the Every Child Initiative.

"I enjoy feeling connected to the library, even though I don’t interact with the public as much as I did working in a branch. I’m proud that our library works hard to deliver the materials that patrons ask for. We respond directly to people and let them know if their suggested items were purchased, and if they were, how to place a hold on the item. Every time our library makes a change to improve our system for the better of our patrons, it’s gratifying. I know we’re making a difference."