March 2025
Dear library friends and neighbors,
When I reflect on the past few months at our libraries, our library staff and supportive community fill me with gratitude. While there are ongoing changes at the library, the people who work at the library, in every department, offer exceptional customer service to our patrons every day. I appreciate the library staff’s commitment to creating welcoming spaces and offering the services our patrons request and need. I feel honored to work alongside our library employees.
There is so much wonderful work happening at our libraries. Since the start of the new year our teams have served many communities around Multnomah County with cultural programming. We recently concluded a month-long celebration of Black History Month with several joyous events.
Our teams also supported the library during two days of closures caused by inclement weather. During that time, many library employees were busy communicating the changes, taking patron calls and adjusting our operations. Several library employees, and many of our community members, worked in warming shelters during this time to support our community’s most vulnerable citizens. Thank you!
Bond update
We continue to open new libraries and close others for renovation, as our work to expand and modernize libraries moves ahead. We recently celebrated the much-anticipated reopening of North Portland Library, with two days of free programming. The new space is beautiful, and includes the library’s first Black Cultural Center, a stunning space that includes the Black Pacific Northwest Collection, an art gallery and beautiful artwork throughout. I hope you will stop by and experience the new space or attend a program.
Through focus groups, workshops and more, we engaged with over 3,500 people to shape how North Portland Library can best represent and celebrate the community. I want to thank every community member involved in reopening North Portland Library.
In February, we closed Kenton Library for a refresh project. We are also preparing to close Woodstock Library in March this month for a refresh as well. Our refresh projects include new furniture, carpet, paint and other improvements; typically these libraries are closed for a limited time, from four to six months. Every library in Multnomah County will receive improvements through the Multnomah County Library Capital Bond.
I have received questions from the community about why so many libraries are closed at the same time. The library capital bond program passed by voters in 2020 included funding to support upgrades at every library location. The library and its partners structured the bond with a relatively short timeline (affecting libraries near one another) to maximize the financial benefits to the community. In other words, that decision resulted in more dollars to invest in library projects, but compressed the timeline. There is more information on our website that explains why locations are closed at the same time.
Temporary services
I have also been in communication with our patrons in the St. Johns and Kenton areas because we have multiple libraries closed for renovations in that region. Our library management team has been working hard to identify temporary services for our St. Johns neighbors that will have similar services as our Hawthorne Holds Pickup location while St. Johns Library is closed for construction. I will share details as they become available. It is our goal to have this temporary location up and running in the spring.
Fiscal year 2026 budget
The library submitted its annual budget request in mid-February and that budget was published on Multnomah County’s website recently. The library has its own funding district, separate from the Multnomah County general fund, and the library's main source of revenue is property taxes. Because property tax revenues aren’t growing as fast as we anticipated and costs increased a lot during the pandemic, the library's financial future doesn't look as good as it did five years ago. We expect significant challenges and difficult financial conditions to continue in the coming years.
The library’s final financial forecast showed that we needed to reduce our expenses by $1.4 million to balance the fiscal year 2026 budget, even after wide ranging cost-trimming efforts across the system. We made some changes to our operations to balance our budget, but I am pleased to say that we did not make any reductions in overall staffing levels for next fiscal year.
Difficult decisions
I also wanted to share some news with you about three programs that, as a former youth librarian, are dear to my heart: School Corps, Books2U and Listos para el Kínder (Listos). Regrettably, these programs and services will end in June 2025 with the close of this school year. For over nearly three decades, thousands of students developed their reading skills and discovered the joy of reading through these programs. We did not make this decision lightly, and I want to reflect on the incredible work of the library staff who worked with students through these programs. I also want to thank our education partners who participated in these programs to support students.
As the library moves forward, we need to fulfill our promise to voters who asked for bigger and better library spaces. In evaluating how to serve our community in new library buildings, it was necessary for us to look at all of the library’s programming and service offerings, and review their long-term sustainability. While these specific programs are ending, the library's commitment to serving students and educators continues. The expertise of our youth librarians and our ability to create meaningful opportunities for students to access our libraries will continue in other ways. We remain dedicated to providing these essential services to support students in their literacy journey.
I have shared a lot of information in this update. While this message covers many aspects of our current work, these updates represent just a fraction of the meaningful work taking place across our library system. Every day our dedicated team members are creating new programs, forging community connections and finding innovative ways to serve you better.
I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences with us as we continue to evolve our services to meet your needs. Thank you for your continued support and understanding as we work to provide the best library services to our community.
Warmly,
Annie Lewis
Library Director