Library staff contribute statewide

ROSEBURG, Ore. – Roseburg Library Director Kris Wiley and Youth Services Librarian Aurora Ropp believe in giving back to the greater library community through service in statewide organizations.

Their most recent volunteer project involves serving as program coordinators for the 2025 Oregon Library Association (OLA) Conference, which will be held Wednesday, April 23, through Friday, April 25, in Eugene.

The OLA conference offers a great opportunity to network, learn from speakers in order to stay updated on trends and best practices, meet with representatives from vendors used by the library and share Roseburg library staff’s knowledge with others, according to Wiley.

The program coordination component started in October, when Wiley and Ropp solicited session ideas from librarians, educators and museum professionals. Over the past month, the two created the schedule, confirmed speakers and finalized descriptions for 80 sessions.

“Our job is nearly done, and we look forward to a fun-filled and jam-packed conference,” Wiley said.

At the conference, Wiley will speak at a session titled “The Evolving E-Book Landscape” with State Librarian Wendy Cornelisen and Jesse Holden, program manager for shared content & scholarly communication at Orbis Cascade Alliance, a nonprofit consortium of 38 colleges and universities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Wiley will share information about the Oregon Digital Library Consortium (ODLC), which makes the Libby app possible for Roseburg library users. Wiley is in her second and final year as ODLC chair, running monthly Executive Committee and biannual Governing Board meetings.

“It takes a village -- including selectors, catalogers and administrators -- to ensure the wildly popular platform remains operational,” Wiley said.

Although her term on the Executive Committee ends in July, Wiley said she expects to remain the ODLC Governing Board representative for the group’s associate libraries, which are those with a service population of less than 50,000.

Wiley also is in her second year as chair of the Southern Oregon Library Federation (SOLF), an organization of professionals from all types of libraries in the region. They gather four times a year -- twice online and twice in person -- and rotate meeting locations so they can tour facilities and exchange ideas and information.

Because of connections made at SOLF, Roseburg Public Library is part of a network of libraries that exchanges puzzles for Roseburg Parks and Recreation’s popular Puzzle Palooza events.

Ropp is in her second year as secretary of the Oregon Library Association Children’s Services Division, a group that promotes and advances library service to children and youth through public and professional education and cooperation. She attends monthly online meetings, shares her knowledge and skills, and supports the efforts of youth librarians around the state.

“We enjoy these opportunities to collaborate and will continue to share our time and expertise with colleagues from around Oregon,” Wiley said.