February was a busy month at the Lake Oswego Library! In addition to helping patrons via phone, email and in person at our Outdoor Holds Pickup, we had another successful year of Lake Oswego Reads!
Category Archives: Library
Lunar New year celebrations with LOPL!
The Library has been ringing in the Lunar New Year this month with virtual celebrations and a lantern craft kit giveaway!
Lantern Craft Kits
If you’ve stopped by the Library in the last few weeks, you’ve seen the beautiful paper lanterns welcoming patrons to the holds pick-up area. So far, we’ve given away approximately 90 lantern craft kits, and we have about 60 left, just in time for the Lantern Festival this Friday, February 26! The Lantern Festival marks the final day of the traditional Lunar New Year celebrations. During the festival, people often hang glowing lanterns in temples or carry them during a nighttime parade. We invite you to stop by this Friday to pick up a kit and celebrate the Lunar New Year with your family!
Virtual Celebrations
On February 9, our weekly cookbook group, Cook The Books, met virtually to discuss foods traditionally served during Lunar New Year. In advance of the event, librarians shared a New York Times article about how Vietnam celebrates Lunar New Year (known in Vietnam as Tết), and the group discussed how the holiday is not just a Chinese holiday, but is celebrated across several different countries and territories in Asia, including Tibet, South Korea, and Singapore, to name a few. Members of the group prepared and discussed various delicious dishes, including several spring roll variations, sticky rice, steamed whole fish, hoisin-glazed spare ribs, spicy Szechuan green beans, and peanut and sesame candy. Yum! The group also discussed the meaning behind some of the traditional foods, such as whole chickens, which represent family togetherness – something that we’ve come to cherish even more deeply this past year.
Our weekly Trivia Night adopted a Lunar New Year theme on February 11, Lunar New Year’s Eve. Over 90 contestants on 25 teams answered questions about Lunar New Year’s traditions, folklore, and food. Later that evening, the librarians who hosted the event received thank you emails from participants, one of whom noted, “Just wanted to let you both know what a great time we had at trivia! We learned a lot about Lunar New Year, and I still can’t get those K-pop covers out of my head!”
We wish you all good health and happiness in this new year, and we look forward to gathering together for next year’s Lunar New Year celebrations!
sTARTING 2021 STRONG AT THE LIBRARY!
As we begin a new year, the library continues to serve our patrons virtually, over the phone and in person at Outdoor Holds Pickup. We’ve adapted our LO Reads program this year to be completely virtual; Nancy and our wonderful volunteers distributed over 800 free copies of the LO Reads 2021 book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents”!
Celebrating Race, Identity and Ability
Our fourth annual celebration of literary and community diversity – Multicultural Children’s Book Day is ongoing and you can join the more than 450 lucky individuals who have already participated. The virtual event is available online until February 12th.
Enjoy a collection of 24 stories being read in a variety of languages by library patrons, students, community leaders, and librarians. They celebrate language, cultural experience, diversity and ability.
Youth Services Librarians prepared a slideshow of book talks for their favorite picture books, chapter books and young adult novels that elevate race, identity and ability, published in 2020. A printable version of their recommended titles is offered on the webpage as well.
For more recommendations of books that celebrate and champion the lives of all check out our curated pinterest pages which link directly to our library catalog making it easy to place holds.
Celebrate Black History Month with LOPL!
February is Black History Month, and the Lake Oswego Public Library is offering lots of ways to celebrate!
LO Reads Events
Library events throughout February will be focused on the 2021 Lake Oswego Reads choice, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Read all about the exciting line-up of virtual events and register for them here.
Surprise Bundles for all Ages!
Looking for Black History Month reading recommendations for the whole family? Let us surprise you with great titles! When you come to the library to pick up your holds, you’ll see a sandwich board by the main entrance advertising Surprise Bundles for all ages. We have bundles of books and DVDs on a wide variety of topics and genres, from “Things that Go” picture books to mysteries and historical fiction for adults, and everything in between. For the month of February, we’re featuring Black History Month bundles for all ages. Just select a genre from the Surprise Bundle board, and we’ll surprise you with a bundle of great reads!
More Reading Recommendations
Looking for more inspiration of what to read next for Black History Month? Our Youth Services team has developed Anti-Racism Pinterest boards children and teens with links to age-appropriate titles in the library catalog, and our Adult Services team has compiled Black History Month and Anti-Racism Pinterest boards for adults with links to great e-books, e-audiobooks, and streaming videos available with your library card.
So much more to LOve about the library
At LO Library, we know it’s more important than ever to stay connected with one another and share our experiences, and social media is the perfect place to do just that! Whether it’s connecting the community to resources, local events, and educational services, or posting fun photos, hosting trivia and creating interactive videos, we do our best to use our platforms to enrich the world around us. Connect with us 24/7 on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube!
Library gives away 800 books for LO Reads
Volunteers distributed free copies of Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson, our 2021 LO Reads choice, to library patrons on Thursday January 7th. Readers in their cars began circling the library parking lot a half an hour early as walkers lined up on the sidewalk.
At 10 am books, programs and a custom face covering were delivered in a safe and socially distanced manner
Library patrons are encouraged to read and pass along the book which is provided for free with generous contributions for the Friends of the Lake Oswego Public Library.
For complete information about Lake Oswego Public Library’s LO Reads program please click here.
Numbers, Numbers, Numbers at the Library
Do you ever wonder what kinds of things we keep track of at the library? Well here is an example of some things we counted during the month of December.
Local Donation Options
Tis the season of giving! Each year the City partners with a number of organizations to help those in need in our community. Together we can make this holiday season a little brighter!
Toy Drive
Our Fire and Library departments have partnering to bring holiday cheer to children in need! They are collecting new, unwrapped toys that will be shared with local families in the area. Please drop off toys by December 15 at the Lake Oswego Fire Main Station (300 B Ave) or the Lake Oswego Library (706 Fourth Street).
Hunger Fighters Oregon
Hunger Fighters continues to see a record number of people in Lake Oswego who need emergency food. You can donate nonperishable food items at City Hall (south entrance vestibule, open 24/7) or directly with Hunger Fighters (located at 2301 Hazel Road).
Meals on Wheels
Did you know that Lake Oswego has its own Meals on Wheels service? It is operated by the City with fundraising by the volunteer LO Meal Network with 20,000 meals served annually. Since the start of the pandemic, delivery participation has increased by nearly 10%, and to-go meal participation has tripled. To donate to this essential service, visit lakeoswegomealsonwheels.org
Personal Care Items
The City is collecting basic need items for our families in need programs. Please consider donating unused items such as shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, disposable razors, diapers, deodorant and sunscreen. Donations barrels are available to drop off items at City Hall (south entrance vestibule, open 24/7).
Utility Assistance
We created a temporary utility payment assistance for City of Lake Oswego utility customers impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Donations to the fund can be made by anyone. All donations are placed into a fund used exclusively for emergency utility assistance and administered by a local non-profit. More details.
Happy Library Users Number in the Thousands
When we rolled up the walls of our tents on July 6th, we had very few expectations about the kind of service we could provide. Four months later we’ve served 5,871 patrons. Those patrons, young and old, checked out stacks of books, movies, music, and even some Library Of Things items (tents, canning supplies, code-a-pillars, and games).
538 kids searched for and found our Waldo figurine, and we gave away 538 craft packets. We signed people up for library cards, signed children up for 1000 Books before Kindergarten, and gave away new parent gift bags. And numerous families went home with free books on Fridays.
We made it through the destruction of two tents do to high winds, closed for two weeks because of poor air quality, and closed a few other days for cold temperatures. And still we persevered.
We are all so sad to be closing for the season, but are confident that some time soon, we will have another creative solution to meeting with our patrons and filling their homes with books.
Of note, we will continue to provide curbside holds pickup 6 days a week, until further notice.