are not warehouses of information, they are repositories of
human dreams. Their function is not technical, it is social. They are part of the community. They are the place in which we
gather together what we believe in and what we admire. We do it in order to share. We do it to bolster ourselves against the dark.
Barry Lopez
Oregon Author
Visit the library's Web site at www.ci.eugene.or.us/Library/index.html |
"I can't even imagine my life without the library"
Lu Anne Schmidt
Sight-Impaired Patron |
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| Every day at opening time, a crowd of people streams into Eugene
Public Library. They are old and
young, grandparents and parents and children, business owners and
retirees and students and people on
a personal research mission. They come to find out about a
prescription, attend a story time, read a
magazine, check on their investments, study for a test, plan a
trip, write a resume find a good book,
or take home some music. They come from all corners of Eugene and
all economic circumstances.
Newcomers often express surprise at how small and cramped our
Library is, then at how busy it is. In
1998, Eugeneans checked out 1,350,000 items, or about 11.2 items
per person, about twice the
national average. More than 10,000 people come to the Library
every week. Some 80% of Eugene
households have active library cards. Our librarians answer more
than 1,200 reference questions
every week. Thousands of preschoolers and school-age children
learn reading readiness and enjoyment
at toddler times and story hours and at special programs like the
Asian Moon Festival and the Summer
Reading Club. The Internet Center operates at 97% capacity.
Eugene Public Library is indeed well used
and well loved. |
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