Election results are in, and surprise, surprise, Democrats win in Oregon. What I did find surprising were the statistics about library use in Portland. The voters passed a levy that would provide more than $30 million a year over five years to pay for library operating costs. The average cost for homeowners will be $11.13 a month ($133.56 a year).
In 2004-05, the last year for which national numbers are available, county residents borrowed 19.4 million books and other items, according to Penny Hummel, a library spokeswoman. Portland libraries have the highest circulation numbers of any system in the nation.
That’s more than Los Angeles (15.7 million items), New York (15.5 million) and Chicago (6.9 million), Hummel said.
Just this morning, I saw at least 25 people waiting outside for the the downtown library to open. I use the library a lot myself - going about twice a week. Speaking of books, Portland also has the largest bookstore in the nation. (Powell’s Bookstore has about 1 million new and used books on its shelves.)
Wed, Nov 8, 2006
Current Affairs, Oregon, Portland