City funding allows Eugene library to add staff, hours
The City Council gave
$ 130,000 to the library
after Measure 50 cuts
left it with a deficit
By Michael Burnham
Community editor
Beginning Monday, Feb. 23, the
Eugene Public Library will ex
pand its operational hours to a
year-round schedule of 52 hours,
six days a week, and will hire ad
ditional employees to fill previ
ously cut staff positions.
The expansion comes after the
library received $130,000 in Mea
sure 50 add-back funding from the
City Council last December to in
crease circulation hours.
Library hours had originally
been chopped to only 44 hours a
week in October of last year be
cause of the state-wide July imple
mentation of Measure 50, which
limited available tax dollars for
the city to use on fatalities such as
the library. The cuts left the li
brary with a $200,000 deficit from
the 1996 fiscal year.
However, when city officials
were faced with a smaller deficit
than predicted, the council added
back funds to the library and other
city programs in need of funding.
“I really do appreciate the pa
tience people have shown, and
we're delighted the short schedule
lasted such a short time,” said li
brary services director Carol
Hildebrand.
Although the funding will not
restore all of the hours that had
been cut, it will enable the library'
to have enough funding to operate
six days a week and fill more full
time staff positions.
Hildebrand said although the
money will be enough to hire back
only a portion of the four staff po
sitions that were cut in October, it
is the best the library can do in or
der to operate during evening
hours.
"This is as much of a figure we
can cover with the staff we
added," she said. “People wanted
to have the library open more than
one evening a week. ”
But the added hours and staff
positions will not entirely solve all
of the library’s problems.
In an October interview Phil
Weiler, a spokesman for the city of
Eugene, he said the library is one
of the busiest libraries per capita
in the western United States. He
also added that the library has not
been expanded since it was built
in 1959, while coping with less
space and a greater number of cir
culation materials.
According to Hildebrand, the
City Council’s Library Improve
ment Committee and representa
tives from A Better Library for
Everyone are currently working
on strategies to find solutions for
the library.
She said the 12-member coun
cil committee was created by the
mayor to get public input and in
formation on what Eugene library
patrons want from their facility.
Bill Sullivan, a convener for
ABLE, said the committee is work
ing closely with the committee to
aid in the decision-making
process. 1 le said ABLE’s top prior
ities for the library include remod
eling or replacing the existing li
brary, or building branch libraries
throughout the city.
“There is a lot of interest in de
veloping branch libraries, and
most cities Eugene’s size would
have branch libraries,” he said.
“We’ve gotten to the point now
where we haven’t added one
square inch in 39 years, and it has
gone for so long and so far that we
need to look at both branches and
expansion.”
Sullivan said ABLE met with
the council's committee Wednes
day night to help the council cre
ate a ballot measure proposal for
funding future changes to the li
brary.
He said the measure woidd be
based on feedback the committee
receives and could be on the bal
Library changes
^ PREVIOUS HOURS:
Sun. & Mon.: Closed
Tues. & Wed.: 10a.m.-8p.m,
Thurs.- Sat.: 10a.m.-6p.m.
m NEW HOURS:
Mon. & Tues.: 10 a.m.-8 p.m
Wed.- Sat.: 10a.m.-6p.m.
lot by May 1999.
Sullivan was in favor of this
idea, and referred to library mea
sures in reuent years that have not
garnered the support of the com
munity.
“We want to make sure it’s a
plan everyone likes and will
pass,” he said. “The council has
had a different view of what the
voters want in the past."
The next meeting of the coun
cil's library committee will be
held Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Camp
bell SeniorCenter.
Honors college to host speaker
Students hope the event will help
raise awareness of what the
Robert D. Honors College is
By Teri Meeuwsen
Higher Education Reporter
Howard University Professor Allison
Blakely and three University panel mem
bers will be discussing the role of teaching
western civilization in an age of multicul
turalism on Saturday afternoon.
“He’s a distinguished professor,” said Paul
Csonka, director of the Robert L). Clark I lon
ors College. "I’m very happy he is coming.”
The honors college is taking advantage of
a chance to see Blakely while lie’s in the Pa
cific Northwest, said Louise Bishop, an hon
ors college English professor.
“He’s in Portland and Salem doing some
work for Phi Beta Kappa, and since lie's so
nearby, we thought we’d take advantage of
it,” she said.
Blakely, whose specialty is Russian and Eu
ropean history, is a University alumnus who
was a member of the honors college. He’s
written two books and articles about the cul
tural images of blacks in European history.
“His academics in European history will
help with discussing Western civilization,”
she said, “and he will help embody multi
culturalism.”
The other panel members will include
honors college history professor Erica Duke
hart, ASUO Women’s Center director Don
na Albro and recent honors college history
graduate Matthew Stone.
The honors college is using this event to
help raise awareness of what the honors col
lege is, English major Kirstin Hamilton said.
“The honors college sponsored the event
to get the honors college voice heard on cam
pus,” she said. “I think that many honors
college students participate in other events
and organizations on campus as individuals,
but participation as a group of honors college
students the last few years, or as long as I've
been here, has been low, It’s good that we are
planning something through the honors col
lege that all [University] students can at
tend.”
The event takes place Saturday at 4 p.m.
in the Dement Lounge in Walton Hall. Stu
dents, professors and administrators are in
vited to attend and be involved in discus
sion afterwards.
Last suspect charged in ’97 murder
By Jesse Sowa
Community Reporter
A fifth person was arrested Wednes
day on charges in connection to the
killing of a 21-year-old Salem man
whose body was found near the Autzeri
Footbridge last Labor Day weekend, a
police news release stated.
Kevin David Stephens, 20, was
charged with one count of the intention
al murder of Steven Leroy Johnson,
which occurred Aug. 31, 1997, by the
Willamette River. Stephens was lodged
at the Lane County Jail.
The arrest ends the five-month inves
tigation of the Johnson homicide.
Stephens was involved early in the in
vestigation and later emerged as a sus
pect. He and the four other defendants
were part of a larger group that spent
time near the downtown mall and called
themselves “The Pack."
During court proceedings for the first
four defendants, Lane County prosecu
tor Paul Graebner said Johnson was
killed in retaliation for an alleged rape of
a member of The Pack. Authorities said
the rape was never proven.
Those included in the killing beat and
kicked Johnson almost to death during a
10-hour period before two of the males
in the group stabbed Johnson five times
with a survival knife, police said.
Stephens was contacted by police on
the downtown mall Wednesday after
noon and accompanied police to City
Hall where he was questioned by detec
tives. After questioning and later a brief
scuffle with officers, Stephens was arrest
ed.
The reason police gave for the delayed
action against Stephens is that detectives
needed more time in gathering facts sur
rounding the murder and Stephens’ in
volvement.
Currently, detectives do not believe
any additional arrests will be made in
connection with this case.
Stephens was to be arraigned on the
charge Thursday afternoon at the Lane
County Jail.
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