community
may18
2017
Pages Keep Turning at the Vernonia Library
for toddlers in addition to the Preschool
Storytime. “My love for story time pro-
grams started when I was working at
Washington County,” she says. “When
I started working in Vernonia I wanted
to expand that and it’s been fun because I
like to incorporate music and movement
and more involvement with the
kids.”
Those story time ac-
tivities have been one way that
Romtvedt has seen the Library
help build community. “The
ongoing weekly programing
has been very fulfilling,” says
Romtvedt. “It’s what keeps the
families coming in regularly
and also checking out materi-
als. Just having people come in
regularly gives them a chance
to meet each other. We’ve had
a lot of little kid friendships and
parent friendships that have de-
veloped here at the Library.”
She says she has seen
significant increases in par-
ticipation in programs like the annual
Summer Reading Program and the Dr.
Seuss Celebration. She has also greatly
increased the number of activities for
children and youth, like adding a craft
party prior to the annual St. Patrick’s
Day Parade, and has made a specific ef-
fort to welcome homeschool families in
the community to visit and make use of
the Library.
Romtvedt notes that she gets a
lot of help from her staff and from vol-
unteers to keep programs and the rest of
the Library running smoothly. “Nancy
and Brandy have a lot to do with keep-
ing our regular programs going,” says
Romtvedt. “We have to work together
to figure out where our limitations are as
a staff and where we need to direct our
volunteer resources, and I really appreci-
ate everything that they do.”
Romtvedt has also made col-
laborations with the community a pri-
ority. She helped organize a Beginning
Knitting for Kids class, taught by local
Caitlin Hunter (who is also introduc-
ing a knitting class for adults). In April
the Library organized and hosted Get
Rhythm at the Library, a musical pro-
gram series sponsored by the Columbia
County Cultural Coalition, the Friends
of the Vernonia Library, the Vernonia Li-
ons Club, and Jack and Randal Harvey.
The program featured Oregon Sympho-
ny Storytime with percussionist Gordon
Rencher, a visit by puppeteer Red Yard,
and the Rutabaga Rhythm Workshops
9
continued from front page
with local musician Joe Seamons which
included workshops and a concert at the
Vernonia Schools and a community con-
cert at the Vernonia Grange.
Romtvedt notes that she is cur-
rently looking to expand her staff with
a very part-time position that will fo-
cus on developing children’s
programing for K-5 aged stu-
dents.
Expanded programs for
children are not the only thing
Romtvedt has developed since
she became Library Director.
She has been adding more
programs for adults as well,
which have also seen a con-
tinuing increase in attendance
and participation.
Romtvedt says her time
working in the larger Wash-
ington County Library system
helped her develop ideas that
might be a good fit in Verno-
nia. The Writers Group she
initiated has been popular and
was something she organized in Forest
Grove. She has also initiated a Grow It
series, which makes use of local Master
Gardeners to explore gardening tech-
niques, and she has seen attendance at
other adult oriented programs rise.
Recent programs have included
a visit by Scappoose author and musi-
cian Willy Vlautin, a presentation by
local Jim Buxton on the upcoming so-
lar eclipse, more Oregon Humanities
Conversation Projects, whose programs
have made regular appearances at the
Vernonia Library during Romtvedt’s
tenure, and an upcoming Homesteading
in Vernonia program presented by OSU
Columbia County Extension agent Chip
Bubl. A Community Conversation held
in early May at the Library with local
timbermen Don Webb of Vernonia and
Fred Heller from Chapman was present-
ed by the Oregon Folklife Network, and
provided another opportunity for outside
collaboration with Romtvedt and the Li-
brary.
“Programing is what I had
the most experience with, and I have a
bunch more now,” says Romtvedt.
Romtvedt says a lot of ideas for
programs come directly from the com-
munity. “Often things start with an
individual or a group suggesting some-
thing they would like to see happening
at the Library, and then we talk about it
together to see what might be possible,”
explains Romtvedt. She says she is will-
ing to try new things, but, because staff
and funding is limited, those types of
new programs will often require an in-
terested volunteer to drive them. “It’s
often trial and error and trying things
out that someone said they were inter-
ested in, and then seeing how it works.
We just have to have the volunteers, but
I’m always looking for ways to make the
Library more accessible to everyone.”
Some examples of community
driven programs that Romtvedt has tried
and were somewhat successful, but then
lost traction for various reasons include
a Stamp Club, Chess Club, and Game
Nights and other game events; the Game
Nights actually led to the Library start-
ing a board game collection which is
available for check out, rather than being
continued on page 19
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