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Inventory reveals 48,000 items in Seaside Library
BETWEEN
THE COVERS
ESTHER
MOBERG
T
he past year has been inter-
esting here in library land.
After an extended closure
due to the pandemic, the doors
at the Seaside Public Library
reopened for browsing last Friday,
with a limited number of comput-
ers available for public use for a
maximum of one hour. Masks are
required at all times while in the
library.
Over the past 11 months, librar-
ies in Oregon were forced to adopt
outside curbside book delivery ser-
vices due to the coronavirus pan-
demic and lack of space for social
distancing in their buildings. We
in Seaside were fortunate to have
a large enough building to handle
most of our social distancing needs
during the pandemic, open 40 of
52 weeks in 2020.
The fi rst time we had to shut our
doors, back at the end of March
in 2020, the library staff spent the
time inventorying the entire library
of 48,000 items, cleaning the car-
pets, cleaning the library, cleaning,
cleaning and more cleaning.
We shifted shelves and orga-
nized them. We digitized our
library card registration forms and
set up new services that included
helping patrons on their comput-
R.J. Marx
The Seaside Library reopens with social distancing and masks in place.
ers with remote access while staff
remain at the front desk. We set up
a station in the library for library
card registration so we no longer
use a paper form.
Our goal is to help patrons and
staff reduce physical contact to
keep everyone safe and healthy.
Even when our doors are closed
people can still check out and
return books. We have two out-
side drop boxes for returns that
are always available, 24/7. We
have added to our eBook content,
which you can access through the
library’s website and the Libby
app.
Our youth librarians had
already planned and set up for
summer reading for the year (they
start planning in January!) and
they had to turn around and change
their entire summer reading pro-
gram, which they did in a mat-
ter of weeks. They created take-
home packets for children in our
community and made sure access
was easy. They even got the pack-
ets out to kids on the school bus
routes so no children were left out
of getting a book, summer reading
log or craft packet to help them
through this past summer of pan-
demic lockdown.
The library gave out over 500
summer reading craft packets this
summer. We had virtual programs
including preschool story time and
teen events throughout 2020. We
posted videos of craft examples as
well as posts and videos about new
books, events, book reviews, con-
tests and more. Our youth librar-
ians worked with the elemen-
tary and middle school teachers
this fall to create classroom visits
through Zoom, connecting kids to
books and reading. Students could
request books through an online
Google document form.
Library staff worked with the
teachers to get more books out to
them from the library and helped
get more students signed up for
library cards. All youth up to age
19 in Clatsop County qualify for
a free library card at their clos-
est geographical library through
the Libraries Reading Outreach
program. Our children’s librar-
ian puts together book bundles
for teachers, parents and students
either by phone or email requests.
Staff stayed connected with school
librarians throughout the year to
try and support and collaborate on
work.
Current services include an
assortment of virtual events for a
wide range of ages. This month
we are offering our monthly trivia
event (online only), teen events
through Zoom every Tuesday and
preschool story times every Thurs-
day morning on Zoom. For more
information on current events,
please check out our Facebook
page or website.
Our eBooks and audiobooks are
always available digitally through
the Libby app or through our
library website.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tuesday through Thursday, and
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Satur-
day. Sunday hours are 1 to 4 p.m.
Visit the library at 1131 Broadway;
online at seasidelibrary.org or call
503-738-6742.
Library, aquarium team up for ‘Maine Event’ fundraiser
SEASIDE
AQUARIUM
TIFFANY
BOOTHE
A
s many of you may know,
the Seaside Aquarium has
a long, rich history. Estab-
lished in 1937, many people have
participated in the aquarium’s suc-
cess over the years, but few have
dedicated as much time, energy
and love as Neal Maine. Maine’s
dedication to the Seaside Aquar-
ium, the community and nature is
inspirational.
Maine had been involved with
the aquarium for many years
when he decided to join the Sea-
side Aquarium board of direc-
tors in 1995. He joined the board
in hopes of helping the aquarium
expand their educational outreach
and to help the aquarium get more
involved in both the community
and the scientifi c world.
Maine spearheaded the begin-
ning of what is now the North-
ern Oregon/Southern Washing-
ton Marine Mammal Stranding
Network , a successful partner-
ship with National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, Port-
land State University and the Sea-
side Aquarium. In 1995, Maine
brought an idea to the board ask-
ing them to participate in what
he called the Seaside beach and
Necanicum Estuary Discovery
Program.
This program was designed
to be a free tool for both locals
and visitors to discover and learn
about the local beach and estuary
environments. With the goal to get
people to view their recreational
sites in a bit of a different way,
as a living breathing ecosystem.
While the program has changed
over the years the mission is still
the same.
After 25 years of dedication,
Maine thought it was time for
someone else to take the reins
and he resigned from the board of
directors in early 2020. His time
on the board will never be forgot-
ten and he will be missed greatly.
So how do you thank a guy who
means the world to you? And what
do you give a man who gives back
so much to the community? You
do the same. The Seaside Aquar-
ium has decided to do a yearly
fundraiser, “The Maine Event.”
All the admissions collected on
the last Sunday in February will
go to an organization or organiza-
tions of Maine’s choosing.
The inaugural “Maine Event”
will happen on Feb. 28. With
COVID-19 this event may look a
little different from future events.
Due to COVID-19 and the restric-
tions set, the aquarium will not
R.J. Marx
Neal Maine on the Avenue S bridge as he photographs a blue heron.
know for sure if they will be
allowed to open their doors to the
public. The Seaside Aquarium is
providing two paths for partici-
pation this year. If the aquarium
is open to the public, all admis-
sions collected from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. will be donated to the Sea-
side Library Foundation 501©(3).
If the aquarium is not open or if
you want to participate in the Sea-
side Library fundraiser but can-
not make it to “The Maine Event,”
call the Seaside Aquarium at 503-
738-6211. For a donation, the
aquarium will send you a free pass
to use at a later date.
The Seaside Public Library will
use any proceeds from the event
for the long-term goals of the
library.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
District taxpayers
beware!
I just attended a board
workshop on Broadway
Middle School last night. I
try to attend any board func-
tion as I plan to be a candi-
date for the Sunset Empire
Park and Recreation District
board in the June election.
There are a number of issues
that bother me that I need to
share with you.
The board claimed that
there was no “fi x” in to
recruit board members that
favored the purchase of
Broadway Middle School.
I observed every inter-
view and I was interviewed
myself. I can state with cer-
tainty that it was made very
clear to me in that process
that unless one favored the
purchase of Broadway Mid-
dle School, one stood no
chance of being appointed
to the board. So, the “fi x”
was in.
The board told every-
one of all of the wonder-
ful things that they planned
to do with Broadway Mid-
dle School prior to the pur-
chase. At the meeting last
night, I learned that they
have retained consultants
called the Klosh Group to
tell them what to do with
the building. They also plan
to have the Klosh Group
recommend more consul-
tants to tell them what to do.
Does this sound expensive
to you? It is! Where is the
money going to come from?
Why wasn’t this planning
done before the purchase?
The board claimed that
they have no plans to come
to the taxpayers for more
money to make Broadway
Middle School usable. Yet
all that they can cite are
hopes and dreams of get-
ting commercial partners or
grants to fi nance the reha-
bilitation of the middle
school. This fairy tale makes
about as much sense as their
so-called business plan to
justify the loan.
At the meeting, numer-
ous references were made
to “staff” efforts to work
at the middle school and
make it usable. I have to
ask, how about caring for
the pool that the district
was founded to establish? I
am a regular pool user and
I’m here to tell you that the
pool has been in a steady
decline for years.
You will all have a
choice in the coming elec-
tion. If you are happy that
the board went behind your
back and bought the middle
school, please vote for the
incumbents in the upcom-
ing election. If, on the other
hand, you don’t want to pay
more taxes for this boon-
doggle, I suggest that you
vote out every incumbent
and choose a board that
I am very grateful to
have received my fi rst vac-
cination shot today, being a
health care practitioner.
However, the vaccination
site could very well have
been a super-spreader event!
No social distancing was
being observed while in the
line outside the building and
once we entered the build-
ing it got even worse!
The coordinator agreed
with me that the setting did
not feel safe. Way too many
people crammed together in
a small space and she said
that had been the case pre-
viously also when it was
blowing and raining outside!
I haven’t been in as
crowded a setting since the
beginning of the pandemic.
Once we got further inside
the social distancing got bet-
ter but really was not great
in a small hallway.
And to my dismay, one
of the screeners had her
mask down below her nose!
This is simply not accept-
able! I would hope that in
future events there is better
sense exhibited!
Deborah Albrecht
Gearhart
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3
MONDAY, MARCH 8
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m.,
cityofgearhart.com.
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m.,
cityofseaside.us.
will follow your wishes.
John Huismann
Seaside
Observe social
distancing
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Contact local agencies for lat-
est meeting information and
attendance guidelines.
MONDAY, FEB. 22
TUESDAY, FEB. 23
Seaside City Council,
7 p.m., cityofseaside.us.
Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District Board
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Darren Gooch
Joshua Heineman
Rain Jordan
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
of Directors, regular meet-
ing, 5:15 p.m., 1225 Avenue
A.
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