At first, Dunkelberg said, the somewhat puzzled reaction from the groups they went to visit was, “Why are you here?” But a few years later, after listening, learning, and sharing stories, people see the librarians coming and ask them, “How can we work with you?” By now, library staff is represented in more than 60 community groups from the Chamber of Commerce to the City Club, the Homeless Leadership Coalition, and Bend 2030, a planning group, and so many more.

So, what is going on at the Deschutes libraries? You can start with a list that now seems familiar to me from offerings at the busiest, most energized libraries elsewhere: art exhibits, book clubs, author readings, computer classes. Also: service programs on topics like car-seat safety, self-defense, everything about fire; and offerings for teens in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) programs. The downtown branch of the system also has taken the first step into the “Maker Movement,” the term for the current trend across the country describing people making everything from humble hobbyist stuff to tech-sophisticated products enabled by equipment like 3-D printers. Every month the Bend library’s downtown branch has Maker Monday meetings. The July meeting featured a local maker movement leader introducing digital multimeters (DMM), a common piece of test equipment used in the electronics industry, and the August meeting is about how to make drinking glasses from wine bottles.

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Sometimes, libraries are fixing old problems, rather than creating new offerings. They often answer vexing problems with surprisingly simple, yet effective answers. For example, in Columbus, Ohio, school kids were misbehaving on school buses. The library, which worked closely with the schools, offered to put boxes of books at the front of each bus for kids to grab during the ride home. Voila! The kids were hooked and down went the trouble incidents. The Deschutes libraries came up with a number of such answers to their own particular problems.

For the older folks in assisted living, who are often uncomfortable in the presence of lots of squirmy toddlers or fidgety teenagers, the library offers an exclusive hour before the normal opening times, to enjoy the library in peace.

Some older school-age kids who can’t yet drive, and may be too far away to bike or walk, can’t get to the library on their own. Instead, the library comes to them. Kids can request books, which are then delivered to their schools.

For the littlest readers, librarians used to hand out little toys as freebies in their summer-reading programs until they frequently, and sadly, found them discarded on the floor. Then they thought, “We’re a library! Let’s give them a book.” The switch was gratifying, reports Dunkelberg, who sometimes “works the desk” in the children’s section, just to keep in touch. He said that the kids love the books, and that the books are especially meaningful to the kids who don’t have books at home.