10/27/2007

Associated Press

Oregon's poet laureate, Lawson Inada, stood before the Ashland Public Library and read a poem he'd composed for the occasion.

"Please, please, who has the keys?" he asked, in conclusion.

Turns out branch manager Amy Blossom did.

And once the doors were open, a cheering crowd of youngsters rushed inside the library they'd left in April, amid a budget crunch in Jackson County laid to the loss of federal timber payments.

The county's libraries now are reopening, Ashland's on Wednesday, others in coming days.

In a change, they will be managed by a private company and open fewer hours, with fewer employees who are getting less-generous benefits.

But the kids were happy to be back among the books.

Kaia Bucy, 10, found three from the American Girls series she had not read yet.

Dal Yockey brought his son Quinn in honor of his "two-and-a-half year birthday."

Police Sgt. Malcus Williams did the story time honors, reading from "Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore."

"It's just a cheerful day," he said.

The change to management by Library Systems & Services, a Maryland company, took some of the edge off the day.

"I feel really disempowered that our money is leaving the state to a private system," said Mori Samel-Garloff as her two sons were busy hunting for books.

"I don't want (LSSI) to decide which books can be bought," she said. "What if they decide Harry Potter's not a good book? They have the right to do that now."

LSSI executive Robert Windrow said changes in library policy would be made only at the recommendation of the staff and approval of the county commissioners.

"We're trying to make sure the shelves are full of new materials, and I'm confident that people will be pleased," he said.

Becky Brown, a home schooler whose three children use library books instead of textbooks, called it "a really long six months."

The family checked out 60 books, including several for a lesson about the moon.

"We do love the library," she said. "We'll be back tomorrow probably."

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Information from: The Ashland Daily Tidings, http://www.dailytidings.com