More exciting news from the library! Isabelle, our Youth Services Coordinator, has spearheaded a project that involves our beautiful library park, library teen advisory board, and a talented local muralist. As of this week, we have nearly reached our fundraising goal of $4,500.

We began raising money in December of last year. We were gifted some gorgeous handmade butterfly-themed ornaments created by talented volunteers and sold them for $5, $10, and $20. Many folks made individual donations and we also received some assistance from the Harney County Library Foundation to cover the initial deposit. In the past couple months, Isabelle has reached out to local businesses and received many generous contributions. These businesses will be featured on display panel adjacent to the art installation.

Want to know more about the mural? This public art project consists of a large mural that will be painted by teen volunteers and Tori Schmidt, artist and owner of Sage DesignWorks, on an exterior wall of the Harney County Library. The surrounding space is currently home to a seasonal interactive StoryWalk and tons of native plants, including milkweed! The mural itself depicts several monarch butterflies and milkweed in bloom.

We are still just $500 short of the goal ($523 to be exact)! If you would like to make a small individual contribution, please visit the Foundation’s donation page. If you are a business owner and are interested in making a larger gift, please reach out to Isabelle at [email protected].

We feel incredibly grateful for the community’s support and cannot wait for the weather to warm up so we can get started!

This February, Oregon Humanities awarded up to $25,000 in funding to enable rural and rural-serving Oregon libraries to create and host events in their own communities that reflect the 2024 theme, Fear and Belonging. A staff member (Isabelle!) at the Harney County Library applied for, and was awarded, $2,400 to host a series of four events titled “Finding Common Ground Speaker Series.”

The first event is on March 5, 2024 at 6-7 pm and will be a presentation by our own local High Desert Partnership, a national leader and model in the field of collaborative work.

The following three events will take place in early May, July and September. These will feature:

• Emma Ronai-Durning from Rural Organizing Project, who will talk about ROP’s work giving a voice to underrepresented groups in rural Oregon.
• U of O Professor Peter Walker, with a presentation on different approaches to collaborative natural resource management in the Western US and other parts of the world.
• Native American author and activist Jacqueline Keeler, who will present an Indigenous perspective on centering Native voices in our approach to natural resource management and other community issues.

Presenters will also take questions from the audience in a setting fostering dialogue and understanding, as we thrive to find common ground to move our communities into a positive future. And to set the tone, yummy refreshments will be served!