Grant helps library acquire libros

There were a bunch of very happy people gathered in the Sisters Library last week. The occasion was the arrival of a check for $500 for the purchase of new Spanish language books for the Latino library patrons living in the Sisters area. The number of Spanish language books in the present collection is woefully small, something that Jo Cassie, Outreach Manager for the Deschutes Public Library System (DPLS), and Rossy Gomez-Pullig noted, and they set out to do something about it.

Like all good ideas, and especially when dealing with an organization as large as the DPLS, wheels turn slowly, but the job eventually gets done.

Five years ago, Cassi noted the growing Latino population in Central Oregon and decided the library should be equipped to serve them. She applied for a library services technical grant through the state library and ended up with enough money to hire a person who was bilingual to get things going. This paved the way for additional grants to hire more people and the library was functioning for the bilingual and bicultural Latino community.

Through further fund-raising efforts and grants from the Ford Family Foundation, enough money was collected to purchase additional Spanish books for patrons of all ages.

Upon accepting the Ford Foundation donation, Michele Ping said, "I believe that this donation to the Sisters Library will help to enhance the Spanish language collection. We hope that this will be the beginning of a long-lasting relationship with the growing Hispanic community in Sisters. It is my wish that more events of this type can be held so that everyone's lives can be enriched in many different ways!"