News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Marie Phillips is retiring after decades of work in Sisters libraries, which have seen the revolution of the digital age.
For decades, Marie Phillips has helped students and teachers navigate school libraries to enhance Sisters education. Perhaps no aspect of education has changed more in that period, especially as the digital revolution gained steam in the past few years.
As Phillips steps into retirement, so too does the role of library services in the Sisters School District.
Phillips came to Central Oregon looking for a more rural lifestyle.
"My kids did not know that milk came from a cow or what a vacant lot was," she said.
She chose Sisters schools back in 1983, because it was the only local district offering public kindergarten. She immediately began volunteering at Sisters Elementary School (SES), conducting storytimes and encouraging young kids to enjoy reading.
"One day, (SES Principal Earl Armbruster) called me and said, "How would you like to get paid for what you already do?'" Phillips recalled. "So I started as an aide."
Library Services Manager Sue Beck encouraged Phillips to go back to school to get her degree, which she completed in 1992, with a major in philosophy and a minor in library science.
"I got my degree two weeks before my son graduated from high school," she noted.
Phillips' main role in the Sisters School District has involved running libraries - in the past few years all three of them. That included teaching library and computer skills.
"Twenty-one years I've been doing library - and watched it change," she said.
From card catalogues to computers, from dog-eared books to e-books, use of the libraries has changed radically, even as budgets to support their use through equipment purchase and training dried up.
"With the public sector, you don't have the money to keep it up," Phillips said.
Next year, there will be no one in charge of running the libraries. While that is at least partly a function of tight budgets, it raises questions about the need for school libraries in the digital age. When research can be accessed from your phone and books downloaded to an e-reader or computer, are libraries obsolete?
"I don't think so," Phillips said. "Libraries can be both digital and hard copies. The public library does a great job."
Phillips worries about how the district will serve those who can't afford digital devices and a high-speed Internet connection. And she is dismayed to think of what will happen to the district's collections with no one to keep them in order.
"It's thousands and thousands of books that will not be watched over by anybody," she said.
Looking back, Phillips' fondest memories go back to storytimes and "exposing both students and staff to new materials - I love doing that."
Phillips also campaigned for public libraries in Sisters, and seeing them succeed remains a highlight of her tenure here.
She plans to stay on in Sisters, reading books for her own pleasure and helping out with her husband's furniture business.
She's also looking forward to more time with the grandkids, which will surely involve reading.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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