Editorial

Troutdale library looks popular already

By

The Gresham Outlook, Jul 22, 2010

With the much-publicized and quite saddening closure of an entire library system in Hood River County due to lack of funding, people may be wondering if public libraries are still relevant in the electronic age.

The answer to that query from Troutdale is a resounding yes. At the same time that Hood River citizens were watching their libraries lock their doors to the public, a brand-new Multnomah County library branch opened in Troutdale on July 12. The first-day statistics for that branch, located in Cherry Park Plaza, reveal the enthusiasm that Troutdale residents felt for their long-awaited library:

• A total of 1,409 items were checked out by 237 patrons.

• More than half the people who checked items out were from Troutdale, with the rest traveling from other parts of East Multnomah County.

• The youngest patron to check out an item was age 1, while the oldest was 88.

• A large portion of those using the library were children — 40 percent of the patrons using their library cards that day were between the ages of 6 and 18.

Our hope is that Hood River County finds a way to restore its library system when the community votes on the matter again in November. But in the meantime, we are pleased to see that there’s no lack of interest in Troutdale for newly expanded library services.

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