Oregon Public Broadcasting

Thousands of public library employees are gathered in Portland for a national conference.  Sessions range from "Tweens:  Lean, Mean and Green" to "Author Events Made Easy" - and everything in between.  Sari Feldman is the president of the Public Library Association, and she's the executive director of the Cuyahoga County library in Ohio. 

She said new statistics show 69 percent of people in United States are using public libraries. She added nearly one-third of Americans 14 year and older, nearly 77 million people, use a public library computer.  "The data really demonstrates that people use pubic libraries computers, even if they have computers at home because of the public library environment and the critical support system they find in a public library," she said. But even with the large number of users, Feldman said libraries across the country are seeing fewer resources..  “We’re in the perfect storm.  We’ve never been busier.  The number of users and visitors to the library are across the country, are double digit increases.  But, at the same time we are seeing declining funding throughout the country,” she said.  The Public Library Association is holding its national conference at the Oregon Convention Center through midday Saturday.

- Listen to Beth's complete interview with Sari Feldman -