Our citizens, increasingly, are enjoying some of the highest quality library services available anywhere. Compared to other states, Oregon libraries have relatively modest levels of resources. Only one academic library, the Knight Library at the University of Oregon, has a collection large enough to qualify them for membership in the Association of Research Libraries. Most of Oregon's 125 public libraries are small or medium-sized. The Multnomah County Central Library in downtown Portland, when it reopens after extensive renovations next year, will still be one of the smallest central libraries in any major U. S. city.
Cooperation is the biggest key to our success.
In a state of mostly small and medium-sized libraries, we have had to learn to depend on each other to deliver the information our customers demand. We have been very effective in this. Our public libraries, collectively, rank first in the U. S. in obtaining interlibrary loans for their customers. In 1993, Oregon public libraries borrowed over 141 items for every 1,000 persons they served, more than four times the national average. Most of this cooperative activity takes place through the innovative use of computer catalog systems that are shared among groups of public libraries.