Plus PSYCHED OHA makes big behavioral health investment ONE FOR THE BOOKS What a 21st-century library looks like Oregon high schools get students ready for a career in the building trades Laila Lumen, a junior at Churchill High School, works on a tiny home in the Lane County Community College Construction Lab (with other students from high schools throughout the district) that is slated to be used in the Everyone Village in Eugene. BREAKING GROUND THE EDUCATION ISSUE May 2024 | OregonBusiness.com
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⁄Contents⁄ May 2024 FEATURES 28 The Life of the Mind Educational institutions are getting a much-needed cash infusion to increase the state’s behavioral health care workforce. Experts say it’s a good start. 34 Building the Future Cover Story High schools around the state are training the next generation of homebuilders. REGULARS 6 Editor’s Letter 8 Newsfeed 14 Tactics UO president John Karl Scholz talks about the school’s growth in research and academics, and what the post-Pac-12 future could look like for the Ducks. 18 Profile: Perpetual Motion Beaverton-based Vernier Science Education’s new CEO commits to the company’s mission of serving science teachers. 22 Spotlight: Book to the Future How the Multnomah County Library — and other libraries around the state — are adapting in the face of changing technology and patrons’ needs. 48 Powerlist MBA programs ranked by enrollment 52 Downtime Live, work and play with Dr. Lisa Avery, president, Linn-Benton Community College 54 Policy Brief The CEO of Disability Rights Oregon writes about how investing in special education can net great results. Subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter featuring the best of OregonBusiness.com, plus articles from our print publication. To sign up, go to OregonBusiness.com. 22 BRAND STORIES 42 Pacific University The College of Business’s instructors emphasize experiential learning. 46 Oregon Institute of Technology Program aims to increase the number of health care providers who can serve kids diagnosed with autism. 50 Linn-Benton Community College New associate’s degree program to train surgical technologists launches in the fall of 2024. Plus PSYCHED OHA makes big behavioral health investment ONE FOR THE BOOKS What a 21st-century library looks like Oregon high schools get students ready for a career in the building trades Laila Lumen, a junior at Churchill High School, works on a tiny home in the Lane County Community College Construction Lab (with other students from high schools throughout the district) that is slated to be used in the Everyone Village in Eugene. BREAKING GROUND THE EDUCATION ISSUE May 2024 | OregonBusiness.com COVER PHOTO: Jason E. Kaplan JASON E. KAPLAN CORRECTION The story “Hometown Heroes,” which ran in the January issue of Oregon Business, incorrectly stated that MMMco. owns Kinnamons and Bae’s Chicken. The company provides management services for both brands, but they are separate entities. Oregon Business regrets the error. CHECK OUT THESE EXCLUSIVES (AND MORE) ON OREGONBUSINESS.COM n Fourth Rural Oregon Mill Closes in Seven Months — Timber operators point to longstanding economic challenges, new state forestry rules. n Oregon Community College Enrollment Up for the Second Year in a Row, Following Years of Decline — Schools around the state saw upticks, but headcounts have yet to return to pre-COVID levels. n Mac’s List Now Requires Employers to Include Salary Info With Job Listings — A pay-transparency bill dissolved in the Oregon Legislature in 2023. n Arcimoto Ordered to Pay Wilsonville Manufacturer $1M — The judgment is the latest setback for struggling Eugene EV firm. 100 BEST NEWS The 2024 100 Best Nonprofits to Work For in Oregon Survey Is Open! How satisfied are your employees with their jobs? Find out through our anonymous and confidential survey. Register at OregonBusiness.com/ NPregister. For information on how the survey works, visit OregonBusiness.com/Statements. Follow @OregonBusiness for breaking news, blogs and commentary. 4
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Mental Load THERE IS NO ESCAPING THE EFFECTS of Oregon’s behavioral health crisis. I personally would argue that the crisis has been brewing for decades — dating back at least to efforts to deinstitutionalize people with severe mental illness in the 1970s and 1980s. That was the appropriate and humane response to revelations — in both nonfiction writing and in Oregon author Ken Kesey’s landmark work One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — that patients in traditional institutions were treated horrifically, and that most did not require lengthy, involuntary periods of isolation to recover. But collectively, we failed to make a plan to ensure severely ill people would be appropriately housed and cared for. In the decades since, other failures have compounded the crisis, including an ongoing shortage of affordable housing, an uptick in the use of drugs like fentanyl and cheaper, more potent forms of methamphetamine — and a shortage of providers. Some of those problems are more difficult to tackle than others. For “The Life of the Mind” (p. 28), writer Sander Gusinow wrote about a multimillion-dollar state funding package meant to help address the shortage of behavioral health providers. The Oregon Health Authority is sending tens of millions of dollars to educational institutions around the state to help train the next generation of providers, and has also earmarked funds to help employers recruit and retain great providers. As the story notes, some experts say this package is just the beginning of what it will take to address the shortage — but the help is needed. For “Building the Future” (p. 34), Amy Milshtein looked at a series of programs around the state that aim to do two things: The first is to train high school students in job skills they can use right after graduation. The second is to help ease the housing crisis by increasing the number of quality workers in yet another industry — construction — facing ongoing labor shortages, which in turn is one of the drivers of the affordable-housing crisis. The coolest part? Students in these programs get to build real homes in their communities for class credit. It’s a model that’s gotten more attention from the state, which has earmarked more funding for career and technical education across the board. For “Book to the Future” (p. 22), I set out to write about the recent changes to Multnomah County’s Central Library. That story ended up being about how changes in technology have affected how libraries serve the public, and how library systems in Multnomah County and elsewhere have adapted. In some cases, the changes are minor and somewhat intuitive — there are more outlets at Multnomah County now, making it easier for patrons to charge their devices. Some were surprising and more complex, like the way copyright issues around e-books are affecting libraries. And then there’s the fact that libraries have increasingly become frontline social services providers — in Multnomah County’s case, partnering with organizations to have trained social workers on staff. As we put this issue together, our small staff underwent a big change. Longtime staff writer Sander Gusinow left the magazine to pursue other creative endeavors, and Garrett Andrews — a seasoned reporter who’s covered business and other beats around the state of Oregon — joined the team. It’s an exciting time to be covering business in Oregon, and we look forward to bringing you more stories about the changes and challenges we collectively face. ⁄From the Editor⁄ EDITORIAL EDITOR Christen McCurdy christenm@oregonbusiness.com ART DIRECTOR Joan McGuire joanm@oregonbusiness.com STAFF WRITER Garrett Andrews garretta@oregonbusiness.com STAFF WRITER Sander Gusinow STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Jason E. Kaplan jasonk@oregonbusiness.com COPY EDITOR Morgan Stone CONTRIBUTING WRITER AND PHOTOGRAPHER Jake Cornett, Amy Milshtein, Shannon Theall PUBLISHING PUBLISHER Courtney Kutzman courtneyk@oregonbusiness.com EVENTS MANAGER Craig Peebles craigp@oregonbusiness.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Evan Morehouse evanm@mediamerica.net ADVERTISING AND PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Greta Hogenstad gretah@mediamerica.net DIGITAL PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Alison Kattleman alisonk@mediamerica.net PRESIDENT AND CEO Andrew A. Insinga CONTROLLER Bill Lee BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIRMAN André W. Iseli PRESIDENT Andrew A. Insinga SECRETARY William L. Mainwaring TREASURER Win McCormack VOLUME 47 ⁄ NUMBER 4 OREGON BUSINESS (ISSN 02798190) is published 8 times per year, monthly except Mar/Apr, Jul/Aug and Oct/Nov/Dec issues, by MEDIAmerica Inc. at 12570 S.W. 69th Ave., Suite 102, Portland OR 97223. Subscription inquiries should be directed to 503-445-8811. Subscription charge is $24.95 per year, $49.95 for two years in the USA. Single copies and back issues available at above address and at selected newsstands. The editor is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. Copyright © 2024 by MEDIAmerica Inc. All rights reserved. All material is protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Printed in Oregon. Periodicals Postage Paid at Portland, OR. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Oregon Business, 12570 S.W. 69th Ave., Suite 102, Portland OR 97223 6
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ECONOMY & FINANCE ●Wined & Dimed. Oregon’s booming wine industry earned $8.1 billion in 2022 compared to $7.2 billion in 2019, according to the Oregon Wine Board, which released its latest Economic Impact Report in February. ●Billion to One. The lucky person who purchased a winning Powerball ticket worth $1.3 billion from a Northeast Portland Plaid Pantry came forward in April to claim the jackpot. HEALTH CARE ●Access Granted. The Oregon Health Authority launched a website in March to help explain reproductive health care policies to patients. Under Oregon law, abortion is legal and residents of other states may travel here for an abortion. ●Music City Mayhem. A ransomware attack on Nashville-based third-party payment system Change Healthcare in February caused disruptions for health care providers around the country, including Oregon systems such as Providence and Kaiser Permanente. POLITICS ●House Money. The Oregon Legislature passed three bills that will direct a combined $376 million to cities around the state to address homelessness and housing unaffordability. Gov. Tina Kotek set an ambitious goal of building 36,000 homes per year or around double the current rate. ●State of Repair. With a swipe of Gov. Kotek’s pen in March, Oregon passed one of the nation’s strongest Right to Repair laws. Senate Bill 1596 goes further than other states by requiring electronics manufacturers to provide tools and information to help consumers repair their devices. ●A-Drazan Race. Two years after her unsuccessful bid for governor, former Oregon House Republican leader Christine Drazan announced her bid to challenge Canby’s James Hieb in the Republican primary for Oregon’s 51st House District. MANUFACTURING ●Shoe Fall. In February, Nike announced plans to lay off nearly 2% of its global workforce (around 1,600 people) as part of a three-year plan to cut costs. At press time, the sportwear giant announced 740 people at its Beaverton headquarters would lose their jobs. ●Bella! Nick’s Italian Cafe, long a Willamette Valley wine - country fixture, announced plans to reopen after closing in July. The new owners are the team behind Earth & Sea in Carlton, who say they want to honor the tradition of chef Nick Peirano, who founded the eatery in 1977. TOURISM & HOSPITALITY ●Get Starstruck. Lake County’s Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary was recently certified as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary, becoming the largest in the world. FARMS & FORESTS ●Burning Cash. In March a Portland jury awarded $42 million to 10 people affected by the 2020 Labor Day wildfires. The sentence concluded a class-action lawsuit against energy company PacifiCorp. ●Law School. A school district in the Clatsop State Forest sued the state alleging the recently passed Western State Forests Habitat Conservation Plan will force cuts of staff and services. The Jewell School District claims the plan, which reduces the volume of wood harvested in the forest, could cost the small district $1 million per year in revenue. EDUCATION ●Learning Loss Leader. A 30-state study by researchers at Harvard and Stanford found that following the pandemic, Oregon students remain three-quarters of a year behind in math and two-thirds of a year behind in reading. ●CHIPS Ahoy! Computer electronics manufacturer Intel announced it will spend $36 billion to expand its chipmaking operation in Hillsboro. The company had earlier received $8.5 billion from the 2022 federal CHIPS and Science Act. TECH ●Bad Apple. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum joined 15 other state AGs in a federal antitrust lawsuit alleging Apple maintains an illegal monopoly on smartphones. ●Semi Pro. With the passage of House Bill 4154, the Oregon Legislature established a $10 million fund to train the next generation of semiconductor workers at public universities and community colleges. RESTAURANTS & RETAIL ●Desert Froth. Grants Passbased coffee chain Dutch Bros. announced it will move 40% of its administrative staff to Phoenix, Ariz., by 2025. ●Seasons Greetings. Portland-Vancouver grocery chain New Seasons cut the ribbon on its latest location — its 20th — off Highway 224 in Milwaukie. ⁄Newsfeed⁄ The Milky Way shines over Lake County’s Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary. SHANNON THEALL Guess you better keep on working. 8
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⁄Tactics⁄ You were hired last March and started in July. How has it been so far? You’re probably speaking to the luckiest person you’ll encounter in the next year. The last eight months, I’ve been getting to learn a new great university. It’s a beautiful setting, people have been incredibly supportive and warm. It’s an outstanding university, the outside is breathtaking — and so it’s really exhilarating. Stepping back, I think what universities do in society is really precious, right? There’s not very many institutions where they’re organized around bringing people together from very disparate backgrounds. The military, for instance, might be another that brings people from very different walks of life and then organizes around a mission. What’s distinctive about the higher- education sector is it’s organized around the transmission of knowledge to the students that we serve, and the creation of knowledge and serving our city, the region, the state, the world. There’s no other sector that’s organized around that. So the opportunities to play a key role in what a university of the caliber of the University of Oregon truly is a dream come true. Dr. John Karl Scholz Reflects on His First Year at UO The university’s president talks about what drew him to Eugene, why the school is bucking enrollment trends and what’s next for the post-Pac-12 Ducks. INTERVIEW BY CHRISTEN McCURDY In May 2023, the University of Oregon’s board of trustees named Dr. John Karl Scholz as the university’s 19th president. According to a university press release, Scholz was selected following a six-month international search conducted by a 22-member presidential search committee comprised of trustees, students, faculty, staff, and academic and administrative leaders, as well as representatives from higher education outside of the community. Scholz’s predecessor, Michael Schill — credited with increasing the size of the school’s endowment and launching new academic projects like the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact and the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, as well as increasing financial aid and graduation rates—served as president for seven years and announced his departure from the school in August 2022 after accepting an offer to lead Northwestern University. Scholz, an economist by training, came to Eugene from the University of Wisconsin- Madison, where he had spent the bulk of his career, starting as a professor and more recently serving as the school’s provost. Scholz, who received his undergraduate degree from Minnesota’s Carleton College and his Ph.D. from Stanford, taught at UW-Madison’s department of economics and he has also worked for the Council of Economic Advisers and the U.S. Treasury Department under presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, respectively. This interview has been edited for space and clarity. 14
JASON E. KAPLAN What stood out to you about the University of Oregon as you were interviewing for the position? Going through an interview process, you never really know an institution in great detail. You’re trying to get the best impression that you can, but it’s really the old metaphor of trying to figure out which part of the elephant [you’re touching]; you may be on a trunk, when the legs and the tail are really where the action is. With that caveat, going into the interview, I knew that U of O is recognized as one of 71 universities in the AAU (Association of American Universities). These are America’s leading research universities: There are over 2,500 four-year colleges and universities in the country, so to be designated as one of the top 71 — that’s rarefied air. That’s very exciting, that you’re going to one of the finest institutions in the world. I knew about things like the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact and the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health. These are areas of really breathtaking expertise that are attractive for any ambitious higher-education leader. Then getting here and spending time, the elephant comes more fully into view. I get to learn about the creative-writing program here that is one of the 10 best creative writing programs in the country. I get to learn about the Oregon Bach Festival, which is just an incredible cultural resource. I get to learn that the canonical organism for geneticists, the zebrafish, their use was pioneered here, and we still raise most of the zebrafish that are used in research around the world in genetics. It’s been almost a kid-ina-candy-store type of experience. Enrollment at most higher-education institutions in Oregon — and my impression is nationally — has been declining a bit in the last few years. And there’s been a lot of worry that we’re about to hit a demographic cliff in enrollment. But U of O has bucked that trend; I think you just enrolled your second -argest freshman class last fall. Why do you think that is? I think the answer is that we are doing a wonderful job with the education we provide. There are lots of components to that. One is we’re in a stunningly beautiful setting in the magnificent Pacific Northwest. The campus is architecturally homogeneous; it’s a beautiful spot. Equally or more important to that is the staff and faculty here are really focused around what really matters, and that is delivering outstanding educational experience. We get great students here and they have a good experience. They bring that back to their communities and their families and others. They are our best marketing. It’s a combination of just a vibrant place, wonderful students who have great experiences, and that feeds on itself. I’ll say we are in a very privileged position in the higher education landscape, and we don’t take that for granted. We work really, really hard to try to continue to constantly be better. What is the demographic mix in terms of students coming from in state versus out of state? It’s roughly 50-50, I believe, though I believe last year we had our highest number of Oregonians that we have ever had, and we’re very proud of that. [Editor’s Note: According to information published on UO’s website, in fall 2023, 51.3% of UO’s students — 12,237 people — were Oregon residents.] We really are very focused on serving the state; we are a state institution and take that seriously. Out-of-state enrollments have been strong, and that’s necessary both because it adds vibrancy to the campus and is also important for the underlying economics of the university. I also want to ask about sports. Twenty years ago, U of O sports, and especially U of O football — I think people mostly knew about it if they were from the Northwest. That was where most of the fan base was. Now it is a nationally known brand; I can go elsewhere in the country and buy Ducks gear because of the transformation of the brand and the team. Now U of O has departed the Pac-12 conference. Do you have any thoughts on the future of the program — thinking of football, in particular, but also athletics across the board? When you said, “I want to ask about sports,” my immediate thought was, “Oh, there’s sports teams at Oregon?” [Laughs] My career in comedy is not going to go very well. But to answer your question: Oregon athletics is a wonderful benefit to the university. I view it as a wonderful asset in that it helps lots of students and families from around the country become familiar with the University of Oregon. The first thing they may know about us is the uniforms of the football team or the reputation for innovation. Then they dig in a little bit and say, “Oh, Phil Knight went to the University of Oregon, and Nike came out of the work that Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight did.” We’re deeply, deeply proud of the success that the football team has had. There’s been this big upheaval in intercollegiate athletics. I coincidentally was the interim chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when UCLA and USC moved from the Pac-12 to the Big 10, so I was closely observing that. Before that, Texas and Oklahoma moved to the SEC. I’m grateful that Oregon has been able to join the Big 10. At the same time, I’m mindful of the challenges that are being presented to Oregon State; I have a great deal of empathy for them as they chart their new future. It’s created some challenges in the state, because the Pac-12 has been a venerable athletic conference that we’ve been very grateful to be part of for a long time. But the landscape was absolutely shifting. It was important, I think, for the future of the University of Oregon to do what puts our university in the best possible position going forward. The most I’ll say is those changes aren’t done. [Editor’s Note: After Scholz spoke with OB, Oregon State and Washington State — the two schools who chose to remain in the Pac-12 conference — reached a settlement agreement with the 10 schools that departed the conference last year. The two schools combined will receive $65 million from the departing institutions, which include UO. The settlement followed a lengthy legal battle.] What do you do when you’re not at work? I love the outdoors. I historically have been an avid recreational runner. So being in TrackTown USA is nice. I love food and wine, and then just getting to know the community, the region and meeting people. It’s just wonderful. 15
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⁄Profile⁄ Perpetual Motion BY CHRISTEN McCURDY IT STARTED OUT WITH what Dave Vernier describes as “a few little computer programs.” The programs were written to help students do things like make graphs, or to simulate things kids couldn’t easily do in the real world, like launch satellites or study projectile motion. “Apple IIs got pretty popular in schools,” says Vernier, who was then working as a physics teacher in Hillsboro. “When I got started writing programs for them, I saw right away that they really helped me in my teaching. Then I said, ‘Well, there are a lot of other people that have these, and maybe we could try start selling them.” His wife, Christine, who had worked as a social worker and the manager of a law firm, took out an ad. It was supposed to just be a summer gig for Dave—but the software sold. Hardware followed. The Verniers learned how to build photogates — timing devices that measure times of the changes in state of an infrared beam, making for extremely accurate timing of physics experiments. They can be used for studying free fall, air-track collisions and the speed of a rolling object, and they have in recent decades become a staple in physics labs. “We just would tell people how to build these photogates, and eventually people said, ‘I don’t want to build them, you build them,” Christine Vernier tells Oregon Business. “So we got into the hardware thing. But we really never did plan to; for a long time, it was just going to be a part-time job.” Vernier Science Education incorporated in 1981, with Dave as CEO. He served in that role until 2015, when John Wheeler took over. Now Jill Hedrick has taken the reins at the Beaverton-based company. A veteran of the educational tech industry and the daughter of a teacher herself, Hedrick says the company is continuing its emphasis on working directly with teachers to make sure Vernier’s products meet their needs. Part of that is recognizing the ways in which the education field is changing, she says. In recent years, in part due to COVID, Vernier Science Education’s new CEO, Jill Hedrick Beaverton-based Vernier Science Education has provided tools for science classrooms since 1981. Now the company is transitioning to a perpetual purpose trust so it can maintain its commitment to serving teachers — and has hired a new CEO to lead the way. 18
a large number of educators have retired or left the field to do other things, which means there’s a large new cohort of teachers coming to the classroom who are newly certified. And many, she notes, have gone through “nontraditional paths to becoming a teacher.” “One of the things that we are always thinking about — because it is our charter — is this legacy of service to educators. If groups of educators are shifting, we need to understand how we continue to serve newer teachers and having a higher percentage of new teachers in each school environment than we may have seen historically,” says Hedrick. “That’s been a fascinating way of just thinking about what we need to do in order to continue to be a trusted partner.” Vernier announced Hedrick’s hiring in March. Hedrick’s résumé includes executive positions at Northwest Evaluation Association, which creates academic assessments for K-12 students, and Turnitin, which makes a plagiarism-detection tool, as well as roles at other technology companies. “My dad was a teacher and a principal and an administrator, and later taught at the university level, so it was something that impacted me from the very earliest age—the idea of education being the great equalizer, the value and importance of education, and really understanding the experience of a teacher, and an administrator, having lived with one,” Hedrick says. “So it felt very natural for me to be having conversations with educators and school district administrators—and a couple of the companies that I’ve been a part of also served higher ed. It very much comes from the heart.” According to the Verniers, Hedrick was one of three finalists for the position, found after a nationwide search. They weren’t expecting to recruit from Oregon but found the right fit in Hedrick, who has lived in the Portland area since 2010. “Jill really stood out as somebody who got it — who understood our mission, who was passionate about it, who was passionate about people and our culture,” says Dave Vernier, who has continued to serve as co-president of the company since stepping down from the CEO role. Since its founding, Vernier’s product line has expanded to include temperature probes, sensors, lab equipment and spectrometers, primarily used in K-12 science classrooms. Customers are very often science teachers making purchases with their own classroom purchasing budgets, though they may also be principals or district-level administrators making purchases, Hedrick says. “The other thing is, Jill has experience with selling to school districts,” Dave adds. “And that’s critically important, as in the past, we’ve marketed mostly directly to teachers. We would impress some particular physics teacher in the old days, and maybe when they got a budget for the year, they’d buy some stuff from us. It was strictly teacher to teacher, but now that the world is changing, so much more of the sales of things to education is done on a district-wide basis, and she’ll have some experience with that.” Hedrick steps in as the company transitions to a perpetual purpose trust — a model that transfers stock ownership to a trust, with the stipulation that funds be used to maintain a specific mission. Dave says the board decided to shift to a perpetual trust model after exploring various models for a succession plan when Wheeler announced his retirement. The perpetual purpose trust model — also recently adopted by the outdoor-gear company Patagonia — was appealing because it meant the company’s commitment to education would never change, Dave says, and that the company’s culture and structure could remain intact. “In establishing the trust, you set up these objectives, and so our objectives are things like — of course — be financially stable, but also take care of our customers, take care of our employees, give back to the community, be sustainable, environmentally sustainable, have the best tech support in the industry” Dave tells OB. “All those sorts of things that we do now are all laid out in writing, and the company has to report to a trust board every year, saying, ‘OK, what have you done to meet all these objectives?’ The whole formality of it gave us assurance that the company could continue the way it is, and that it would act the same way, which was reassuring to us and to the other partners.” “They’re one of these businesses that does a lot beyond just selling their products,” says Erika Shugart, CEO of the National Science Teaching Association, a professional association with 35,000 members. She notes that the National Academy of Science’s 2012 Framework for Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards that followed it both place a much heavier emphasis on hands-on learning than prior educational standards — the type of education Vernier’s products were created for. “They were really ahead of the game there and have been well positioned to help support educators in their classrooms,” Shugart tells OB, adding that the company is a frequent exhibitor at its national conference and sponsors memberships that give teachers a discount when they join the organization. The company, which currently employs 118 people, frequently appears on OB’s annual 100 Best Companies to Work For and 100 Best Green Workplace lists, and Hedrick says part of the draw of working for the company was the opportunity to continue philanthropic partnerships with organizations like the Oregon Zoo and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. “For me, my passion around it really comes from this idea that we can do good for education through the use of technology, because it enables a personalization of an educational experience that we haven’t always had,” Hedrick says. “It’s a slow transition. But it’s also a really, really important one.” PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN Jill Hedrick’s new role was announced in March this year. 19
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⁄Spotlight⁄ PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN Multnomah County’s Central Library was built in 1893 and last renovated around the time of its 100th birthday. Now it’s undergone another refresh — one meant to bring it in line with library trends. BY CHRISTEN McCURDY FROM THE OUTSIDE, Multnomah County’s Central Library doesn’t look much different than it did when it closed early last year. There’s more outdoor seating — and hopes for outdoor events, including concerts, this summer — but it’s still the same three-story brick building that has occupied a city block at Southwest 10th and Yamhill for 131 years. Inside the building, the change is a little more obvious — especially on the first floor. The Friends of the Library bookstore has been moved from its out-of-the-way corner right off the foyer to a glass-walled space at the center of the first floor. Patrons can still pick up books on hold from the first floor, but what used to be the beginning of what was called the Popular Library — mostly adult fiction, teen material and new books, all in English — is now a collection of works in four languages, as well as large print. The fiction collection is now on the second floor, in a room previously occupied by periodicals — which are still on the second floor but have moved to the north side of the building. Other areas look more familiar. The Beverly Cleary Children’s Room has retained much of its familiar and much-loved art, including a bas-relief of Alice in Wonderland (made during the 1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration’s federal arts project) and an elaborate bronze tree sculpture made by Dana Lynn Louis and Barbara Eiswerth for the 1993 remodel. But books for teenagers have their own section within the children’s room, and there’s now a meeting room inside the children’s room for kids’ events, including teen book clubs. “Anyone who has teens knows they want their own spot,” Shelly Jarman, the Central Library’s regional manager, told Oregon Book to the Future Business during a March tour of the building, which reopened in February. The Central Library’s recent remodel is the result of a bond measure passed by voters in 2020 that provides $387 million — $13 million of which went to the Central Library — to update buildings throughout the library system. Some of the decisions are simple technological shifts, like installing an automatic sorting system, which Jarman says every other large library system in the country already has. Others reflect the changing needs of patrons, New movable shelving at right provides multiple benefits. Formerly, shelving was the same height as those seen at left. 22
who are increasingly likely to read e-books rather than physical books, and increasingly likely to request physical books online rather than browsing. And other changes simply reflect the changing meaning of libraries — as shared public spaces with no commercial purpose and, increasingly, frontline social services providers. AMONG THE MOST NOTICEABLE changes at the Central Library: The bookshelves are shorter, and there aren’t as many of them. That’s true in the children’s room but also throughout the building, where most — but not all — of the towering shelves have been replaced with 45- or 54-inch shelves. There are several reasons shelves are shorter. In the children’s room, there was a fairly intuitive reason to bring shelf heights down: Tall, cavernous shelves — most were more than seven feet tall — just aren’t accessible for shorter patrons, including new readers. The old shelves were also not accessible to wheelchair users of any height, and the new, shorter shelves are more earthquake-safe. And then there is the matter of security. “When the shelves are lower, you can see across the entire space,” Jarman says, making it easier for staff to monitor behavior in the facility. But the reduced number of shelves may be the most noticeable change — and the one most remarked upon, even before the remodel had finished. In February 2023, Willamette Week reported that the number of books and periodicals available at the Central Library would be reduced by 49.7% after the refresh — from 394,723 to 198,534. “All of us that love libraries, we like to get lost in the books,” Jarman says. Some areas in the Central Library still include high shelves, and the library’s overall circulation has not changed, according to library spokesperson Shawn Cunningham. And in fact, the number of materials in circulation at Central didn’t reduce by as much as anticipated: There are now about 267,000 items on browsable shelves, and about 220,000 are in closed stacks — reserved for items that rarely circulate — at Central. The bond has helped fund the construction of an operations center at Northeast 122nd and Glisan, where physical materials like books and other items can be stored. Cunningham says about 140,000 books were moved from Central to the operations center during the refresh; the site currently holds 273,000 items, and will be able to hold 500,000 items at full capacity. About 40% of checkouts happen through a hold, according to Cunningham, and having a central storage space streamlines Classroom Laptop borrowing station Holds shelves Teen meeting room 23
the logistical process through which holds are fulfilled. The relative ease — at least for tech-savvy patrons — of requesting a book through the library’s website isn’t the only way in which Multnomah County is adapting to technological changes. The common areas in Central Library are now dotted with large portable charging stations at which patrons can charge their devices, a change that required some minor electrical work, Jarman says. Another major change — one that was already in progress but that accelerated after the COVID-19 pandemic hit — is the rise of e-books. According to Cunningham, the number of digital checkouts in fiscal year 2023 was 5.8 million, up from 3.5 million in 2019. “It’s not that people aren’t still reading print books — a lot of people still do — but that balance has shifted quite a bit in terms of people’s preferences,” says library director Vailey Oehlke. That’s not a bad thing in any librarian’s eyes — having more ways to access books is always a net positive — but the ascendance of e-books has also posed some notable challenges for library budgets. When a person or institution buys a physical book, “it’s my copy of the book,” Wendy Cornelisen, state librarian for the state of Oregon, tells Oregon Business. “Copyright gives me the power as the owner now of this book to do whatever I want with it. When I’m done with it, I can resell it, I can give it to the library, I can pass it off to friends to read and hope they bring it back. But this is my property. This is my book.” With e-books the terms are different. “For the most part, when libraries are contracting with — usually not directly with a publisher — but with a third-party aggregator, they are licensing content, so there are license terms for that e-book. It’s essentially renting the title for a specific period of time. One of the things that we’ve seen recently in that e-book marketplace is that publishers are putting forth terms through the aggregators that limit the number of times an e-book can be checked out. There are some terms that are like, ‘Hey, library, you can have that book checked out 26 times,’ which kind of feels a little arbitrary.” Digital licenses cost more than the purchase of a physical book — and they also cost more than it would cost a consumer to purchase an e-book. In 2019 the American Library Association used the example of the 2014 novel All the Light We Cannot See. At that time, an individual consumer would pay $12.99 for a digital version of the book; a library would pay about $52 to license it for two years. “They say things like, ‘Oh, well, our research has shown that the average print material only circulates 13 times before it falls apart.’ Well, OK, where’d you get that information from? How do you know? Like, did you talk to us?” says Buzzy Nielsen, the program manager for State Library Services for the State Library of Oregon. When e-books were new, a purchase was much more like a traditional book purchase, and libraries could keep electronic copies forever. But the shifting terms have driven library costs way up. Nielsen served as library director of the Crook County Library from 2016 to 2020, and he estimates that in his time there, the amount of money the library spent on digital acquisitions more than doubled, from about $15,000 a year to about $35,000 a year. In Multnomah County, the digital acquisitions budget for 2023 — $1.5 million — is up only slightly from 2019, when it was $1.2 million. Legislatures in some states have sought more reasonable terms for e-book access, and there have been conversations at the federal level as well. Oehlke and Cornelisen say they’re hoping to see some change, either at the federal or state level. Top: View of the north side of Central Library’s second floor in 2024. Middle:Tthe same view in 2019. Above: Many users access online materials through Libby, an app available for phones and tablets. 24
“I’ve been hoping that we can get some traction here in Oregon, and so far that hasn’t happened, but I’m not giving up,” Oehlke says. ONE OF THE OTHER CHANGES that’s immediately noticeable when one enters the new Central Library: There’s an office just off the entryway, near the location of the former bookstore, for community resource counselors. Since 2016 Cascadia Health has staffed a Library Crisis Team to provide resources to patrons, but having a visible but private office for the resource workers is new. In 2021, according to Cascadia, the crisis team served 454 clients: 43% were houseless, 11% were housed and 46% had an unknown housing status. The nature of the services provided varies, Cunningham says. Sometimes it’s a matter of connecting patrons with food, shelter or jobs, and sometimes it’s a matter of working with a patron in acute crisis to calm them down. Part of the idea is to take a more proactive approach to security—with the understanding that libraries are one of few spaces where members of the public are welcome, without the expectation that they buy something in order to be allowed to sit down or use the bathroom. Since OB’s visit to the Central Library, branches across the system have experienced service disruptions due to a change in the union contract that means library staff can’t be required to serve as the person in charge of security concerns if they are the only person on duty. A March audit found that more than 40% of Multnomah County library staff feel unsafe at work, reporting more than 2,000 violations of library rules between January and December 2022, more than half of which took place at the Central Library. Incidents reported include violent threats, sexual harassment and drug overdoses — and staff noted that police rarely responded when 911 was called. They did note that they feel safer at work when there is a security person on the job, which most library branches have. “What we’re seeing outside, on the streets and in the parks of our community — that behavior is also happening in library buildings,” Oehlke says. In addition to hiring social workers and security guards, the library is looking into hiring peer support specialists to work directly with people dealing with addiction. Multnomah County Library is not alone in offering social services to patrons — either in the state or nationwide — or in making more space for community gatherings, whether in small, informal reading areas or meeting rooms, which according to Jarman and Oehlke are in consistent high demand. “That is a very strong story coming out of urban libraries now, where I think you have seen an increase in numbers, or you have seen an increase in the depth of service and the depth of need that people have coming in — particularly post-pandemic,” says Stephanie Chase, the executive director for Libraries of Eastern Oregon, who is also serving on the executive board of directors for the American Library Association. “Rural libraries have really had that on their plates for a long time. When you’re working in a small community, you have a real sense of who’s struggling. There are not a lot of places to go to try to find help.” While smaller libraries may not have social workers on staff, many are shifting their approach — and training — to address increasing rates of homelessness in rural areas, as well as ongoing problems with “Rural libraries have really had that on their plates for a long time. When you’re working in a small community, you have a real sense of who’s struggling. There are not a lot of places to go to try to find help.” STEPHANIE CHASE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR LIBRARIES OF EASTERN OREGON A new digital sorting machine and closed stacks are in the library’s basement. 25
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Oregon’s mental-health system faces a double whammy: Demand for care is at an all-time high, but the workforce is shortstaffed. In 2022 a report by the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission showed Oregon was short 36,000 behavioral-health care workers, and that six Oregon counties did not have a single psychiatrist. Another 2022 report compiled by the Oregon Health Authority found behavioral-health care workers were concentrated in Multnomah County and largely underrepresented everywhere else in the state. The shortage has proven lethal: Last year a mental-health worker, who was working alone on a night shift, was killed by a patient at McCarthy Place, a Gresham facility operated by Cascadia Health. The state Legislature responded to the challenge by passing House Bills 4071 and 2949 during the 2021 and 2022 regular sessions, which granted the OHA $60 million to build out the state’s mental-health workforce as part of its Behavioral-health workforce Initiative, as well as $20 million to provide clinical supervision to new entrants into the field. The fund includes millions in grants to eight Oregon universities—Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, Eastern Oregon University, Bushnell University, Lewis & Clark College, and Pacific University— to increase their capacity to take students through housing assistance, loan repayment, scholarships and child care subsidies. Now in its first year of distribution, the Behavioral-health workforce Initiative is already increasing the amount of students being trained in behavioral health. But experts say that staffing and recruitment play a major role in addressing the state’s behavioral health needs, finding solutions to burnout, poor administrative infrastructure, licensing challenges, and a chronically traumatic work environment will be equally critical to addressing the workforce shortage. Christa Jones, director of behavioral health strategic projects at the Oregon Health The state is beefing up funding to help train new mental health care workers. But experts say improving the pipeline is just the beginning. By Sander Gusinow Where Will the Money Go? $20 million of the OHA's funding package is earmarked for clinical supervision at behavioral-health organizations, community- health organizations and tribal behavioral- health organizations. $60 million is earmarked for: n Loan repayment n Housing and child care assistance n Bonuses and stipends for supervisors of interns n Subsidized dual certification with a specific focus on rural and vulnerable populations n Scholarships and other tuition assistance n Stipends for students enrolled in graduate behavioral-health programs n Other programs and incentives The Life of the Mind JOAN McGUIRE 28
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