By Amber Ford The Mountain Times
While many bookworms live in and around The Mt. Hood Villages and tend to congregate in coffee shops, shady river spots or the comfort of their homes, others can be found sharing their common love of literature at The Hoodland Library in Welches.
A historic and important part of The Mt. Hood Villages, The Hoodland Library has been a dedicated community landmark since the early 1950s. The foundation was in part the mobile book stop, with the first brick and mortar in The Dorman Center, both part of the libraries of Clackamas County. In 2009 the city of Sandy began overseeing The Hoodland Library, growing the connection between communities through the shared love of reading.
With a seemingly endless variety of books to choose from, The Hoodland Library continues to provide reading services and programs to The Mt. Hood Villages. According to Hoodland Library librarian assistant, Alexandra Steinmetz, the book club is open to all members of The Hoodland library. “Every month or so we send out a list of books for bookclub members to vote on (usually fitting some sort of theme). These books can be crowdsourced suggestions from bookclub members, popular bookclub reads, or authors we may like that we’ve read before,” Steinmetz said. “We always try to ensure that each book selection has plenty of copies available in the library system in several formats including Large Print and Audiobooks to accommodate members’ needs,” Steinmetz added.
Although the bookclub is popular among those who enjoy sharing literary adventures, The Hoodland Library also offers a wide variety of activities and events for community members looking for fun on a budget. Events such as summer reading programs for children, the bi-monthly meet up of the fiber arts group, monthly lego club for kids and several lecture series are just some of the activities community members can enjoy. “Summer Reading is right around the corner and we have summer reading for all ages,” Steinmetz said.
In addition to hosting events and summer readings programs, The Hoodland Library also offers amenities for community members in need of specific services. “The Hoodland Library is a hub of the community,” Steinmetz said. “We offer services such as: free wi-fi access from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., access to computers, a community room to work in or act as a meeting space (available to book ahead of time), printing services, notary (by appointment), programs for children and adults, tech help, and so much more,” Steinmetz added.
For more information on library services or to recommend an event contact asteinmetz@ci.sandy.or.us or visit the Sandy Public Library Friends Facebook page or sandypublic_library on Instagram.