The Citizens’ Oversight Committee (COC) was established by the language of Measure C, the November 2002 ballot measure that established a 1/8 cent sales tax surcharge for supporting the county’s public library system.

The first meeting was held in March, 2003, and the committee has met nearly every month since then. The original resolution, #03-104, of the Nevada County Board of Supervisors describes the goals of the committee, including making sure the library receives all library tax monies due to it, ensures that the county continues to support the library with annual Maintenance of Effort funds, i.e. the amount the county was supporting the library with at the time of the election ($565,902), ensures that all libraries in the system receive an equitable amount of the Nevada County Library Fund, advise the County Librarian on planning and budgeting, and, most importantly, “facilitate the free flow of regular communication between the Committee and all interested library patrons and organizations”.

The COC is strictly an advisory body and does not have the power to make policy. We do watch the ups and downs of the revenue flow and work with the County Librarian in making the best decisions for the good of the library system and the library users of Nevada County.

Shocked at our public library’s financial crisis and the threat of imminent privatization, Marianna Greenberg decided to get involved. In an effort to raise both money and awareness, she chose her favorite activity: making chocolate truffles. What is the library connection to truffles? A borrowed book. Earlier this year, Marianna went through a chocolate obsession. When she wants to learn more about a topic, she starts with the library. For months, her night stand was covered with library books on dessert and chocolate. After plenty of experimenting, she settled on the truffles she would offer to help out our libraries.

Enlisting friends and family, Marianna made and sold 1000 truffles, raising $1000 as a donation for the library. On November 16th, Marianna presented a check to Mary Ann Trygg for $1000 and sold some more truffles (flavored with pumpkin spice in honor of Thanksgiving), raising at least another $90. In addition to the monetary donation, Marianna wanted to tell our librarians that the community is horrified that the library system might be outsourced or its services decimated.

According to Marianna, “A public library has a soul that no private company can replace. In tough economic times, we may have to cut back, but not outsource our libraries. When the economy revives, we’ll still have our beloved system in place and we can expand again.”

Read Up, the literacy service of Nevada County Library, has been granted accreditation by ProLiteracy America, a division of ProLiteracy Worldwide, the largest nongovernmental organization of adult basic education and literacy programs in the world.

Achieving accreditation involved three stages: An assessment of strengths and weaknesses, developing and implementing a plan to attain the 16 standards, and documenting compliance with the standards. An on-site audit was conducted by a representative of ProLiteracy America’s New York based organization in July.

The literacy team instrumental in the accreditation are Linnea Kosbab, Literacy Assistant; Rolann Aronson, Literacy Specialist – Truckee; and Maryann Florine, AmeriCorps Volunteer, led by Alan Archer, Literacy Coordinator. Read Up was sponsored in the accreditation program by the California Library Literacy Service, a division of the California State Library.

Because of the difficult times being experienced by so many Nevada County citizens, the Nevada County Library has created what we call “Job Centers”. Located at both the Madelyn Helling Library in Nevada City, and the Grass Valley Library-Royce Branch, the Job Centers have centralized materials to assist job seekers in:

• Resume Writing
• Interviewing Skills
• Job Search Techniques
• Training Opportunities
• Comuter Links to Job Listings

Truckee Library also has job search materials available. These materials can be requested at any branch library for pick up.

To strengthen the effectiveness of assistance to those citizens who have lost jobs, Nevada County Library is collaborating with other key organizations in the community:

• One-Stop Business and Career Center
• Nevada County Economic Resource Center
• Gold Country Computer Learning Center

The Madelyn Helling Library is hosting One-Stop Business & Career Center classes in the library’s Community Room covering interviewing skills, resume building and customer service. Please see Community Room schedule for dates.

On July 1,2009 the Mountain Valley Library System, of which Nevada County is a part, came together with two other Systems, North Bay and North State Cooperative Library Systems to form the new NorthNet Library System. Eight library consortiums within the State providing ground transport of library materials to meet the interlibrary loan needs of library users. Nevada County’s member share for belonging to the System is $2,500 for F/Y 2009/2010.

Benefits include receiving over $1,200 in staff training dollars to increase skills in modern library best practices, presenting cooperative library programs such as the annual Summer Reading Program for children and their families and making available reference resources. This year, member libraries have acquired Chilton Library.com, an online auto repair database. Last year we acquired the Gale Virtual Reference Library (go to:http://mynevadacounty.com/databases).

Within NorthNet, librarians will administer a plan of service that betters the lives of residents living within the System by providing quality library services and programs. NorthNet geographically covers almost the whole of Northern California.