Before the rain returned, we managed to see some of Oregon’s natural beauty on a drive out to the coast. After an hour and a half of windy mountain roads, we came to Tillamook, where the GPS kept telling us to turn left. We did, and the next thing we knew, there we were at the Tillamook County Library, which was promoting a great-sounding program – a silent film screening. The very lovely main branch is a new building opened in 2006 and was airy and welcoming.  The staff was also very welcoming: the person at the front desk turned out to be Debby Riley, who used to work with my mom at Mesa Public Library in New Mexico. (Hello to all the Los Alamos people who have been told to read this…) She told us she only works at the main branch two hours a week, so that GPS really knew what it was doing when it sent us toward the library.

Debby kindly gave us directions to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, where we sampled their amazing ice cream as a late-morning snack. After that, we headed up Highway 101, stopping at some dramatic ocean viewpoints and Arcadia beach. We saw a crew of dedicated whale watchers and noted all the warning signs about tsunami danger areas. The highway took us to Astoria, where we sadly turned out to be a few months too early for the Goonies 25th anniversary celebration. There, too, we took the opportunity to see the local library, which still had a number of card catalogs onsite to give it a classic feel.

Back in Portland on an even more beautiful day of sunny weather, we finally found the registration area after entering the convention center from exactly the wrong end. Natalie Merchant and Nicholas Kristof provided an excellent kickoff for the conference. Merchant’s songs based on poems set the mood, and she ended up in tears and with half the audience in tears as she sang an emotional thank you to the crowd. Kristof, an Oregon native, also gave the de rigeur accounting of how libraries impacted his youth. I think librarians live for nothing more than the chance to hear, just once, that they truly changed a life, so it’s very gratifying that so many speakers at our conferences share these stories. His talk about the importance of improving the lot of women around the world also touched and inspired the mostly female audience. The website for his new book with wife Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, offers a listing of organizations active in supporting women around the world. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that, after hearing his talk, I wanted to do something concrete to help.