January 12, 2021 9:30 a.m. 

Roseburg Public Library has been chosen to be one of 200 libraries to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Communities, an American Librarian Association initiative that helps library workers better serve their small and rural communities.

Library Director Kris Wiley said the competitive award for the Community Read Project comes with a $3,000 grant that will help the library implement its first Roseburg Reads community book project in partnership with the Douglas Education Service District and Friends of Roseburg Public Library.

Wiley said the project will support conversations about rural and generational poverty, housing instability, addiction and barriers that keep children of hardship from reaching their potential. The memoir “rough house” by Oregon author Tina Ontiveros will be used to frame the discussion. The book explores the author’s upbringing with her “charming yet abusive” father, who spent his final years in Douglas County. The book was published last September and is on the short list for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award.

Wiley said the library will have an online discussion about the book in April. A conversation with the author will be held virtually in May. That will be followed by a memoir-writing workshop led by the author.

Copies of “rough house” are already available and many more have been ordered by the library. Contact the library for more information on the Community Read Project.

Kris Wiley talked about it on the Morning Conversation Tuesday on the Morning Conversation on News Radio 1240 KQEN. That interview is a KQEN Podcast at www.541radio.com.