February 20, 2025 3:40 a.m.

Roseburg Public Library Director Kris Wiley and Youth Services Librarian Aurora Ropp say they believe in giving back to the greater library community through service in statewide organizations.

A City of Roseburg release said their most recent volunteer project involves serving as program coordinators for the 2025 Oregon Library Association Conference, which will be held in April in Eugene.

The OLA conference is an opportunity to network, learn from speakers in order to stay updated on trends and best practices, meet with representatives from vendors used by the library and share Roseburg library staff’s knowledge with others, according to Wiley.

The program coordination component started in October, when Wiley and Ropp solicited session ideas from librarians, educators, and museum professionals. Over the past month, the two created the schedule, confirmed speakers and finalized descriptions for 80 sessions.

Wiley said, “Our job is nearly done, and we look forward to a fun-filled and jam-packed conference”.

Wiley will be a speaker at the conference, sharing information about the Oregon Digital Library Consortium. She is in her second and final year as ODLC chair but plans to remain the ODLC Governing Board representative for the group’s associate libraries, which are those with a service population of less than 50,000.

Ropp is in her second year as secretary of the Oregon Library Association Children’s Services Division, a group that promotes and advances library service to children and youth through public and professional education and cooperation.

Wiley said, “We enjoy these opportunities to collaborate and will continue to share our time and expertise with colleagues from around Oregon”.