The Cedar Mill & Bethany Community Libraries Association is one of the largest nonprofit libraries associations in the United States with a collection of over 250,000 items and more than 2.5 million loans annually. The Association operates two locations, Cedar Mill Library on NW Saltzman Road in Cedar Mill and Bethany Library in the Bethany Village Shopping Center.
The libraries are members of WCCLS, the Washington County Cooperative Library Services. WCCLS provides 85% of our libraries’ funding, along with automation, courier, e-books and a common library card. The WCCLS library card provides free access to the 1.6 million items shared by 16 different Washington County libraries.
Located outside city boundaries, the libraries are ineligible to receive city taxpayer support. As a nonprofit, the CMBCLA depends on your support to provide library services to residents throughout Washington County.
CMBCL Long Range Plan
Mission Statement
Provide our community an open door to the joy of reading, lifelong learning and personal enrichment, with an emphasis on the literacy development of children.
Values
We value intellectual freedom and open access to information.
We help people connect with the world by anticipating and adapting to changes in technology.
We overcome barriers to information access. We build relationships, deliver materials, and engage in partnerships to overcome physical, language and skills challenges present in the community.
We are politically neutral. We enable access to a wide variety of viewpoints through the diversity of materials available, the services we provide, the programs we offer, and the learning opportunities available in a non-commercial environment. This open access to information builds citizenship.
We value literacy, life-long learning and personal growth.
We help children develop a love of reading and learning, and we promote early literacy and school readiness.
We promote self-directed learning for all ages and believe that education is the pathway to personal empowerment.
We encourage curiosity and development of skills that enable people to acquire information.
We value our evolving community and support its diversity.
We support and welcome all people to access the library.
We offer an open, non-judgmental place that creates an intersection of people, ideas, resources and opportunities.
We foster a sense of community and encourage community involvement through outreach, partnerships and volunteerism.