Posted in Capital Campaign, Donations on April 6, 2012|

Petersburg's 'Purple Librarian' Ruth Sandvik
Ask about Ruth Sandvik in Petersburg and people smile as they share stories of the librarian adorned in purple, who played music in the library and let children read under the tables. A graduate of Reed College, Ruth came to Petersburg in 1941 and began teaching at Petersburg Schools. After taking time off to raise a family with her husband Oscar Sandvik, Ruth returned to Petersburg High School with a Masters Degree in Library Science from The University of Portland, as Petersburg’s first trained librarian. She educated the staff and students K-12 in the importance of reading and research and has been known for generations by her trademark, the purple librarian. “In library school, they told me to pick something out that made me distinctive,” Ruth explains, “so I decided to be the Purple Librarian.” Active in our local arts world and always working to improve both public and school library services, Ruth is a living example of civic involvement and a prime builder of the community library system we all enjoy today. Her 70 years of efforts to make library services relevant and universally available is a record unrivaled.
Thanks to a generous contribution from the Sandvik family a meeting room in the new library will be named in honor of Ruth and her remarkable library legacy in Petersburg.

Ruth Sandvik & Sue Paulsen with the Library Bill of Rights
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