Library of Hood River County

Outstanding library. Beautiful restored facility with a wide variety of books for adults and children. Extensive movie selection. Comfortable, safe place to relax and read.

My love of libraries knows no bounds, but still this one was pretty spectacular.
A few things I admired:
1) Located high above downtown Hood River on State Street, it gives you an expansive bird’s eye view of the Columbia Gorge. On a rainy or windy day, that is Hood River’s thing after all, I suggest you take a break from the elements here.
2) The building, which I dubbed Dracula’s Castle, is old brick and stone architecture on the outside, but with all the modern conveniences inside.
3) The kids section is expansive and dominates the lower level. They really made it special with all sorts of special lighting (think magical grotto) and the space is configured well with play areas to really let their little minds wander and imagine all sorts of interesting places. Serious bonus points for the Reading Theatre with carpeted steps instead of chairs for the audience.
4) Participates in the Oregon Library Passport Program —
. So if you are like me and love to borrow books or videos when you travel, if your home library also participates, it is an easy process.
5) Location. Not just the views, but also located conveniently in downtown Hood River. Wander down the hill to read your book in the park on a sunny day and then grab a scoop of ice cream from Mike’s. Talk about your perfect afternoon!

I can’t say that I’ve rated a library before which probably says more about me than them but when I needed assistance on a genealogical issue associated with some relatives of mine who had once lived there LHRC was there to help. It can be guaranteed that a library will have what you’re looking for. That would be a stiff order. But if they are organized and and the staff really know the place, one finds he answer — or not — quickly. LHRC is not only well-​organized in this case they also had what I was looking for.
The genealogy room is small and its resources are scarce on details about individuals who lived there in the last 100 ears or so but the records they do have are the ones that count: city and county street directories; high school yearbooks and newspapers (in paper form — no microfilm that I could see but since I didn’t need it, I didn’t’ ask, so…
If I’d had the good sense to ask for the newspaper section first, I could have saved myself a lot of time. As it was spent a couple of hours on street directories and yearbooks slowly piecing the lives of these relatives together: Where they lived. All the family members’ names. Where they attended church. The kids school activities. And toward the very end the death dates of the man and wife who stood at this family’s core. The woman was a cousin and all I had to go on was the return address on a envelope that had held a Christmas card 30 years earlier. I finally determined that she had died 20 years before her husband passed and with that date went looking for an obituary. As luck would have it when I opened the paper it was to the exact page on which the obit was printed. That obit contained virtually everything I had managed to eke out of the records over the previous few hours — everything except photographs — odd I thought, But that was the paper not the library. The library had done its job and allowed me to do mine in a herky-​jerky sort of way.
As someone else noted the library is o two levels which generally breakout as the kids and community level and the real library — the books and journals and research part. That is a great idea that every library in the country should adopt. If I were king for a day…
This was first visit ever to Hood River. It’s a quaint little town perched on the banks of the Columbia River. It has a long and storied history. But these days it’s a tourist destination. The Columbia River Gorge is he big draw but winter sports are also popular. And like most resort towns — think Aspen — it’s prices, for food, lodging and general goods sought out by visitors, are outrageous.
The Library is free.

There are quite a few things that make this library worthwhile. The library is separated into two levels, kids on the lower level and adults on the second floor. On the lower level, outside of inside part with kids, there is an area where the library is giving away free books and backdated magazines. I’m talking all sorts of magazines, and different by the day. Backpackers, Outside, Newsweek, The New Yorker, National Geographic, etc.
Upstairs, there is a sale section where books are 25 – 50 cents. The main area of the library is centered around computer terminals, and there are huge windows overlooking the Columbia Gorge and Mt. Adams. Its one of the best places to sit and read your book or peruse magazines.