White Salmon Valley Community Library librarian Jennifer Hull holds "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher," chosen for the library's first Koobdooga: Community Reads program.
Librarian Jennifer Hull wants to share “Koobdooga” (Cube-doo-gah) with the community. It’s the title of White Salmon Valley Community Library’s first community reads program, and it twists the tongue as much as it catches the eye.
Koobdooga is “a good book” spelled backwards.
“White Salmon Reads sounds a little exclusive,” Hull said, especially since the library serves the communities of Bingen, Lyle and Trout Lake. Mary Kapp, the committee chair of the program and retired librarian, was the one who suggested the phrase. Kapp remembered the particular word hanging above the doors of the University of Oregon Library School when she attended. “She was told that a good librarian would know what that means,” said Hull. The school was suspended in 1978.
“It’s a stunning little word,” said Hull. “We posted a pronunciation guide so the staff could start practicing early.”
Koobdooga was inspired by similar programs at other libraries, such as the ones held in the Oregon towns of Hood River and Lake Oswego. White Salmon’s Friends of the Library group began planning last year. It gave out 100 free copies of “Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: the Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis” in December. The hope was to have those books passed around to neighbors, friends and relatives.
Out of 50 possible book choices, the organizers narrowed down the selection by region and relevance, and how the book related to the area’s own cultural past, the historic home of the Klickitat Tribe.
“The most stunning thing (from the book) is the perseverance of Curtis,” said Hull. “I don’t think that most mortals could have done this.”
Written by Seattle author Timothy Egan, who won a National Book Award for nonfiction for his book on the Dust Bowl and a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on race, the biography follows Curtis’ ups and downs. Curtis, a Seattle-based photographer, spent three decades documenting people of more than 80 North American tribes at the turn of the 20th century. It would become the 20-volume series “The North American Indian,” financed by J.P. Morgan. Curtis himself took no salary, and he recorded language, music and tribal lore.
In addition to the book reading, the library will host an art exhibit inspired by “Shadow Catcher.” The opening art reception on Jan. 31 will kick off a series of events, held at 2 p.m. every Saturday through the end of February.
Hull said she’s looking forward to the performance of Native American dancing by the Lyle Secondary School Culture Club on Feb. 7. There will also be a community book discussion on Feb. 14, a lecture by Maryhill Museum of Art curator Steven Grafe on Feb. 21 on Lee Moorhouse, who documented life in the Columbia Basin during the same time as Curtis. And Lance Rhoades will give a presentation on Native Americans in cinema on Feb. 28.
“It’s a real testament to the staff and the library district (that the library) has become a real place for the community,” said Hull.
Everything takes place at the White Salmon Valley Community Library, 77 N.E. Wauna Ave., White Salmon. Call 509-493-1132 or visit bit.ly/koobdooga to learn more.
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