Portland, Oregon is well documented as one of the nation’s premiere food cities. Our restaurant scene continues to innovate, and the Willamette Valley—in which we are situated—is home to inspiring, world-class produce and artisanal products.
So, shouldn't Multnomah County Library reflect and facilitate this passion for the culinary arts, in its collections, programming, and facilities?
The wait is over. Meet the Central Library Kitchen.
Located in the newly renovated Central Library in downtown Portland, the Central Library Kitchen will aim to serve as Multnomah County's hub for cooking education, culinary literacy, and community-building within the thriving food scene which surrounds us.
Generously funded in part by the Oregon Community Foundation, the Central Library Kitchen is a beautiful facility which features state-of-the-art appliances and work spaces, accommodating up to 25 cooks in a given session. The Kitchen is the focal point within a larger space which can seat up to 200 library patrons during lectures, discussions, and similar events.
We strongly believe that cooking should be inclusive and approachable, regardless of one’s experience, abilities, or socioeconomic status. Central Library Kitchen will take these values to heart by leaving no Multnomah County residents behind.
Cooking and nutrition classes, cookbook talks, chef lectures, and other programming will be designed to include seasoned home cooks as well as beginners in the kitchen; gourmet cooks, as well as those cooking fulfilling meals on a small budget; kids and teens, as well as adults; everyone, including those with disabilities, and English language learners.
Beyond the Central Library space, the Kitchen will facilitate programming within the Multnomah County Library’s other 18 branches.
A robust virtual programming initiative will serve those who physically cannot make it to the library, or who might just prefer to engage from home.
Similarly to a library café, the Central Kitchen Library will be served by its own, autonomous staff, overseeing outreach, volunteer coordination, operations, and janitorial work. Kitchen staff will report to the Kitchen Director: a liaison between the Kitchen and the library, who reports to the library director.
Our initial endowment enables the employment of four full-time staff members for five years, with audits occurring twice annually.
While library staff will play a significant role in launching and maintaining the Kitchen, volunteers and community partnerships will form the heart and soul of its daily operations.
Cooking classes and discussions may be led by chefs, restaurateurs, caterers, food writers, farmers, food scientists, and seasoned home cooks. Nutrition classes may be facilitated through partnerships with nonprofits like the Oregon Food Bank and Sunshine Division, as well as doctors and certified nutritionists. Events and outreach campaigns featuring cookbook authors will serve to promote Multnomah County Library’s ever-expanding cookbook collection.
The Central Library Kitchen will further Multnomah County Library’s mission of “Empowering our community to learn and create.”
Food is a necessity and a human right, as well as an object of passion and delight. Cooking is an essential skill, as well as an art which engages the senses and the imagination.
Through cooking instruction, community discussions, and educational events which equitably promote the pleasure of cooking, teach the importance of nutrition, and communicate the contexts of food cultures and natural ecosystems, the Central Library Kitchen will meaningfully empower community members to learn and create, while growing the library’s user base and generating awareness regarding other library services.
Action plan:
Multnomah County Library will convince library users and nonusers in and around Portland that by engaging with the Central Library Kitchen through cooking and nutrition classes, community discussions, and other in-person and virtual events, they will expand their knowledge, enthusiasm, and sense of community around food, which will fulfill them socially, physically, mentally, and emotionally, because our library’s mission reflects the inherent connection between learning and creating.
Who will the Central Kitchen Library help?
Through dynamic programming within the Kitchen, at other branch libraries, and in virtual settings, the Central Library Kitchen will serve community members while supporting and promoting individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations within the greater Portland area's culinary and agricultural industries.
Programming will help users who seek to develop their cooking skills, to improve their understanding of nutrition, and to appreciate the social, cultural, scientific, and natural contexts within which food and cooking are situated.
Equitability will be a central concern. Classes will be offered across skill and ability levels. Some will involve upscale, artisanal ingredients, while others will address cooking and meal planning with limited financial resources. Select programming might incorporate Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, and other languages commonly spoken within Multnomah County, with the intention of meeting community members where they are.
What inspired the Central Library Kitchen's development?
The Central Library Kitchen model was most directly inspired by the Culinary Literacy Center, located in the Parkway Central branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The Central Library Kitchen’s mission is similarly committed to teaching cooking and nutrition equitably, within social, cultural, and regional contexts, and forging partnerships with local organizations.
Other initiatives which have influenced the Central Library Kitchen through similar programming and facilities include the Cultural Cooks program at Maitland Public Library in Florida, and the World Cuisines project at Biblioteca del Fondo, outside Barcelona, Spain.
Guidelines & Principles
In collaboration with the library director, and with input from Kitchen staff, library staff, and volunteers, the Kitchen Director will set and maintain guidelines and policies. This cooperative process is designed with the intention of securing buy-in among all stakeholders, regardless of rank (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p. 103).
Paid events—such as cooking classes—might be offered on a “sliding scale” model, in order to ensure equitability of access. Criteria and standards for approving new classes, discussions, and other programming will be an important consideration. Advanced cooking classes will require participants to demonstrate certain competencies in order to participate, for safety and liability reasons. Food safety precautions will be enforced, based on regulations imposed by the Multnomah County Health Department.
Timeline for Implementation
Upon completion of the construction process, the Central Library Kitchen aims to open within six months.
Within this time, a planning team led by the Kitchen Director, in collaboration with key staff members, will recruit volunteers for daily operations, coordinate with library staff to establish the program within the library’s greater culture, work alongside collection managers to expand the library’s cookbook collection, organize with outside partners to create an initial programming schedule, and ensure that food safety and legal standards are codified within operating policy (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p. 53).
Marketing
The Central Library Kitchen can be promoted within branch libraries alongside cookbook displays, alongside other programming, and through the library’s social media accounts.
Outside marketing initiatives might include leafletting in areas in and around Portland with high foot-traffic (transit centers, parks, etc.), setting up booths at farmers markets, food festivals, and related events, coordinating with Portland food “influencers” on TikTok and Instagram, and exploring promotional opportunities through grocery and specialty food stores, kitchen stores, wine shops, restaurants, food banks, and other relevant establishments.
Staff Training & Coordination
The Kitchen Director will be tasked with training Kitchen staff and volunteers, and informing library staff of practices and procedures, as needed.
Once accepted into the programming schedule, leaders of cooking classes, discussions, and other events will be trained to observe and enforce guidelines and policies maintained by the Kitchen and the library, in addition to the Health Department and other legal authorities. While the Kitchen Director and support staff will lead initial trainings, frequent volunteers will be considered to facilitate future trainings, in order to promote a flat organizational structure (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p. 45).
Library reference staff will be informed of anticipated FAQs as well as programming schedules, Kitchen policies, and other key matters, enabling them to inform library users at the point of need. Collection managers will work to develop a pool of titles for a demand-driven cookbook acquisition program. The Kitchen Director will work with various library team leaders to schedule key programming during times in which the library can be sufficiently staffed.
Evaluation
In keeping with Mathews’ (2012) principle of “[planting] many seeds,” initial Central Library Kitchen programming and outreach will take many forms and target many demographics. By observing attendance of various programs, and soliciting user feedback in person, through suggestion boxes, and via social media, the library director, Kitchen Director, and select staff members and volunteers will audit specific programs and general programming types for expansion, replication, and cancellation.
Initial policies and guidelines will be formally evaluated and revised six months after the Kitchen’s launch, against feedback from users, volunteers, and staff (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p. 43). Monthly meetings, including such stakeholders as user-facing reference staff and programming leaders, will present smaller-scale opportunities for revising policies if needed. Changes to policies, as well as types of programming, will additionally be informed by user surveys, internal and external community analyses, SWOT analyses, and assessments of emerging trends within food culture.
Through inclusive leadership, inspiring marketing and outreach, and consistent evaluations for improvement, we truly believe the Central Library Kitchen can earn its reputation as the community hub of Portland and Multnomah County's thriving culinary scene.
Bon appétit!
References
Casey, M. E., & Savastinuk, L. C. (2007). Library 2.0: A guide to participatory library service. Information Today, Inc.
Mathews, B. (2012). Think like a startup: A white paper to inspire library entrepreneurialism. https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/18649/Think%20like%20a%20STARTUP.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Images courtesy of Adobe Stock
Credits:
Created with images by Olena Rudo - "Various spices in a bowls and empty cutting board on black concrete background. Top view copy space." • maxwellmonty - "downtown night life scene" • Prostock-studio - "Dinner table, women eat healthy food at home kitchen" • Radek Havlicek - "Stainless steel pots built on the stove in the restaurant kitchen" • Wolfilser - "healthy vegetables from market" • zakiroff - "Someone cooking using the computer to watch virtual culinary class" • Worawut - "Select good leader or staff and recruitment business, Businessman hand choose wooden blocks with people icons over wooden table" • Rawpixel.com - "Diverse people joining cooking class" • fahrwasser - "Chicken and cashew red curry with rice and herbs, thai inspired dish overhead view" • Worawut - "Businessman hand drawn arrow up as step stair with business strategy icons on blue background, Business development strategy, Action plan and goal concepts, copy space" • M.studio - "cooking pot with raw vegetable" • Aon Khanisorn - "Business Innovation Ideas Light Bulb Imaginative creative brainstorming" • minicase - "businessman check the work documents in office,The media reaches the operational guidelines" • Tiko - "watch on the stones" • Africa Studio - "Electronic megaphone on color background" • Bowonpat - "Plastic building blocks on blue background." • Andrii Yalanskyi - "One block with a positive face stands out from the rest of the negative emotions. Concept of good rating, review and feedback. Satisfied customers." • rh2010 - "Italian food collage"