Program date: May 15, 2026
Air date: May 18, 2026
From the City Club of Eugene:
The history of the Eugene Public Library (EPL) dates back over 125 years, to 1898, when a group of women from the Fortnightly Club established a circulating library in a private room staffed by one volunteer for one afternoon a week.
Just five years later, the Oregon Legislature enacted the Oregon Library Law, leading local governments statewide to seek funding for public facilities. In 1906, Oregon’s first Carnegie Library was established at the corner of Willamette Street and East 11th Avenue.
Today, the library has three branches. The downtown branch opened on December 26, 2002 in its present location at 10th and Olive, and satellite branches operate in Sheldon and Bethel neighborhoods. With nearly 840,000 patrons using its facilities in 2024, Eugene Public Library is one of our most well-used and well-loved community institutions.
In this forum, Library Director Angela Ocaña will describe the latest programs EPL offers the community, and Dana Fleming from the Eugene Public Library Foundation will discuss the state of the library and what its future will bring.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Speakers:
Dana B. Fleming grew up in Alabama, where she was raised in a home full of books and taken regularly to the libraries in the communities where she lived.
After graduating from Birmingham-Southern College with a degree in Art History, Dana worked in a range of nonprofits focused on art, domestic violence and education in Alabama, Nevada and Arkansas.
In her time in Eugene, Dana has served as Executive Director of the Eugene Education Foundation, as a Board Member of the Lane County Cultural Coalition, and on Stand for Children’s Strategy Team.
Angela Ocaña is the Director of the Eugene Public Library. In nearly 30 years as a professional, she has worked in every facet of librarianship. Since 2017, she served in several positions at EPL, from Youth Services supervisor to Community Services manager and now as Director.
As the Youth Services manager, Ocaña helped build the Downtown Library’s Teen Center and was a leader in adapting library services through COVID restrictions. She served in the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) during the pandemic and helped shepherd the creative visions of staff for the library’s youth, adult and branch services.
Ocaña formerly served as the chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table, a forum of the American Library Association for the discussion of activities, programs and problems. She was selected as one of the ALA’s emerging leaders 2018 and has won awards for her work with teens.
About the City Club of Eugene:
The mission of the City Club of Eugene is to build community vision through open inquiry. The Club explores a wide range of significant local, state, and national issues and helps to formulate new approaches and solutions to problems. Membership is open to all, and Club members have a direct influence on public policy by discussing issues of concern with elected officials and other policy makers. The City Club’s mailing address is PO Box 12084, Eugene, OR 97440, and its website is cityclubofeugene.org.
Video and Broadcast
This program will be live streamed, and the videotape will be made available on the City Club of Eugene’s Facebook page and You Tube Channel, in addition to our website. It will be broadcast on Monday, May 18, at 7:00 p.m., on KLCC 89.7 FM.
Contact: For more information, visit CityClubOfEugene.org.