How do you make history exciting and real to today’s always-connected students? You meet them online. For the last few years, the Washington State Library, Washington State Archives, and Legacy Washington have been meeting with Washington teachers. We asked for their help in finding a better way to serve our education community, promote education and… Read more
Recently, a pair of solicitations for money surfaced that insinuated connections to the Office of Secretary of State. Although each is easy to debunk with a little research, their appearance is a good reminder that if you have questions about a bill, check it out before you send a check. In the first case, about which the Secretary of State has issued an official press release to raise… Read more
In late April, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife hosted an event in the rotunda of the Natural Resources Building for Records Awareness Day, fondly referred to as “RAD Fair.”… Read more
Now that filing week for candidates to get onto Washington ballots for the 2018 August Primary and November General Election has passed, along with the May 21st deadline for candidates to withdraw their names, here are a few quick facts about this year's election lineup With 596 races to be decided on levels from local to federal, 1,151 candidates filed to run — including 30 candidates for U.S. Senate, which is one of the largest fields in Washington history. It isn't a state record, though… Read more
Have you ever wondered why there's a place called “Humptulips”? What about “Medical Lake”? If you’ve ever speculated why certain places in Washington are named the way they are, you’ll probably be interested in knowing more about the… Read more
Several public libraries in eastern Washington have been hard at work this year preserving local history with assistance from the State Library’s Washington Rural Heritage program. Whitman County Library, based in Colfax, continues its countywide campaign to digitize the unique historical materials held by small museums and historical societies, local families, clubs, and other community organizations. In its tenth year, the Library’s… Read more
For the past 13 years, the Washington State Library has sponsored a contest called Letters About Literature. The straightforward contest asks students in grades 4-12 to write a letter to an author about how his or her book changed their view of the world or themselves.… Read more
The Washington Talking Book & Braille Library held a paw-some event Saturday, May 5! Emerald City Pet Rescue, a pet rescue agency based in Seattle, presented its services and brought some special-needs dogs for WTBBL's youth patrons to meet. Caregivers of the pets from Emerald City Pet Rescue shared the unique stories of the dogs, emphasizing that we all have special circumstances and challenges to overcome. The children learned about the rescue and care of pets with special needs and… Read more
Although fervent politicking began weeks ago in races across the state, the official start of election season arrives Monday, with the beginning of Candidate Filing Week 2018. From May 14-18, candidates for federal, state, and local offices from county commissioner to U.S. Senator must register with county elections offices or the Office of Secretary of State to get their names onto ballots for this year's elections cycle. The 596 races on this year's Washington ballots include legislative… Read more
A couple weeks ago, a patron of our library at Clallam Bay Corrections Center told me, “I’m not even a reader, but this is a place where I always feel safe.” Sentiments like these, along with brilliant inquires, ideas, and authenticity, inspire me to create innovative programs and challenge me to provide the best services possible in an institutional library setting.… Read more
On May 2, the Washington State Library sponsored a First Tuesday webinar titled “Thousands Eligible with Millions Unclaimed.” First Tuesday presentations are funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act. Presenters from veteran service organizations WestCare Foundation, WAServes, and the Washington State Department of Veteran Affairs described the array of social services and benefits available… Read more
What do you give the librarian who has everything? Books, of course! However, in this tale, the books are not for the librarian but for her program. Anna Nash is a longtime librarian in the Washington State Library’s Institutional Library Services department. One of her favorite programs is “Baby Reads” at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor. It is a storytime that is unique in our state. If a woman is pregnant when she becomes incarcerated and she meets certain… Read more
The 2018 National Library Week theme was “Where did the Library lead you?” Image Libraries across America were encouraged… Read more
Tacoma native and former U.S. Rep. Al Swift, who died April 20 at 82, was a national leader in expanding voter participation across the political spectrum. Image The motor-voter bill President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1993 was authored by Swift, as was the… Read more
Even though the routine act of signing your name to authorize credit-card charges will soon become history, it is perhaps premature to consider the pen-and-paper signature doomed to obsolescence. Across the U.S., government at all levels remains legally reliant on hand-signed names in an immense number of ways. Federally, you… Read more
It is said that every crisis presents an opportunity. In 2011, the branch libraries of the Washington State Library learned that their book budgets had been severely cut. Magazine subscriptions were reduced, and there was no money for new materials. At the same time, several units at the Western State Hospital were restricted from certain areas on campus that included the library building. Library attendance dwindled. Overnight, I was in charge of a library with nothing new to offer and only… Read more
The Washington State Library, a division of the Office of Secretary of State, is the Regional Federal Depository Library for Washington and Alaska in the FDLP program administered by the Government Publishing Office. This means that the Library receives almost all of the federal publications produced and distributed by the Government Publishing Office. In addition to providing historical and current information about federal programs… Read more
This week, April 8-14, is National Library Week. Through a partnership between the Washington State Library and the state Department of Corrections, we operate nine institutional libraries for inmates and state… Read more
Rev. Dr. Samuel B. McKinney, a giant of Seattle's civil-rights movement and longtime pastor of the city's Mount Zion Baptist Church, died Saturday in an assisted-living facility. He was 91. The Legacy Washington program of the Secretary of State's office interviewed Rev. Dr. McKinney and his family for an… Read more
For about 20 percent of Washington voters, today marks the beginning of the chance to cast ballots in a special election. Ballot boxes opened this morning for the April special election, the second of four election cycles for Washington voters in 2018. There's plenty of time… Read more
