From Our Corner

Oscar time: Booth's 'last campaign' film nominated

It's a story well known in Washington state, and now the subject of a short documentary that's up for an Academy Award Sunday evening. It's called "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner," a reference to the popular former governor's debilitating battle with Parkinson's and his crusade to legalize physician-assisted suicide. This "last campaign" is also recounted in a Legacy Project biography now nearing completion. It's called "Booth… Read more

Watch out: businesses using fake certificates

Image We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: When it comes to turning over your money to someone else – whether to a charity or investment firm – check to make sure that organization is in compliance with the law and is properly registered with the state… Read more

WSL Updates for March 4, 2010

Volume 6, March 4, 2010 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) 2010 GRANT CYCLE OPENS FOR WASHINGTON RURAL HERITAGE

2) ANNOUNCING SUPPORTING STUDENT SUCCESS GRANTS OPENING

3) WSL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

4) EARLY LITERACY SUPPORT FOR THE 2010 SUMMER READING PROGRAM

5) EFFECTIVELY SERVING PATRONS WITH DISABILITIES

6) GETTING GROUNDED – LEGAL ISSUES FACING LIBRARIES OFFLINE IN 2010

7) GRANTS ENCOURAGE NATIVE YOUTH PROJECTS… Read more

Gregoire advisers Brown, Moore get new posts

Image Image Two of Governor… Read more

Pollster: WA conflicted over best budget, tax solution

Washington lawmakers, struggling with a $2.8 billion budget gap, generally acknowledge that deep spending c Image uts will be required, but they're still sparring over whether to also rely heavily on tax hikes. Not much guidance from a new statewide poll that shows similar… Read more

WRH 2010 Grants Now Open

Image A new LSTA grant cycle is now open for the Washington Rural Heritage Initiative, www.washingtonruralheritage.org. These grants are intended to support small and rural libraries in the development of… Read more

Library Legislation Tracker - March 02, 2010

Courtesy Legislative Planning Committee, Washington Library Association State Bills of Interest. The Washington Library Association(WLA) tracks state legislative activity that will potentially affect Washington Libraries. Their tracker is posted to the WLA web site and we will also post it weekly on this blog. For information on the legislative process or becoming involved see the… Read more

Get in touch with Braille exhibit

Image Visiting the State Capitol in Olympia soon? Are you a state legislator, lege staffer or lobbyist who needs a short break from the chaos typically marking the final days of a legislative session?… Read more

House tax plan: cats and dogs

Image House Democrats have weighed into the tax debate in Olympia, offering an assortment of tax hikes – called "cats and dogs… Read more

Anniversary of a train disaster

It was March 1, 1910 – 100 years ago today – when an avalanche 14 feet high struck two trains that were stranded at Wellington, just west of the summit at Stevens Pass. The disaster claimed 96 lives. It still is the deadliest avalanche disaster in U.S. history. Lynda Mapes has an interesting story about it in Sunday’s Seattle Times. Image The photo,… Read more

Century-old flood photos from Colfax, Washington

Image From the desk of Evan Robb Today marks the 100 year anniversary of the "Great Flood" which devastated the town of Colfax in Whitman County, Washington. Following three weeks of constant snow and rain throughout the Eastern Washington, the Palouse River, which runs through town, quickly overfilled its main channel and transformed into a raging torrent. Photos of the Great Flood were… Read more

Library Legislation Tracker - February 28, 2010

Courtesy Legislative Planning Committee, Washington Library Association State Bills of Interest. The Washington Library Association(WLA) tracks state legislative activity that will potentially affect Washington Libraries. Their tracker is posted to the WLA web site and we will also post it weekly on this blog. For information on the legislative process or becoming involved see the… Read more

Didyaknow...?

… that Sunday marked the ninth anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake? The quake literally rocked Capitol Building dome off its base on February 28, 2001. The massive 32 million-pound dome, built in 1928, had not been attached to the base. That's right: no bolts, no fasteners, no iron steel rods connected the dome to the base. Mere gravity held the dome down, but when the 6.8 quake hit, it lifted the dome a bit. Image The entire building… Read more

Gotta Keep Reading!

Ocoee Middle School in Florida put together an amazing video tribute to reading, based on the Black Eyed Peas / Oprah flash mob event in Chicago. Something inspiring for your Friday morning!

Initiatives and lawmakers, part deux

Image For all the talk about big changes for Washington's much-used, much-maligned initiative process, not a single initiative crackdown is passing this legislative session. There were a large number of bills introduced and considered by committees in Olympia,… Read more

Suspending initiatives? Controversial but common

Amid considerable controversy that seems destined to spill over into the 2010 legislative races, Governor Gregoire and the Democratic-controlled Legislature have suspended a voter-approved initiative that would have required a supermajority two-thirds of both houses to boost taxes or eliminate tax exemptions.

… Read more

WSL Updates for February 25, 2010

Volume 6, February 25, 2010 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) DATABASE TRIALS SUPPORT CBAS

2) NEW DIGITAL COLLECTION – POMEROY HERITAGE

3) TRAVELING LOUIS BRAILLE EXHIBIT COMES TO WASHINGTON

4) MAXIMIZING THE VALUE OF YOUR OCLC CATALOGING SUBSCRIPTION

5) BOOKLIST WEBINAR – THE SCOOP ON SERIES NONFICTION

6) PROGRAMMING LIBRARIAN.ORG DEBUTS NEW FEATURES

… Read more

WA budget battle is on: Taxes, cuts & Uncle Sam

… Read more

Military-overseas voting bill moving forward

Image One of Secretary Reed’s requested bills for this session cleared a key hurdle when the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee passed it Monday. House Bill 2483 would let military and overseas voters return a ballot by fax or email as long as the voter’s signed declaration is returned with the ballot. It would help ensure that our military and overseas voters can send in their ballot in time to be counted. The bill is headed to… Read more

New digital collection: Pomeroy Heritage

Image Branded board from the Krouse Machine Shop--one of 184 historic, locally-registered brands in the Pomeroy Heritage Collection. From the desk of Evan Robb A new digital collection from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative documents early agricultural technology… Read more