From Our Corner

October 2012 WSL Training News

Image October 2012 Washington State Library Training News

Discover free and inexpensive trainings available online and around the state; compiled by Jennifer Fenton, CE/Training Coordinator, Washington State Library

Featured Free Trainings… Read more

It’s National Voter Registration Day!

Image If you’re eligible to vote in the upcoming General Election but haven’t registered yet, perhaps this will inspire you. Today, Sept. 25, is National Voter Registration Day. The purpose of this… Read more

Horsing around at the Capitol

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(Photo courtesy of Patrick McDonald)

This isn’t a typical sight around the Legislative Building. Outside our windows, we see tourists, school kids, senior groups and other folks walking around the campus. But horses? Neigh.

Clippings for the week of September 14, 2012

[caption id="attachment_4996" align="alignright" width="227" caption="Image courtesy North Pend Oreille Heritage collection"] Image [/caption] Washington State Library News The Port Townsend Library’s ENCORE jobs retooling program recently received a $5,000 grant from the Washington State Library. Known as ENCORE: Transforming Your Life Through Technology & Re-Careering… Read more

DungeNessie

Image From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Shortly after losing the status of Clallam County seat in an election in 1890, many in the town of New Dungeness picked up and moved across the… Read more

WSL Special Collections holds evidence in a mapping mystery!

Image From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian Well, perhaps that title is a touch dramatic, but we are very pleased to share with you a very interesting item with importance to northwest cartographic history.… Read more

WSL Updates for September 20, 2012

Volume 8, September 20, 2012 for the WSL Updates mailing list Topics include: 1) ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT E-READER SERVICES IN YOUR LIBRARY 2) FREE BOOKS FOR DISCUSSION KITS OR COMMUNITY READS 3) SMARTPHONE APP ADVISORY COMMITTEE CALL 4) FREE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS WORKSHOPS 5) FREE WEBINAR ABOUT MERIT 6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT E-… Read more

Paranormal mystery surrounds tragedy in Gregg Olsen's Envy

Image Envy: An Empty Coffin Novel (Book 1). By Gregg Olsen. New York : Splinter, 2011. 285 p. Recommendation by: Rand Simmons… Read more

Spokane Indian Tribal Early Learning Center

[caption id="attachment_8709" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Pauline Stearns Early Learning Center"] Image [/caption] Recently I visited the Spokane Indian… Read more

Spotlight on Staff: Kim Smeenk

Image If the first rule of management is to hire well, then the Public Services group of Washington State Library got off to a good start when reference librarian Kim Smeenk was invited to join the staff over half a decade ago. Kim, who is a… Read more

Military, overseas voters to vote first in General Election

Image UPDATES with voting period for this fall’s election began with mailing of military and overseas ballots... Washington's highly anticipated General Election is underway, with the mailing of balltos to military and overseas voters. Counties sent… Read more

Keeping Things Tidy

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Yesterday, Mike Thompson, Custodian at the Washington State Library, received the Employee of the Year award from the Administrative Services Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

Mike was nominated by several staff members… Read more

Libraries in every town and city

Image Books became my friends when I was a child, sounds a little cliché I know, but it was true. My family moved every year, sometimes more than once in a year. I never went to the same school twice or lived in the same city or… Read more

Capitol fire photo wins Archives poll

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(Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives)

The voters have spoken on the September version of the… Read more

Archives displaying state constitutions Sept. 19

Image We all know that July 4 is a VERY important date in American history since it's our nation's birthday, and a great excuse for a summer barbecue and fireworks . But did you know that Sept. 17 also is a key date in history? On that date in 1787, the… Read more

Reed honored for library support

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(Photo courtesy of Whitman County Library)

During his visit to southeastern Washington, Secretary of State Reed was honored in Colfax by Whitman County Library Director Kristie Kirkpatrick as the library’s Supporter… Read more

Clippings for the week of September 7, 2012

[caption id="attachment_4996" align="alignright" width="227" caption="Image courtesy North Pend Oreille Heritage collection"] Image [/caption] Library News Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has stopped publication of “Imagine: How Creativity Works” because the author, Jonah Lehrer, apparently intentionally misquoted Bob Dylan. When a publisher recalls a book because of misinformation, Sno-… Read more

Celebrate one of baseball's greats as summer comes to a close.

Image Hutch: Baseball's Fred Hutchinson and a Legacy of Courage. Written by Mike Shannon; Illustrated by Scott Hannig… Read more

Leave it to Beaver (Washington)

Image From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The settlement of Beaver, Washington is a little bit north of Forks. According to the USGS: "Originally, Beaver Camp, which had Beaver PO, was a logging… Read more

Time to vote on September Archives Treasures

Our State Archives has millions and millions of documents, records, photos and other interesting stuff. Every month this year we’re highlighting some of those rare or cool items in a blog series called “Archives Treasures.” We just finished spotlighting three items for September, so now it’s your turn to get into the act. We need you to go to our online poll and vote on your favorite Archives treasure for this month. The three choices are:

1) An 1862… Read more