From Our Corner

WSL Updates for September 10, 2009

Volume 5, September 10, 2009 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) FREE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES IN SEPTEMBER, PART ONE

2) ALA UPDATE ON LEAD IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS

3) ALL ROADS LEAD TO WALE

4) LEARNING FOR LIFE

5) UNDERSTANDING AND COPING WITH STRESS – FREE WEBINAR

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1) FREE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES IN SEPTEMBER… Read more

Governor's business card, circa 1853

Let’s say you’re the governor of a brand-new U.S. territory created in the 1850s and you don’t have any printed business cards. What do you do? Why, you write them up yourself.

Image That’s what Isaac Stevens did soon after becoming the first governor of Washington Territory, in 1853. The State Archives in Olympia has both an original and the digital version of former Gov. Stevens’ business card. There is a legendary story about Stevens… Read more

Legacy Project honors space hero

Washington's first and only woman astronaut, Bonnie Dunbar, is the most recent subject of the Office of Secretary of State’s Legacy Project. In her oral history, you can read about how this extraordinary engineer reached for the stars – and made it there. Image Secretary Reed and the Legacy Project team held a reception in her honor on Tuesday at the Museum… Read more

Start Christmas shopping early at State Seal Store

Image Looking for a primo Washington gift? Want to pick up a little something for yourself? Take an online stroll through our new and improved Washington State Seal Store Catalog on the Web, where you can… Read more

R-71: Thurston jurist green-lights Nov. 3 vote

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee has given a go-ahead for a statewide vote Nov. 3 on Washington's new "everything but marriage" law expanding benefits for state-registered domestic partners. McPhee dismissed a challenge brought by supporters of the law, Washington Families… Read more

Media Clips: Libraries - September 04, 2009

These media mentions are compiled by Brian Zylstra, Deputy Communications Director for the Office of the Secretary of State, and passed along to us. The following links cover Media Clips provided August 06, 2009 – September 04, 2009.… Read more

Clippings, September 7, 2009

Clippings – September 7, 2009 Library News CHEERS ... to Washington State Librarian Jan Walsh. Working with her staff and Washington's library community, Walsh has spearheaded an online resource guide to help the state's 315,853 unemployed. The Hard Times Resource Guide - www.sos.wa.gov/library/hardtimes - offers information on education and training, family and parenting, college costs, finances and money management, employment and job… Read more

Thurston R-71 hearing set for Tuesday

Image Challengers who hope to block a statewide vote on the state's new "everything but marriage" law have been given a court date in Thurston County Superior Court for the day after Labor Day. The hearing of the lawsuit brought by Washington Families Standing… Read more

Wayfinder is way cool...No way!! Way!

Image The folks at the State Library are offering a new and very helpful online program called Wayfinder that can let you search for something among millions and millions of items found in many libraries throughout Washington. Wayfinder is an online… Read more

New Material for San Juan Island Heritage

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Federal judge continues ban on public release of R-71 petitions

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle is continuing the ban on public release of Referendum 71 petitions at least temporarily, possibly until Sept. 11 or beyond.… Read more

R-71 legal update: Challengers file new lawsuit to block vote

Image Washington Families Standing Together, the coalition supporting a newly adopted “everything but marriage” expansion of rights for state-registered domestic partners, has filed a fresh lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court to try to block a public vote this fall on the new law. The organization and its chairwoman, Anne Levinson, challenged the validity of over 35,000 voter signatures accepted by the state Elections Division, and asked the… Read more

Summer Reading Program at WTBBL

[caption id="attachment_1917" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Youth Services Librarian, Kathryn Pierce, and WTBBL patron"] Image [/caption] Every year the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library joins with many other libraries across the country in offering a Summer Reading Program using a common theme - this year’s was “Be Creative @ Your Library”. Seventy of the Library’s elementary and teen… Read more

Ask-WA(tch): Stats, Kudos and Comments for August 2009

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Ask-WA Statistics – August, 2009

Ask-WA maintained a busy service during the month of August, with email again outpacing chat service. In numbers:

• Email questions received: 3821
• Chat sessions requested: 3067
• Chat sessions accepted: 2599
• Qwidget requests (% of total): 789 (25.7%)

As a cooperative we maintained an answering percentage of 84.7% for the… Read more

Newspapers in the Library

I recently did a post on the loss of the "Spokesman Review", however, I am happy to report that we still have many newspapers in the library to provide a touch of home for our patrons. As newspapers can be very expensive we cannot purchase all of them that are published in Washington, but we do our best. To that end we carry the… Read more

WSL Updates for September 3, 2009

Volume 5, September 3, 2009 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) WSL HARD TIMES RESOURCE GUIDE GOES LIVE

2) LCW PUBLIC LIBRARIES POSITION OPEN

3) FREE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS WORKSHOPS

4) PREPARING FOR H1N1 (SWINE FLU) INFLUENZA

5) AMERICAN HERITAGE PRESERVATION GRANTS

6) CATCH THE INFORMATION EXPRESS – WLMA CONFERENCE

… Read more

King County jurist declines to block R-71

Image King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector has refused to block Referendum 71 from the ballot. Further litigation is considered likely, but state attorneys expect the R-71 election to be on the Nov. 3 ballot across Washington state. Most voters will be voting by mail; the earliest ballots,… Read more

Reed certifies R-71 to fall ballot

Secretary of State Sam Reed has certified Referendum 71 to the Nov. 3 statewide ballot in Washington state. Barring a successful 11th-hour court challenge, voters will decide the fate of a newly adopted state law that gives state-registered domestic partners the full array of rights and responsibilities that married couples have. Image In brief ceremonies at the state Elections Division headquarters near the state Capitol, Reed signed… Read more

New Material for Ellensburg Heritage

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R-71: Signature-count edges to finish line

State election crews were wrapping up final signature-checks for Referendum 71 Tuesday night, paving the way for Secretary of State Sam Reed to certify the measure to the statewide ballot on Wednesday morning. The referendum is sponsored by foes of the newly adopted "everything but marriage" expansion of state rights for domestic partners who are on the Secretary of State's domestic partner… Read more