From Our Corner
Why we need Internet voting for military
Image There’s exciting news for members of the National Guard’s 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team and their families. The unit is coming home after a nine-month deployment in Iraq. Check out these stories in the Yakima… Read more
Clippings, July 17, 2009
Clippings, July 17, 2009 Library News The Pend Oreille County Library District has had to cut its budget once already this cycle. Now the district is facing more cuts because timber tax revenue is less than expected. It is the goal of the library director and board of trustees not to change any core services such as hours at the district’s four branches (Newport, Calispel Valley, Ione and Metalines) or the materials they offer. (Newport Miner, 6.24.09) The Sno-Isle Libraries Board of… Read moreState Representative Tours Western State Hospital Library
On Thursday, July 16, District #28 representative Tami Green and the new hospital superintendant toured the Western State Hospital Library. Washington's legislators serve the state during legislative sessions. But legislators also have jobs or businesses. Representative Green was, and is, a psychiatric care nurse. She worked the night shift on the forensic wards at Western State Hospital and at the Child Study and Treatment Center at the hospital before accepting the challenge of lawmaker… Read more
Crime and punishment: Reformatory records online
The rap sheets of inmates who were admitted into the state’s first Reformatory in the early 1900s are now available on the Web for (drumroll, please) free. You can go to http://digitalarchives.wa.gov/, look under the institution record series, and sift through inmate files of those who were admitted into the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, where they were taught skills and training like tailoring and barbering so that someday they could… Read more
WSL Updates for July 16, 2009
Volume 5, July 16, 2009 for the WSL Updates mailing list
Topics include:
1) 2009 SUPPORTING STUDENT SUCCESS GRANTS AWARDED
2) FREE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS WORKSHOPS
3) WASHINGTON READS CELEBRITY POSTERS AVAILABLE
4) GOT A QUESTION? TRY ASK-WA!
6) LIVING LIBRARIES – UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY WEBINAR
5) NEW WSL BROADBAND RESOURCE PAGE
7) STATEWIDE DATABASE SEARCH STATS
… Read moreEyman comes clean: I-1033 petitions sport low error rate
Image State initiative checkers are always cranky about how many bad signatures are submitted by some sponsors. We're not talking doctors' signature bad, but rather the traditionally high number that are either not registered voters or are duplicates… Read more
Clippings, July 15, 2009
Clippings, July 15, 2009 Library News The Camas City Council approved a purchase and sale agreement for a parcel of property that will eventually be used for parking for the Camas Public Library. The city hopes to combine the lot with another adjacent parcel. Another parcel could add up to seven additional parking spaces next to the library’s downtown facility. (Camas-Washougal Post Record, 6.23.09) The Ocean Shores Friends of the Library has teamed with the Grays Harbor Community… Read moreVoter registration deadline coming right up
Image New to Washington and want to register to vote for the first time? Just moved across town and need to update your address? Time’s ticking! Saturday, July 18, is the deadline for changing your address and voter registrations for mail-in or online forms if you… Read more
Coyote Ridge Is a Little Bit Different
If you read this blog regularly, you may already know the Washington State Library provides outreach library services to all the public prisons in the state (except for the minimum centers.) The benefit of this cooperative agreement between agencies is that incarcerated populations in Washington State have access to fantastic libraries and are served by the certified Librarians and library technicians who manage them.
At… Read more
Notes from the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago
[caption id="attachment_1582" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="ALA Librarians Need Coffee to Survive"] Image [/caption] Thanks to the Friends of the Washington State Library and the Washington Library Association, I was the lone staff-person at the Washington State Library who got to sneak off to Chicago last week for the American Library Association Annual conference.… Read more
Fifty-two years and counting as columnist
Image Journalism has seen its share of notable reporters and columnists who have enjoyed very long and rewarding careers, from legendary White House reporter Helen Thomas to retired Olympia scribe Adele Ferguson to our very own Dave Ammons, formerly of the… Read more
Statewide Database Search Stats
Every year about this time the SDL (Statewide Database Licensing) Project compiles annual statewide usage statistics for the package of ProQuest databases subsidized by the project. For the period from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, there were 6,226,188 searches conducted statewide, an increase of almost 5% over the 5,945,202 searches conducted during… Read more
From Your Corner of Washington: Model Ts invade Puget Sound
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It isn’t every day that you see dozens of vintage Model Ts cruising on a highway or street. But that’s what happened last weekend in the Puget Sound area as members of the Model T Ford Club International finished driving more than 50 of these classic cars coast to coast from New York City to Seattle. Go here to read more about the “2009 Ocean-to-Ocean in a Model T” event… Read moreClippings, July 13, 2009
Clippings, July 13, 2009 Library News The downtown Bremerton branch of the Kitsap Regional Library was evacuated Wednesday afternoon while a bomb squad checked to make sure a briefcase left there was harmless. A bomb squad investigated and soon determined the briefcase was safe. The case was confiscated and the police will contact the owner of a card left inside. (The Kitsap Sun [Bremerton], 6.25.09) … Read moreClippings, July 10, 2009
Clippings, July 10, 2009 Library News All Tri-City branches of the Mid-Columbia Library have computer filters to intercept internet porn and other materials unsuitable for children, and complaints are rare says a library spokesman. “We are completely in compliance with the laws, “said the library administrative services director. (Tri-City Herald [Kennewick], 6.20.09) http://www.tri-cityherald.com/… Read moreFrom Your Corner of Washington: Bremerton’s name
[caption id="attachment_2879" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Jean Boyle-KitsapImages.com"] Image [/caption] Besides being the largest city in Kitsap County, Bremerton is home to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where the famous USS Missouri was anchored for many years. This city of 36,620 on the Kitsap Peninsula is a 55-minute ferry ride from Seattle. Bremerton is named for William Bremer, a German immigrant and early Washington… Read more
From your corner of Washington: Reed Island
Nope, it's not a coincidence that Secretary Reed shares his name with Reed Island, that tiny piece of land located in Lower Columbia River – it's where his family settled more than 120 years ago!
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The 508-acre island was founded in 1885 by… Read moreInitial count: Eyman’s I-1033 has over 315K sigs
Image Our Elections Division reports it has completed its initial count of the… Read more
Secretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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