From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Three mysteries emerge from an episode back when Spokane was known as Spokane Falls, one of them concerns a ghost, another is geographic, and the last is bibliographic. No, I’m not talking about a spirit scouring the online catalog– that is called BOOlean searching (heh-heh, get it?). This series of questions emerge from the following article in the Spokane Falls Review, March 21, 1885:

SPOOKS

Spokane Falls Enjoys the Luxury of a Haunted House.

“Among the other many attractions in and about Spokane Falls, there has recently been added that of a haunted house, wherein the cheerful disembodied spirit holds high carnival, and the spectral inhabitants of the silent and bewitching midnight meet together to join in ghostly orgies, talk politics and frighten the timid denizens of this mundane sphere out of their seven senses. Belated pedestrians, with a tendency to scare easily, shun the side of street upon which is located the trysting place of the jovial spooks, while the more courageous have marched up to the premises, but, if not really frightened, have had no hesitancy in moving off at a speed above that of ordinary promenading when having their ears saluted with uncanny sounds.”

“The building that has been taken without the formality of lease, by these airy nocturnal roysters, is the old Phoenix beer hall that was the scene of a sad chapter in the city’s history; that of the unprovoked murder of a young man last summer, and which has been unoccupied for several months. We have heard vague rumors of the presence of a ghost, but have, so far, been unable to see anyone who will admit of having seen anything of a supernatural agency. Although the belief is so strong that the unexplainable exists that it is not every one you meet who will volunteer to take his blankets and camp in the room overnight.”

“It is said that on a certain occasion, recently, a man passing had his attention attracted by a strange noise that seemed to proceed from the room, and, going carefully up the alley, he peered into a window. He didn’t remain rooted to the spot. His legs refused to allow his body to remain in the neighborhood and he don’t remember just how he soon did get to bed, but it was only a small fraction of time after taking one gaze, when he had his head buried under the blankets.”

“He touches the subject tenderly and has kept much more rational hours ever since. What he saw could not have grown out of the character of the fluid he had been drinking, as he had religiously stuck to water that evening. To a limited few, he claims that when he reached the window he saw the shadowy outlines of a man that shone out with a phosphorous light. The shadowy tenant was walking with his back to the window and was giving vent to a noise sounding as though he was in a good deal of pain or was growling over the chilliness of the night. When the apparition turned about and headed for the window, one glance was sufficient for the individual. Considering that the specter would consider it an indelicate intrusion, the witness adjourned without apology. He calculates that, with ordinary luck, he will be able to outlive the sensation he experienced in fifty or one hundred years.”

“Making all due allowance for a vivid imagination and a bristly fright, there is still left a margin for the belief that the visitor from the other world is not a party that the average man would choose for a boon companion.”

“Since then, and perhaps before (although we have no data for going behind the returns) attention has been attracted to the spot by divers unpleasant sounds, as if a whole colony of the defunct were occasionally congregated for a jubilee. No thorough investigation has, so far, been made, as the initiated have perhaps felt a slight delicacy in forcing their presence in company where they were not invited. We suppose that in time, when the thing becomes shorn of the glamour of freshness, some one will want to deprive the public of the benefit of such an important tributary to the popularity of the Falls, and try to clear up the mystery.”

“We cannot say when the boss spook holds his receptions, but if any one is curious he can hang around o’ nights and find out for himself. We are not paid for keeping a reporter on the spot.”

Mystery # 1: What the heck is it? In all my perusing through territorial newspapers, this is the most detailed and open account I have found describing public “ghostly” happenings.

Mystery # 2: The exact location of the Phoenix Beer Hall, which was designated as the HQ for these ghosts, is not easy to find. Apparently closed by 1885, it doesn’t show up on directories or Sanborn maps of the era. I’d be curious to know if that location has experienced other “supernatural” events in the 20th-21st centuries. But where was/is it?

Mystery # 3: In an attempt to find an account of the “sad chapter in the city’s history,” it was discovered the incident was the September 27, 1884 shooting of a quiet carpenter named Henry R. Roblin by John “Jack” Connerry, “a notorious rustler.” Apparently Roblin accidentally bumped into Connerry on a Saturday near midnight at the Phoenix Beer Hall, and that alone sparked the shooting. Connerry was captured the next morning but was moved from Spokane Falls city jail to Cheney as he was in very real danger of being lynched by an angry mob. It seems Connerry escaped jail in Cheney a short time later.

But here’s the mystery. In an effort to find a local article about this shooting, every single newspaper run we have in the Spokane area is missing the issue that would have covered this news. It’s like we have a nice complete set– except for this one period. Every one of them! What’s the deal here? I had to go to newspapers in California and Montana to get the details. Was the episode so shameful no one wanted to preserve the newspapers, or instead did they keep it as a souvenir? In any case, it is quite odd.

The Spokane Falls Review is one the historical newspapers digitized by the Washington State Library. The above article, and many other lively stories about Spokane can be viewed online on the WSL website.

Written by guest blogger, Adrienne Doman Calkins, CE/Training Intern, Washington State Library, Library Development

Library staff have questions too. Lots of them. Like: How can I best implement eReader training at my library? What are the current trends in library programming? How can I improve our website? What training materials already exist to help me train my new staff? How can I best help my community with digital literacy skills? I want to brush up on my communication skills, but how can I from a remote area with few training opportunities. How can I learn about project management with my busy schedule?

Most importantly, library staff want to know how to keep their skills current to best serve their evolving communities.

The Washington State Library sponsors online learning for library staff across all 71,000+ square miles of the state through a statewide membership to WebJunction, an online learning community designed specifically for library staff. Washington is one of 18 states partnering with WebJunction to offer sponsored access to online courses and webinars for library staff. While WebJunction has a national presence, it is also a local organization based in Seattle, Washington, since 2003. Washington library staff benefit from WebJunction’s connections to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the parent company to WebJunction, OCLC.

If you’ve used WebJunction in years past, look again. The newly redesigned WebJunction website is easier to navigate and offers more resources.

Library staff across Washington are getting value out of the WSL partnership with WebJunction:

• 700 courses were taken in 2012
• 527 registered users attended 24 different live webinars in 2012
• Library staff from 30 different libraries registered for courses in 2012
• 561 Washington library staff are currently registered as WebJunction Washington members.
• With current membership, courses cost WSL about $22 each. That price gets lower the more members join and take courses. The current contract pays for over 3,600 library staff to join WebJunction.
• WebJunction content is available 24/7 to library staff wherever they have an internet connection, making it a great resource for rural library staff, who may not be able to attend offsite trainings as easily, or any staff who need to be as efficient as possible with their time.
• New content is constantly being added to WebJunction. Upcoming webinars can be found on www.webjunction.org, or look on the Washington Partner page to see these and links to WSL’s First Tuesday webinars. Can’t make the date? Past webinars are accessible as archives, as well. New courses will soon be available in video format when WebJunction adds Lynda.com trainings to their course catalog, increasing the software, business and creative offerings sponsored by WSL. Note: access to Lynda.com trainings will be limited, so registered staff should look for the invitation via email soon.
• Washington library staff can create a free account on the WebJunction site. Sponsored access will be approved by WSL and WebJunction within 48 hours.

Some WebJunction users are really taking advantage of the resources. One power-user, Keyla Gonzalez, a Circulation Clerk 2 from Bellingham Public Library, took 25 courses in 2012. She has built an impressive list of skills using WebJunction: “I have learned cultural communication styles, how to reach out to our non-English speaking patrons and how to better equip myself to be more helpful when answering patron’s requests.” What does Keyla appreciation about the WSL sponsored access to WebJunction? “I love that I can use my own time and finish my course load at my own pace. If there’s a course that is strenuous I know I can go back and re-do it however many times I want. Mostly I love that it is accessible at any time and it is free!”
Another important role in online learning is the WebJunction champion—that person who encourages staff to take courses and attend webinars. Some champions are peers, others are trainers, administrators, managers or supervisors. All of them know access to online learning is only part of the solution to help staff keep their skills sharp. The other part is creating a culture that prioritizes learning and gives staff the time, space and resources to participate in online training opportunities.

One such champion is Patricia Chupa, Circulation Supervisor at the Shelton Timberland Library. Pat, as her staff know her, has built just such a culture in her department. She incorporates online learning into the goals her staff make during annual performance evaluations and goes on to make a contract with her staff: if they “partner with one another to get the materials handling work done in a timely fashion,” then they are guaranteed “protected time to do their courses” and staff help cover for each other by negotiating the best time for trainings. Has the effort paid off? Pat is proud to report “the professional approach to their customer service has improved across the team, and that has readily been demonstrated in the level of satisfaction we see and hear from our patrons.”

The WebJunction Washington partner resources are managed by the Washington State Library, with input from a state-wide WebJunction Washington Advisory Team made up of members from public, academic, and special libraries across the state. It’s the sponsored learners, though, that make WebJunction resources come alive as library staff interact with library patrons with skills learned through this state-sponsored resource.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

When the Washington Irrigation Company attempted to perform a little social engineering in the community of Zillah in an effort to close the saloon, the cause of alcohol found an unlikely champion. The story is told in the Feb. 20, 1903 issue of the Yakima Republic:

IS A DEFENDER OF BOOZE

 A Zillah Minister Who Stands Up For Good Whisky, But Not For Bad

“A minister at Zillah last Sunday night created something of a sensation in his pulpit, according to a resident of that little town who was here this week, when he declared that he occasionally took a drink himself, and that inasmuch as men would get whisky anyway if they wanted it, there wasn’t much harm in giving them facilities for getting good whisky.”

“The Washington Irrigation company has offered to set apart $1400 worth of its justly celebrated Sunnyside land for the endowment of a library at Zillah if the people of that place will cut out the saloon which has been in operation there and which has been a bone of contention among the inhabitants each year.”

“Commenting upon this proposition, the minister referred to is said to have taken a stand in favor of the saloon as against the library; and to have asserted that if he wanted to he took a drink of whisky, and preferred good whisky.”

“This unexpected deliverance by a minister of the gospel has furnished a valuable topic of conversation at Zillah this week.”

“The Zillah man who mentioned the matter to the Republic stated that it is as yet undetermined whether the people down there will favor licensing the saloon for another year. Recently the proprietor, Correll, hurt himself quite severely, and his bad luck has created some sympathy for him.”

The Washington Irrigation Company’s place in the history of the area can be found in The Victory of National Irrigation in the Yakima Valley, 1902-1906.

It appears Zillah did not get a library until Prohibition took effect. Meanwhile, in recent history another church in the town has made the news. In order to  publicize the name, the Church of God – Zillah constructed a wire sculpture of the famous Japanese movie monster outside the building.

Portrait of Schlumpf from The Cartoon : a Reference Book of Seattle’s Successful Men (1911)

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Somewhere long ago I read a quote from the late great Larry Fine, the “Stooge in the Middle” of the always underestimated Three Stooges. He said something to the effect that real comedy always works in threes. Either in timing, or in personalities. Library cataloger’s note: I wonder if this where the AACR2 “rule of three” came from– a Stooges fan in the rulemaking woodwork?

Anyway.

The following story is certainly a candidate for Larry Fine’s Rule of Three. In fact, one figure in this story is even called an “amateur comedian.” The microfilm reel grabbed at random this week unearthed this story from The Seattle Daily Times, Feb. 2, 1907:

JOHN ANDREW NINK ARRESTED

Well-Known Character’s Attempt to Whip Joe Schlumpf Ends Disastrously for Himself and Ally, Matt Dee.

Latter Offered $20 to Pummel the Cigar Merchant and Lands on His Head in the Middle of the Sidewalk.

“John Andrew Nink, for many years a familiar figure on the streets of Seattle, faultlessly dressed in silk hat and fashionable black clothing, a striking contrast to his snow white hair and mustache, spent the greater part of last night in the receiving cell of the city jail, all because he wanted to whip Joe Schlumpf, the cigar merchant.”

“John Andrew Nink, a good judge of beer, a gentleman of leisure and a man with a notoriety that many persons would not be fond of, was shocked when Jailer John Corbett began to search him, just as he would any other prisoner.”

“‘Why, it’s an outrage,’ declared the gentlemanly John Andrew Nink. ‘I’ll not stand for it. I’ve got enough money to buy you all and sell you again. Lock me up in jail? Well, I guess not.’”

“‘If you’ve got $20 bail money to insure your appearance in court to answer a charge of being drunk and disorderly, I’ll let you go,’ replied Capt. Laubscher.”

“John Andrew Nink couldn’t raise the $20, although he dug deep into his broad trousers. Against his protestations and weak resistance, Jailer Corbett led him off to the receiving cell. All night long he paced up and down the cell while the hoboes guyed him about his tall hat which he refused to remove. At 8 o’clock this morning he was allowed to telephone to a well known woman who said she would send up the money for his bail.”

Hires Man to Whip Schlumpf.

“The gentleman prisoner had a grievance against Joe Schlumpf. He wanted to whip Joe but the big German cigar merchant looked too stately for Nink. He believed in nerving himself and therefore took on a few glasses of tonic. Then he met Matt Dee, a West Seattle man, who has figured in more rows in the last few years than he has fingers and toes. Nink told Dee his troubles. Dee sympathized with him and offered to help him.”

“‘I’ll give you $20 if you’ll whip Schlumpf for me,’ said Nink.”

“Matt Dee used to have plenty of money and there was a time when $20 wouldn’t tempt him, but when he saw $20 coming so easily he took up the proposition. Nink and Dee had a few more drinks and Dee started for Joe Sclumpf’s cigar store in the Butler Block.”

“‘What you been a doin’ to Nink?’ angrily demanded Matt Dee of Joe Schlumpf.”

“There was no answer. Dee looked at Joe and Joe looked at Dee.”

“‘Well, I’ve come over here to give you a lickin’,’ said Dee as he started for the show case.”

“Joe stepped from behind his cigar case and with a stiff right-hander he landed on Dee’s jaw and sent him sprawling to the floor. A kick or so landed Dee in the middle of the sidewalk and Joe Schlumpf went back to the case where he finished telling a friend one of his German stories, just as if nothing had happened.”

“Dee hunted up Nink and told him what he had got.”

“‘You’re not game,’ said Nink to Dee. ‘I’ll go over there and wallop that Dutchman myself.’”

“Nink started across the street, followed closely by Dee. The latter, however, decided to wait on the outside. Nink entered the cigar store and big Joe Schlumpf saw him coming.”

“‘Back for trouble, are you?’ yelled Joe, who by that time had decided that he was tired of Nink and his trouble.”

“‘Yes, I’m back and we’ll settle it right here.’”

“Nink started for Joe, but the amateur comedian was too quick for the angry man, and slapping him not ungently on the side of the cheek he sent Nink to the mat, then pushed him out of the door with his No. 12 foot.”

“Nink and Dee had another consultation but they agreed that no more attacks would be made. Nink said goodbye to Dee and the latter wandered up the street. Nink’s humor was not improved and he went deeper into the cups in a nearby saloon, saying he had a gun and was going to get somebody.”

“Not desiring any bloodshed in the thirst emporium, a bartender was sent out for an officer. Patrolman Charles Dolphin responded. He asked Nink if he had a gun. The latter replied that he had not but if he had one he would use it right there.”

“Unawed by the tall silk hat and the fine clothes of Nink, Officer Dolphin put a firm hand on his shoulder and told him he was under arrest.”

Gay With a Policeman.

“‘Are you a policeman?’ asked Nink, who was probably unable to see Dolphin’s uniform and his star.”

“‘Well, I make a noise like one,’ responded Dolphin.”

“There was no more parleying. A wagon call was sent in and Nink went to jail in the private conveyance furnished at the expense of the city.”

“About four years ago Nink was shot in the back while walking along Second Avenue near Union Street. For weeks he was in the hospital and for a time it was thought he would die. It was ascertained beyond all question that a young man had shot Nink because the latter had interfered in family affairs. Nink refused to prosecute and no arrest was made.”

“Nink says he is an insurance agent, but so far as the police know he has not increased business perceptibly in Seattle.”

“Joe Schlumpf’s ‘Webster’s’ Amateur Champions of the State of Washington. Season of 1908.” Schlumpf himself is possibly the man standing on the far right. Photo courtesy of Northwest sports historian David Eskenazi.

Nink had a knack for getting into trouble. A few years before the above incident, on an evening in November 1903 indowntown Seattle, he was shot in the back apparently by someone who objected to the romantic overtures Nink was bestowing upon a wealthy widow. A Morning Olympian (Nov. 13, 1903) account of the shooting described Nink as “a well known character in the city [Seattle]. He always dresses well and for years has worn a silk hat, which made him quite a prominent figure on the street.”

Nink died in Seattle Jan. 22, 1917 at the age of 65.

Mark “Matt” Dee, born in New York, raised in Boston, and sent to Ireland for his schooling always said he came home to the U.S. not with an education but “returned with a brogue only.” At age 12 he went to sea, and claimed that at some vague date he married the actress and early film star Blanche Walsh (1873-1915), an assertion that cannot be verified by any source except Dee himself.

Dee also included being the manager of boxer John L. Sullivan (1858-1918) for a three-year stint in his resume, as well as having a part in the early career of “Gentleman Jim” Corbett (1866-1933). Again, outside sources to verify these claims don’t come easy.

After a brief time in the mining camps of Montana, Matt moved to Seattle around the turn of the century. He settled in West Seattle where he became known as “Daddy Dee of Alki.” Dee became a very active member of the Republican Party and was known for the practice of taking a dip in Puget Sound on a daily basis. He died in Seattle July 1, 1931 at the age of 73.

Although called a German and Dutchman in the article, Joseph Schlumpf was born in Wisconsin. He arrived in Seattle ca. 1890 and was well known as a cigar merchant. Apparently he was politically ambitious, but had difficulty getting elected to office, although he did serve one term on the Seattle City Council, 1910-1911, representing the East Capitol Hill district.

Perhaps Joe Schlumpf’s real legacy in Seattle was his role as an organizer for one of the early baseball clubs. In this regard he could be considered a visionary.

Schlumpf moved to Hollywood, California in 1919. He died there July 16, 1941 at the age 73. I wonder if he ever had a chance to meet Larry Fine?

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

A bounty for flies? The very thought brings a smile. It makes my Boomer brain recall the Monty Python skit of big game hunters hauling out the heavy ammo in order to capture an insect. Or that immortal line uttered in the movie Return of the Fly (1959) with Vincent Price: “What if Philippe does not have the mind of a human, but the MURDEROUS BRAIN OF A FLY?!?”

But as we saw in an earlier Random News blogpost set in Washtucna in 1915 concerning typhoid, the link between flies and the spread of disease was fully recognized by the start of the 20th century. And it was no joke.

The state publication The Common House Fly : a Dangerous Pest by A.L. Melander (1905) doesn’t mince words: “From what we have just observed concerning the food of the maggot it will be seen that the BODIES OF HOUSE FLIES ARE MERELY TRANSFORMED EXCREMENT.” Obviously there is something about flies that makes people want to use all uppercase letters to make a point.

Civic groups across the country began offering bounties for flies starting around 1912 from what I can ascertain. In Centralia in 1916, a two ounce bottle of slain flies garnered a nickel. In Olympia in 1917 a pint of dead flies earned 10 cents. By the time the following randomly found article appeared in The Pasco Herald for May 12, 1921, the era of fly bounties was about over– in the United States. As recently as 2007 a city in China was offering such a bounty, and Manila in 1996.

“SWAT THE FLY– CASH FOR FLIES”

“A campaign with the above slogan as a battle cry, has been launched by the Pasco Woman’s Club to make this a fly-less community.”

“A bounty, dead or alive has been placed upon the trespassing-obnoxious fly, and this bounty will be paid in cash upon the delivery of the said fugitives at the club rooms on Saturday, May 28, between the hours of 2 and 5 p.m. Five cents a pint is the price set upon their heads or rather upon any and all parts of their anatomy. No questions will be asked only bring the flies. Not satisfied with offering a reward for their destruction, the club members have arranged for the making of fly traps in the manual training department of the public schools and their being given out at actual cost of construction to all who wish to have them.”

“For the next twenty days the word of greetings that will be expected will be the cry to ‘Get busy and Swat the Fly.’”

“To show the immediate need of action, some mathematically inclined members of the club have figured it out that one female fly wintered over to April 15, if not exterminated but is allowed to multiply until Sept. 10, will have a family of children, grand children and great grandchildren, ad infinitum, to the number of 5,598,720,000,000. If you doubt their figures catch one and feed it and find out.”

“The ladies have also gathered a few simple precautions that are here being passed on, with the request that they be observed.”

“1. Screen porches, doors and windows.

2. Trap the flies– Swat the flies.

3. Clean up back yards and alleys.

4. Haul out the manure.

5. Keep garbage covered.

6. Kill the winter flies.

7. Make all privvies fly-proof.

8. Join with your neighbor to get rid of flies in your community.”

The Pasco Herald became the Tri-City Herald in 1947. The Pasco Woman’s Club is included in the WSL manuscript collection: Washington State Library’s Collection of Washington State Women’s Clubs Yearbooks, 1902-1973, 1916-1940.

From the desk of NDNP Coordinator, Shawn Schollmeyer:  In our NDNP Office located in the basement of Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington we share this insight into the world of newspaper digitization and preservation by guest writer Casey Lansinger. Casey participated as an intern in our program and will be graduating with an MLIS in June 2013.

In July of 2012, I left my sunny and dry hometown of Denver, CO for wet and green Seattle. I  suddenly found myself in a world where drivers are uncomfortably polite, the coffee is understandably strong and where this Colorado girl had to buy her first raincoat and pair of galoshes (yet still manages to get dripping wet with or without them). In Seattle, I would finish up my third and final year at University of Washington’s iSchool, where I am pursuing a Masters in Library and Information Science. My life in Denver, however, was all about journalism and writing. Prior to the big move I had spent the last five years at The Denver Post as an editorial assistant and occasional freelance writer. The connection here is a life-long infatuation with the written word. I’ll admit I did what we were all advised not to do on a Library School application: I explained that part of my wanting to become a librarian is because I am in love with books. They accepted me anyway.

From an early age, I’ve digested everything I could get my hands on; books have introduced me to characters that felt like friends; countless hours have been spent with my nose stuck in anything from embarrassingly trashy tabloid magazines to fascinating social justice articles from Mother Jones; and, of course, newspapers have opened my mind to what really matters to me. I like to highlight favorite passages in books and later transfer those passages to a journal. Or, in an act that tells me I’m turning more and more into my mother, I rip out articles from magazines or newspapers and stow them away for future reference. A big part of the connection for me is the tactile experience of handling the medium in which the written word is upon. I love taking an old book off of a shelf and smelling its musty pages; and, although I hated when it got on my clothing, I secretly loved the charcoal stain newsprint left on my hands while working at the Post. All of these experiences led to my involvement with the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) through the Washington State Library.

When I first heard about NDNP, I envisioned an experience in which I could marry my two career interests: journalism and library science. The obvious draw was the word ‘Newspaper’; the word I was hesitant about, however, was ‘Digital’. Don’t get me wrong, the practicality of digitizing content has not been lost on me, nor has the reasoning behind some news sources going completely digital for that matter; but this doesn’t mean I haven’t been without concern for my beloved “old-fashioned” mediums. However, as a budding librarian in an environment that is experiencing sweeping change, I knew that being a part of NDNP would be an invaluable learning experience for me. I knew there was an entire conversation about digitization that I was missing out on; and here was my chance to be a part of that conversation.

NDNP is a country-wide initiative to digitize historic newspapers between the years 1836 and 1922. The Library of Congress (LOC) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) partnered together to make this project possible. Each state chooses one institution to apply for a grant to be a part of the program; after a grant is awarded, this institution can partner up with other institutions in the state to complete the digitization process. Each state is also responsible for selecting its own newspaper titles. In Washington’s case, Washington State Library and University of Washington have taken the reins. Additionally, such agencies as The Association for African American History and Preservation Research, Seattle Public Library, Washington State University History Department, Everett Public Library and Central Washington University have had representatives on the advisory committee for Washington State. Washington became involved with NDNP in 2008 and, as March, 2013, has contributed over 200,000 pages of historic newspapers to the Library of Congress digital repository that houses the newspaper pages: Chronicling America (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov). Currently, 22 states have contributed newspaper pages to the repository.  At the fingertips of the public (Chronicling America is an open-access repository – meaning free) is news, as it was unfolding, on the sinking of the Titanic, the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 or – a personal favorite – the first Carnegie Library. Or you can read about historic individuals such as Chief Seattle, Buffalo Bill or the Flapper girls. Stories come alive and context is created from these vessels of information.

And so, every Thursday and Friday morning you can find me in the basement of Suzzallo Library (on UW’s Seattle campus) where I perform a small, albeit important, part of the work-flow process in which newspaper pages are taken from microfilm all the way to what the end user sees on the Chronicling America website. I perform processing tasks on the newspaper pages, such as verifying page numbers (VPN) and optical character recognition (OCR) results. OCR consists of scanning the original newspaper page and converting the text to machine-encoded text, so that original pages can be archived as accurately as possible. The processing tasks must adhere to LOC standards and each state must follow very specific technical guidelines for processing pages. Not all of my work has been technical, however; a large part of my involvement with NDNP has been as an active participant in the access vs. preservation debate, a hot topic in the library field right now.

Do we preserve historic newspaper pages or do we digitize them? Who gets to decide what gets saved in its original form and what is discarded? Are people actually accessing original historic newspapers? These are just some of the questions I asked myself as I entered the preservation vs. access debate.  As I first approached the conversation, what I saw was a very black and white issue. I read essays from those that were strictly in favor of preservation, arguing that we have already lost so many valuable historic newspapers therefore making it our duty to preserve those that remain. But then, there is the argument that newspapers take up space and are becoming increasingly inconvenient and expensive to house, making access the most practical solution. One of the reasons this debate is so tricky is that at the heart of the matter is a medium that was never intended for preservation, or access for that matter, in the first place. Publishers in the late 19thand early 20^th century certainly didn’t think that librarians in 2013 would be taking efforts to preserve their newspapers; this is evident right down to the medium itself: it tears easily, yellows over time and generally makes for difficulty in preservation.

One of the first questions it is important to pose when discussing this debate is why, with technology available to digitize historical documents, would we want to preserve historic newspapers in the first place? As expressed by my experiences with books, magazines and newspapers, I think there is a certain intrinsic value that can only come from interacting with an original document. An article I read on the subject described it like this: the extrinsic value of a historic document, such as the Declaration of Independence, exists in the information recorded on it; the intrinsic value, however, is the original format independent of the information recorded on it.  Imagine if the Declaration of Independence were somehow damaged or destroyed. The impact would be profound and Americans might feel some sort of personal loss with such destruction. Sure, what is recorded on the Declaration of Independence would never be lost –as it can be found in any history book or through a quick Google search – but the value of the original would be gone forever. I believe the same case can be made for historic newspapers; imagine holding the original paper that contained headlines about the sinking of the Titanic. You could run your fingers over the headline and turn the pages in the very spot where someone in 1912 turned the pages. You can see the pictures and details on the page and could be transported to that day in April of 1912. Does a computer screen provide that?

Having worked in print journalism, I witnessed many news sources switching to an online only format; the reality being that it is possible (though it pains me to say) that future generations will grow up in a world where they’ll have no exposure to printed newspapers. These generations need to know about the advent of the printed newspaper and how this medium swept the nation and created context for the way news is reported today. Shouldn’t we preserve historic newspapers for those generations?

Conversely, while those who are pro-access certainly see the value in historic newspapers, they also see the logistical challenges that preserving newspapers creates: whose responsibility is it to decide what gets saved in original form and who pays the rising costs of doing so? Furthermore, as mentioned above, newspapers pose storage challenges for libraries that, more often than not, have budget and space issues to consider.

I had the opportunity to talk to Kate Leonard, Conservation Supervisor in the Special Collections department at UW Libraries, about this conversation and she brought up a few points that allowed me to look at the debate from a different angle. Kate and I agree on the tactile experience and how it is such a profound part of interacting with a medium, however, she also pointed out this notion of finding historic documents through access that one would otherwise never find. Because some historic newspapers are rare and housed in research libraries across the country, I might not feasibly access an old copy of The Seattle Times in print were it not for digitization. By providing access, we expose individuals to information they may otherwise not have found or may have never even known was out there in the first place.  This aspect of the debate has personally affected me; as I perform my work with NDNP, making OCR corrections here and there on old issues of the 1908 edition of The Seattle Times, I’ve happened across articles about my new surroundings that have provided me with a rich layout of Washington State’s colorful history. I now know about Washington’s road to Statehood in 1889 or the Walla Walla Massacre of 1847 that later led to the Cayuse War between the Cayuse people and local Euro-American settlers. In fact, just the other day my colleague and I were saying that some articles we happen across make us feel like we aren’t so different than the men and women of the early 1900’s. There was an article about Seattle’s terrible traffic, written in The Seattle Time’s 1908 paper, and the last time I checked the traffic in Seattle was still terrible and a topic of constant conversation among residents. Or there are the same sensationalist stories that the media decides is newsworthy enough to devote their attention to over other – often similar – stories; such as the Davis barroom murder trial of 1907, covered extensively in the Wenatchee Daily World.

Kate also brought to my attention an issue that came up recently in which The Reformer Dawn – the earliest known publication of what eventually became the Ellensburg Dawn, running from November 1893 to January 1894 – posed serious digitization issues. The paper is the size of a pamphlet and has been bound and stitched at the binding to prevent further damage to its already fragile pages and spine. The desire to digitize this paper proved to be dicey, as it would have required unstitching the binding to scan the pages. Thankfully those measures were not taken and Kate and her Special Collections team were able to take digital photos of the paper, which were later uploaded as TIFF files and added to the Chronicling America repository. The Reformer Dawn will also remain as a part of WSL’s permanent digital collection. Because The Reformer Dawn is in danger of being housed in “dark archives” (a dungeon-like place where historic documents go to spend the end of their lives) this is yet another example of access providing individuals a chance to interact with documents they may otherwise never have had the opportunity to do so with.

Given the evidence of both preservation and access providing rich educational experiences for all users, I began to wonder why some present the debate as so black and white. The way I see it, there is so much gray area; a gray area in which we can provide both preservation and access. Some librarians and archivists suggest a model in which responsibility for both original and surrogate documents is distributed among institutions. And isn’t this the very purpose of a library in the first place: to preserve documents that provide the public with lasting value so that future generations can access them, be it in its original or surrogate form?

All of this leads to an increasingly important question: if we know now how much we drastically want to save historic newspapers of the past, what steps are we taking to preserve digital information of the present? After all, building and maintaining a digital repository is a completely different ballgame than preserving old newspaper pages. Each medium has its own benefits and downfalls as it pertains to preservation techniques but, as opposed to newspaper print, building a digital repository is an area of preservation that archivists are still exploring and fine-tuning best practices. Similarly, a digital repository is much different to maintain because digital objects will always need a software environment to render it; newspapers, however, provide unmediated access to content. Important to consider is the way computer systems age much faster than data media; something new is always in the works and we are constantly upgrading.

Today, archivists are implementing a slew of preservation techniques for digital content. In the case of Washington’s involvement with NDNP, we are involved in a work-flow process that takes microfilm to transferable TIFF files and on through a series of processing tasks and quality control checks before we finally send the files, along with the microfilm, to Library of Congress. LOC then uploads these files and now users can access the newspaper pages on Chronicling America. During the processing and quality control checks, we are performing tasks such as text correction, cropping and de-skewing pages and other various measures that will enable the end user to more accurately access pages and read articles. Furthermore, Washington State Library will maintain all of the files we create in their digital collection; making Washington State residents aware of this expanding digital collection is yet another step the library is taking towards providing access.

While I’d certainly never call myself a Luddite, it was a rather big leap to immerse myself in the digitization world. When I approached the project, I wondered if digitizing documents would make originals, at least over time, obsolete; as it turns out, librarians don’t want that at all. They simply want to make access just as important as preservation; they want to provide entry to the all-important grey area: an area where users find both preservation and access. And though I’ll take sipping coffee and dropping muffin crumbs over a daily print newspaper, the efforts LOC and NEH are taking to make historic newspapers available is nothing short of amazing. It is our duty as information professionals to provide access to documents that are rich in value and history, such as newspapers. Just as we take effort today to save papers from the past, so too are we taking efforts to preserve the news we see today on our computer screen, for tomorrow.

Libraries are leaders in literacy. That in itself shouldn’t be surprising. However, literacy is now much more than being able to read standard print. Literacy now includes the ability to use digital, as well as print, resources. To succeed in the 21^st Century, digital literacy is essential. Whether applying for a job online, house-hunting, taking care of your health, or catching up with distant friends and relatives, life is much easier if you know how to navigate in a digital world.

Although defining digital literacy is no easy task, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Digital Literacy Task Force (which is led by the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy) has developed the following description to convey its meaning:

Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information, an ability that requires both cognitive and technical skills.

A digitally literate person:

● Possesses the variety of skills—cognitive and technical—required to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information in a wide variety of formats;

● Is able to use diverse technologies appropriately and effectively to search for and retrieve information, interpret search results, and judge the quality of the information retrieved;

● Understands the relationships among technology, lifelong learning, personal privacy, and appropriate stewardship of information;

● Uses these skills and the appropriate technologies to communicate and collaborate with peers, colleagues, family, and on occasion, the general public;

● Uses these skills to participate actively in civic society and contribute to a vibrant, informed, and engaged community.

Nationally, much is happening in the realm of digital literacy. Thursday, April 18, the DPLA (Digital Public Library of America) launched.  The DPLA is a platform that enables new and transformative uses of our digitized cultural heritage. The DPLA’s application programming interface (API) and open data can be used by software developers, researchers, and others to create novel environments for learning, tools for discovery, and engaging apps. Other major initiatives include Connect2Compete’s EveryoneOn campaign, DigitalLearn, and the Microsoft IT Academy.

At the Washington State Library, we have been following trends in digital literacy and evaluating a wide variety of digital literacy tools to create a portal that focuses on local resources as well as major national digital literacy projects. The Digital Literacy Advisory Team, made up of Washington State Library staff and representatives from the library community, have collaborated to make our new digital literacy resource page a valuable resource for all. Check it out here.

“For more information about WSL Digital Literacy project, please contact Jennifer Fenton, jennifer.fenton@sos.wa.gov.”

Washington State Library Institutional Libraries celebrate National Library Week. The Institutional Library Service (ILS) is a program of the Washington State Library, It consists of nine adult correctional facility libraries and two adult psychiatric hospital libraries. Our dedicated libraries embrace their mission:

“With spirit and fortitude, ILS branch staff enhances the quality of life for unique populations by providing a welcoming, neutral and secure place where informational, educational, and recreational needs are met.”

 Did you know?

 Libraries make prisons & psychiatric hospitals safer places to work and live

12,000 are incarcerated and hospitalized in Washington—8,520 are registered ILS patrons

ILS has more registered patrons per capita than the public library sector

ILS branch libraries employ prisoners and patients as clerks

ILS branch libraries maintain up-to-date re-entry resources

ILS branch libraries support and enhance basic adult education

Here’s what our Patrons have to say about ILS

“I’m just a regular guy and I actually don’t even read much…I’ve been getting some books on how to be a better father and that info is priceless…so it not only makes a difference in my life but it will make a difference in my child’s life too”. Airway Heights Corrections Center, Airway Heights, WA

 “Library is more important than gym, yard or any other recreational activity.  Reading is quiet, peaceful—a reading convict is not a problem source.  Reading causes new thought patterns to replace old negative patterns.”  Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Clallam Bay, WA

 “…Years ago when I knew nothing about schizophrenia, the library was the first place to go for information.  I am very greatfull to them for my knowledge that I share in groups, to my family, and to my support team. I am a better person for that.” Eastern State Hospital, Medical Lake, WA

To read more about our DOC and DSHS branches visit us at http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/InstitutionalLibraryServices.aspx. There are some great resources there, too.

As a further recognition of National Library Week, we offer this overview of several cooperative projects that benefit libraries statewide.

The WSL Library Development staff coordinates several cooperative statewide projects which leverage the combined purchasing power of libraries throughout the state to save significant amounts of money for Washington libraries. In addition, LSTA (Library Services & Technology Act) funds provided through IMLS (The Institute for Museum & Library Services) are used to subsidize or kick start cooperative purchasing arrangements, helping libraries break into new areas such as virtual reference, eBooks, or downloadable audiobooks.

The oldest example of these kinds of projects is Statewide Database Licensing (SDL), which since 1997 has been providing a suite of research databases to public, academic, K-12, medical, and research libraries statewide. Library Development staff also coordinate library funded group purchases for other products; past examples include the online version of Consumer Reports, and an automotive repair database; a current example is Zinio, a very popular new platform for reading magazines online. It has been conservatively estimated that SDL saves Washington libraries over $20 million annually.

A more recent example is Off the Page: Downloadable Audiobooks and eBooks for Washington, which has helped libraries provide these new formats to their patrons. 31 public library systems in Washington are now able to offer both e-books and audiobooks via the Washington Anytime Library, and several more libraries are in process to join this consortium. More than 40 public and academic libraries, as well as over 300 K-12 school libraries are offering downloadable audiobooks via a statewide contract with another vendor.

Another area in which Washington libraries are successfully working together is in providing access to 24×7  virtual reference services to their patrons. Via Ask-WA, more than 60 Washington libraries, both public and academic, are providing online reference services through chat, e-mail, and instant messaging (IM) technologies.

Just being rolled out as we write, is a brand new project, Connect with Your Library: A Mobile App for Washington, which in partnership with the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, is providing the opportunity for public and academic libraries to offer their services via a user-friendly mobile application (app). The app will let users locate libraries, place holds, renew materials, download eBooks, or check to see if the library has an item, and more, all from the mobile device they carry in their hand.

These programs and others like them are great examples of how under the leadership provided by the WSL Library Development Program, LSTA funds are used to assist in providing a level playing field, such that smaller libraries can provide their patrons with the same kinds of services and resources that otherwise might be restricted to the larger library systems, while simultaneously providing assistance to all Washington libraries, both large and small.

Secretary of State with young readers at the Washington State Library.

From the desks of Rand Simmons, State Librarian, and Steve Willis, Manager for the Central Library.

We celebrate National Library Week by harkening back to our founding 160 years ago. The Washington Territorial Library, the predecessor to the Washington State Library, was born from the Organic Act of 1853 which established the Washington Territory. Section 17 states that “the sum of five thousand dollars … be expended by and under the direction of the governor of Washington, in the purchase of a library, to be kept at the seat of government for the use of the governor, legislative assembly, judges of the supreme court, secretary, marshal, attorney of the territory,  and such other  persons and under such regulations as shall be prescribed  by  law.” $5,000 was the same amount appropriated for the erection of suitable buildings at the seat of government (section 13.)

 An inflation calculator indicates that $5,000 US dollars in 1853 would be the approximate equivalent of $147,058 US dollars in 2012. Never mind that the dollars are too short to build a government building or equip a library. What is important in the value the US Congress placed in the importance of a library in the Territory. The Washington State Territorial Library was the first public historical-cultural institution in the Washington Territory. And we are still here.

160 might seem like a humdrum number to celebrate, but in many ways the past dozen years have been the most challenging in the history of WSL. In observing this birthday we not only honor the efforts of our library staff predecessors but also recognize our success in continuing to provide quality service in spite of massive budget cuts.