WASHINGTON STATE LIBRARY SPONSORS UW CAPSTONE STUDENTS

WASHINGTON STATE LIBRARY SPONSORS UW CAPSTONE STUDENTS

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Every year, members of Washington State Library’s (WSL) Library Development team sponsor student projects that help support the work of the State Library. University of Washington (UW) iSchool Capstone projects are the culmination of the students’ learning experience at the iSchool. The students distill the knowledge and skills acquired in academic courses and apply them to real-world projects. For Shawn Schollmeyer, Washington Digital Newspapers Coordinator, iSchool Capstone students pitched their ideas for a Washington Digital Newspapers data visualization to prepare a final…

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Baseless attacks on voter-registration partnership weaken us all

Baseless attacks on voter-registration partnership weaken us all

By Secretary of State Steve Hobbs A one-of-a-kind national resource for state elections leaders like me is being torn apart by partisanship and misinformation. The voters of Washington are worse off for it. Like dozens of states, Washington’s elections rely on collaboration to help keep our voter rolls valid and guard against double-voting. That’s accomplished through the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which Washington founded with a bipartisan group of six other states in 2012 as a shared-cost, independent, and…

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WASHINGTON’S LIBRARIES: HELPING THE FORMERLY INCARCERATED RE-ENTER SOCIETY

WASHINGTON’S LIBRARIES: HELPING THE FORMERLY INCARCERATED RE-ENTER SOCIETY

Nearly 7,500 people each year, on average, return to their communities after serving Washington state prison sentences, according to Department of Corrections (DOC) data for the last decade. Many of them face numerous challenges as they re-enter society, including establishing financial stability, reliable housing and transportation, and access to community resources, such as their local public library. Washington currently has 378 public libraries statewide. Public libraries offer informational and educational programs that can help formerly incarcerated people successfully transition back…

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A FOND FAREWELL: THE ORIGINAL NEWHOUSE BUILDING, 1934-2023

A FOND FAREWELL: THE ORIGINAL NEWHOUSE BUILDING, 1934-2023

On May 15, 2023, the last remnants of the original Irving R. Newhouse Building were demolished. The Irving R. Newhouse Building was built in 1934 as part of a Civil Works Administration program to spur job growth during the Great Depression. Since then, it has served the state of Washington in various capacities and housed several different tenants for nearly 90 years. Though it is no longer standing, it remains a vital piece of Capitol Campus history. Designed by prominent…

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BEFORE FEDERAL SOCIAL-WELFARE PROGRAMS: WALLA WALLA COUNTY WELFARE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT TO COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, 1943

BEFORE FEDERAL SOCIAL-WELFARE PROGRAMS: WALLA WALLA COUNTY WELFARE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT TO COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, 1943

In the era before federal social-welfare programs, states and their individual counties had to do the job themselves. This effort is the focus of the Walla Walla County Welfare Department’s 1943 Annual Report to County Commissioners.  The report starts by listing the employee names of the department’s administrative unit and those assigned to various facilities and programs. Aside from the administrative unit, the report lists the Stone Creek Sanitarium, the Blue Mountain sanitarium, the Medical Aid program, and the Old…

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FLICKER AND TAD: A MOTHER-DAUGHTER STORY FROM PARADISE COVE, VASHON ISLAND, WASHINGTON

FLICKER AND TAD: A MOTHER-DAUGHTER STORY FROM PARADISE COVE, VASHON ISLAND, WASHINGTON

In celebration of Mother’s Day, Washington Rural Heritage is looking back on a fascinating document from the Vashon Island Heritage Collection: a lovingly detailed scrapbook compiled by Florence “Flicker” Burd for her daughter Florence “Tad” Burd. Documenting their life from 1923 to 1927, the scrapbook documents the mother and daughter’s journey from Michigan to Seattle by rail when Tad was just four and Florence a recently separated single mother. Upon arriving in the Pacific Northwest, they spent several months at…

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WASHINGTON STATE ARCHIVES: PROCESSING AND RESTORING LEGISLATIVE AUDIO RECORDINGS

WASHINGTON STATE ARCHIVES: PROCESSING AND RESTORING LEGISLATIVE AUDIO RECORDINGS

Washington State Archives’ Legislative Audio Project team digitizes, converts, edits, and indexes audio from House Floor sessions, Senate Committee meetings, and other recordings associated with the state’s legislative history. This recorded media document events spanning over half a century and are available online at Washington State Archives – Digital Archives. Consequently, recording technologies, as well as the quality of these recordings, vary greatly from year to year. For example, the majority of House Floor sessions from 1969 through 1996 were…

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SPRING CLEANING AT THE STATE LIBRARY

SPRING CLEANING AT THE STATE LIBRARY

Do you have old or obsolete electronic devices stored somewhere in your home that you haven’t used in a long time? What about a box of mysterious, tangled cords that may or may not connect to things you’ve long since discarded? We do. Libraries, often much like the patrons and communities they serve, also accumulate things like this, and the Washington State Library is no exception. Recently, however, the State Library finally bid farewell to some old stalwarts: our mechanical…

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BANNING BOOKS: AN EGREGIOUS FORM OF CENSORSHIP

BANNING BOOKS: AN EGREGIOUS FORM OF CENSORSHIP

Libraries connect readers to information, ideas, learning, knowledge, and development. Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State, helps ensure people have unfettered access to information at hundreds of public, school, academic, and institutional libraries across Washington. This commitment is rooted in the fundamental principle that an educated and informed citizenry is critical to a free society. But in today’s increasingly polarized political climate, an alarming trend to ban books from schools and community libraries…

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WASHINGTON STATE’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION: A HISTORY AND LEGACY IN 28 PAGES

WASHINGTON STATE’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION: A HISTORY AND LEGACY IN 28 PAGES

Do you ever wonder how many U.S. representatives and senators Washington (as a state and territory) has had in its 170-year history? How many of them were Republicans? How many were Democrats, or Progressives? If you’re doing a little in-depth research, how many years did Julia Butler Hansen serve in the House of Representatives? Why did James W. Bryant’s term end? Or, if you’re simply curious, what in the name of Orange Jacobs is a “Silver Republican”? We’ll get to…

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