Laurie Fortier leads a team of individuals that receive, retrieve, catalog, and maintain our federal and state publications. Acting State Librarian, Rand Simmons, describes Laurie as “passionate about her work and very knowledgeable.”

Although Laurie Fortier is officially part of the Technical Services unit of our Central Library services, her skills are so varied she could easily work in any area of the Library and still be quite at home. She assists at the reference desk, works with digital materials, copy catalogs, upgrades bibliographic records, prepares books and periodicals for binding and repair, and serves as our resident expert on government materials particularly in collection development for Washington State publications.

She has a phenomenal memory for detail, and is the one person who can actually find a State publication when the customer says something like, “It had a green cover with a picture of a salmon and the word ‘Nuclear’ in the title. That’s all I can remember.”

“Also, she makes us laugh. A lot,” says Program Manager Steve Willis. “That’s a good quality in these difficult times. If you want to get on her good side bring her a box of Dots candy.”

Never afraid to learn new skills, Laurie will be spending the next year learning the procedures for circulation and also the basics of original cataloging.

Thanks, Laurie, for help us all to move forward at the Washington State Library.