Washington State Library News

The Washington State Library and the library community are celebrating the approval of an $84 million grant award that will provide high-speed broadband Internet access to 57 public libraries where broadband connections are limited.  The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved the award.  The State Library is a partner in a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant application in Washington.  Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) is the lead applicant for the broadband project.  (Dayton Chronicle, 3.24.10)

Library News

Listen up you audio book lovers.  The Lopez Island Library now had a new free service for downloading audio books to your computer, iPod or other MP3 player, called NetLibrary eAudiobooks.  The library recently subscribed to Netlibrary for the community.  (Island’s Weekly Newspaper [Lopez Island], 3.16.10) http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/isw/entertainment/87529002.html

Since opening the doors to the new Liberty Lake Municipal Library facility a year ago, Library Director Pamela Mogen said they’ve expanded their current programming, offered new services and realized the need for more staffing hours to handle their growing patronage.  (Photos)  (Liberty Lake Splash, 3.17.10) http://www.libertylakesplash.com/news.asp?id=19408

The Liberty Lake Municipal Library offers a homebound service that provides resources to people who can’t physically come to the facility, said Circulation Supervisor, Georgette Rogers.  The program allows for books and movies to be delivered and picked up by SCOPE volunteers from qualifying residents’ doorsteps each month.    (Liberty Lake Splash, 3.18.10) http://www.libertylakesplash.com/news.asp?id=19409

Patrons of Liberty Lake Municipal Library now have access to NetLibrary, a second audio book download service that expands the library’s downloadable collection by more than 2,000 titles.  NetLibrary provides audio titles, particularly young adult and children’s titles. (Liberty Lake Splash, 3.18.10)

http://www.libertylakesplash.com/news.asp?id=19406

The Bellingham Public Library’s community rooms can’t be used for religious worship, its board of trustees has decided.  The Washington State Constitution bars public money or property being used for religious worship. It doesn’t ban religious groups from booking the meeting rooms for other purposes. (The Bellingham Herald, 3.18.10) http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/03/20/1346546/bellingham-library-bars-religious.html

The Columbia County Rural Library District is providing another format for adult audiobooks, and that is through our new Playaways.  These are hand-held devices that can be carried, put in your pocket, or used on a lanyard around your neck as you bike, take a walk, and work in the garden.  Playaway is a light-weight, compact, easy-to-use player that comes with one audiobook already downloaded.  (Dayton Chronicle, 3.24.10)

Police say the person who turned out the lights on two women in a restroom at the Richland Public Library is a 13-year-old boy.  KVEW-TV reports the boy was picked up Thursday and confessed.  He faces charges of trespassing and one charge of assault.  (Seattle Post Intelligencer Online, 3.26.10) http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_richland_library_creep.html

The Richland City Council is accepting applications from city residents interested in serving on the Arts Commission and Library Board. The Library Board meets the second Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m. The board appointment will be for three years.  Application deadline is Friday. Details on the openings are available on the city’s website. (Tri-City Herald [Kennewick], 3.29.10) http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/03/29/956814/richland-has-openings-on-library.html

Elections

While public libraries throughout Clallam County are dark this week, North Olympic Library System officials are eyeing the possibility of asking voters to approve a tax levy increase during the August primary election. Public libraries in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and Clallam Bay are closed this week to save money in light of an anticipated $163,000 budget shortfall.  Another temporary closure is planned from August 30 to September 4. The library board is considering a property tax levy rate increase from 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to 50 cents per $1,000. (Peninsula Daily News Online [Port Angeles], 4.1.10) http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100401/NEWS/304019987

 

Buildings

The Ferndale City Council voted to approve the first phase of the library project, which will cost approximately $48,750 and come out of the $1 million the city pledged for the project in November 2009.  The vote approved a contract with the Seattle architecture firm SHKS and allows the firm to draw up schematic designs, which are diagrams that will give a general view of the components and the scale of the project.  (Westside Record-Journal [Ferndale], 3.17.10)

A west-facing view of the new Vancouver Community Library Friday afternoon shows construction workers pouring the final main structural concrete.  Some workers even wore black ties for the occasion.  The five-story building is due to open in 2011. (Photo) (Columbian, [Vancouver] 3.20.10) http://www.columbian.com/photos/2010/mar/20/4548/

Letters & Editorials

The Friends of the Ocean Shores Library have always raised money to support library services in very significant ways.  The Friends will continue to look carefully at library needs to get the best bang for their limited buck. We hope you can help us befriend the Ocean Shores Public Library.  (The North Coast News [Ocean Shores], 3.17.10)

The North Central Regional Library has invited author Lois Lowry for an open forum in several local towns.  She will be discussing her Newberry Award winning book, “The Giver.”  I was asked to read and promote this book, but after reading it, I felt it was a very disturbing book for fifth and sixth graders, yet alone, young adults to read.  Even if young readers discussed it with their parents, I cannot conscionably promote this type of book.  (Statesman-Examiner [Colville], 3.17.10)

The library is being used as a pawn to get the police station where some want it.  Why would the library want to move to a ‘temporary’ location when none suggested is anywhere near the size of the current library? Since the Whatcom County Library System is responsible for GURARANTEEING a level of service, how can they make this guarantee in a temporary facility a fraction of the size of the current library?  (Westside Record-Journal, [Ferndale] 3.17.10)

Dear Congressman Larsen:  Oak Harbor has outgrown its current library and is in desperate need of a new library.  The Oak Harbor Mayor, Jim Slowik, offered a location in Central Oak Harbor.  This site would have helped revitalize the central city core. We sought guidance from your office on federal funding for this project.  No one ever had the courtesy to return our calls. (Whidbey News-Times, [Oak Harbor] 3.17.10) http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/wnt/opinion/letters/87847492.html

This “Tug of War” between the pornography viewers and families with children visiting the local libraries is puzzling to me. We need to respect other’s rights, not invade their privacy so we can censor what they’re reading or watching online. Why not just move the computers away from the checkout counter?  (Stanwood Camano News, 3.23.10) http://www.scnews.com/news/2010-03-23/Letters_to_the_Editor/Pornography.html

People

The Pend Oreille County Library District will most likely advertise nationwide for a new director following the resignation of Matt Becvarov.  The position will be advertised locally.  District employee Colleen Auble has been appointed interim manager. Becvarov offered his assistance to the board in finding a new director. (Newport Miner, 3.17.10)

Awards

The North Mason Timberland Library in Belfair, along with other rural libraries, hospitals and other facilities throughout the state, could see a boost in connection speed and greater access to other regional networks through an $84 million federal stimulus grant that the Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) received earlier this month.  (Belfair Herald, 3.18.10)

The Burien Library and City Hall building has received an honor award in the 2010 Excellence in Masonry Design Awards.  The 58,000-square-foot building, designed with masonry, natural stone, glass and metal, has a regional library for the King County Library System on the lower two floors and a city hall for Burien on the upper floor.  (Photo)  (Daily Journal of Commerce, [Seattle], 3.19.10)

Programs & Displays

Because March is teen technology month at the Arlington Library, teen librarian Jocelyn Redel decided to offer a class that would give students a chance to use their creativity and work together on  something most teenagers love – video games.  Redel gave students a quick lesson in video game creation and let the teens make their own March 11 at the library.  (Photo)  (Arlington Times, [Marysville] 3.17.10) http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/north_sound/arl/news/87830672.html

The Edmonds Arts Commission is pleased to present an exhibit featuring oil bar paintings by Rita Gesinger.  The exhibit at Edmonds Library runs now through April 30.  The child-like excitement of expressing herself creatively, and exploring many different avenues of art, are an integral part of Rita Gesinger’s artistic life. (The Edmonds Beacon [Mukilteo], 3.18.10) http://www.edmondsbeacon.com/stepping-out/article.exm/2010-03-18_library_features_artwork_by_rita_gesinger

A tea to benefit the Liberty Lake Municipal Library will be held at 1 p.m. on April 24 at the LDS Church.  Guests are asked to bring their own teacup and saucer. The tea will feature keynote speaker, Phyllis Stephens, an Inland Northwest garden expert.  Tickets are $20 per person and are available until April 20.  (Liberty Lake Splash, 3.18.10) http://www.libertylakesplash.com/news.asp?id=19440

The Three Creeks Community Library, a part of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, has a Read to the Dogs program aimed at improving youngsters’ reading skills.  Offered the third Wednesday of every month, there’s usually a waiting list for the 25-minute time slots. Research has demonstrated that petting and talking with animals reduces stress and lowers blood pressure.  (Photo) (Columbian Print Only Edition [Vancouver], 3.19.10)

Little Crook, a nearly 1-year-old red kangaroo from the Outback Christmas Tree and Kangaroo Farm near Arlington entertained a crowd at the Arlington Library, a part of Sno-Isle Libraries, during Kangaroo Time.  Red kangaroos are the largest marsupials and grow to more than 6 feet tall and 200 pounds.  (Photos)  (Seattle Times, 3.24.10)

This year’s Pierce County Reads book, former food critic Ruth Reichl’s memoir “Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise,” has been flying off the library and bookstore shelves.   People are so curious about what it’s like to be a food critic. Author Ruth Reichl, a former New York Times food critic and former editor of Gourmet magazine visited Pierce County at Clover Park Technical College, Saturday, March 27. (The Herald [Puyallup,] 3.24.10)

Here’s something: A new “VSTORIES: Facebooking Your Story” contest, sponsored by the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District and the Digital Technology & Culture program at Washington State University Vancouver. Entrants of all ages are invited to share stories digitally, for the first-time contest that runs April 5-30. There will be weekly themes and each week winners will each receive$50 Amazon.com gift cards.  (Columbian [Vancouver], 4.1.10) http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/apr/01/got-a-story-library-wants-to-see-it-in-themed-face/

[This summary of library news was created by Bobbie DeMiero and Leanna Hammond of the Washington State Library Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.  It represents a selection of newspaper clippings about Washington libraries from all Washington newspapers received in the packets on the dates shown. For more information about any of these stories, contact Carolyn Petersen at 360.570.5560 or [email protected] ]