For many years one of the projects of the State Library was an emailing and blog post called “Clippings.” We contracted with a newspaper clipping service to scour Washington newspapers for mentions of our libraries.  These stories were collected and published weekly, as a way of keeping all of us up to date on what was happening around our state.  It was a great service but it had its limitations.  First, by the time the clippings made their way to us many of the events were weeks old.  Also many of our small libraries rarely turned up in the newspaper and that felt lopsided.  We know that you are all doing great things and we wanted to find a way to capture them.

A few years ago we started playing around with a web newspaper tool called Paper.li, designed to collect news on a given topic from around the web.  We were intrigued by the possibilities but life was busy and other things took priority. Then one day last fall we learned that our Clipping service was closing. It was time to resume our investigation!  One of the problems we hoped to address was the under-representation of our state’s smaller libraries. Was there a way that moving to the new online format could fix that issue?  Brain flash- most libraries have a Facebook page.  We could learn what was happening through their Facebook posts and share that on our new newspaper.  Fast forward several months (and a lot of trial and error) and we launched the new, flashy updated “Clippings” now renamed “WSL Presents: News from Washington Libraries.” We still look for mentions in the news, we are combing your Facebook feeds BUT (this is where you come in) we would LOVE it if you sent us your news directly.  Staci Phillips is the seeker, finder, collector and creator of the paper.  You can send her your stories and pictures at [email protected].  We want to hear from public, academic, school, tribal, and special libraries, in other words YOU!

Meanwhile if you haven’t discovered it yet, our bi-weekly online newspaper is found here.  On the upper right of your screen you’ll see a “Subscribe to the Email Newsletter” box. If you are interested in keeping up with all the good library news in the state why not sign up?  When a new edition is published you’ll receive an email announcement so you know to visit the page.  All past editions are available in the archives.  So, please send us your news and help us create a rich resource to celebrate all things Washington Library.