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50 YEARS OF NORTHWEST HISTORY NEWS NOTES

50 YEARS OF NORTHWEST HISTORY NEWS NOTES

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian Did you know that for the last 50 years, the Washington State Library has compiled a quarterly bibliography of recent Pacific Northwest history publications, including notable journal articles, for the journal Pacific Northwest Quarterly? The historian, author, and Washington Room librarian Hazel Emery Mills started the column as a service to researchers of Pacific Northwest history. The first edition of Northwest History News Notes appeared in Volume 58 (January 1967)….

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Digital Projects: Year in Review 2016

Digital Projects: Year in Review 2016

As 2016 comes to a close, we here at Washington Rural Heritage are at a crossroads. We’re steadily working with our grantees on this past year’s collections, and at the same time, we’re looking forward to the new projects that we will be helping with next year. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take the time to stop and reflect on what our community has accomplished from 2015 to 2016 in their efforts to preserve Washington’s cultural heritage….

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Here comes Santa Claus … There goes Santa Claus

Here comes Santa Claus … There goes Santa Claus

From the desk of Rand Simmons For those of us, yes even the most mature of adults, and those who through deductive reasoning have ruled out the possibility of a jolly old elf in a sleigh packed with toys pulled by flying reindeer traveling faster than possible delivering a gift to every boy and girl in the world in just one night, the child within each of us listens to hear the tinkling of bells on the roof top … Trudy Hawkins…

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Happy Birthday, Bill of Rights!

Happy Birthday, Bill of Rights!

From the desk of Rand Simmons We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. You probably recognize the quote as the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. Perhaps you memorized it in school. The…

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WSL Remembers John Glenn and Library 21

WSL Remembers John Glenn and Library 21

From the desk of Mary Paynton Schaff American hero John Glenn died yesterday after an action-packed 95 years. Glenn was a decorated fighter pilot who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross five times, the first American to orbit the Earth in the Friendship 7 capsule, a 24 year public servant as a Senator from Ohio, and the oldest person to ever fly in space when he flew aboard the shuttle Columbia in 1998. It would be hard to underestimate Glenn’s impact…

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Pearl Harbor at 75

Pearl Harbor at 75

Pearl Harbor turns seventy-five From the desk of Rand Simmons Only five men are still alive that experienced the Japanese attack on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. All five are in their mid-nineties. One of them, 96-year-old Lauren Bruner, lives in Washington State. Yesterday all but one gathered in Hawaii to celebrate Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Moments before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, the United States was ‘suddenly and deliberately attacked.’ Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes and bombers launched…

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2016 World AIDS Day

2016 World AIDS Day

From the desk of Rand Simmons Each year December 1 is designated World AIDS Day. Beginning in 1988 World AIDS Day has raised awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS.gov reports there are 36.7 million individuals worldwide living with HIV/AIDS. 1.8 million are children who were infected by their HIV mothers during pregnancy, child birth or breast feeding.  By far the majority of individuals who have HIV/AIDS live in low- to middle-income countries. In addition…

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Government resources for the Washington State tribal libraries – Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

Government resources for the Washington State tribal libraries – Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

Key Federal Agencies Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Department of the Interior (DOI). Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Department of Justice (DOJ). Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). Washington State Agencies Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs. Portals and Search Engines General portals to federal publications. USA.Gov http://usa.gov/. Official multi-topic portal to U.S. government information, linking to various federal government agencies and commissions. “Indian Tribes and Resources…

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Dogs in the library, normalizing life for inmates.

Dogs in the library, normalizing life for inmates.

From the desk of Jean Baker – Library Associate, Washington State Penitentiary I was sitting in the office yesterday and someone pointed to the hallway and said, “Look at all of the puppies”.  I went out in the hallway and found about a dozen puppies spilling out of a basket and climbing over each other.  Standing around in a circle were about 10 grown men some with tattoos and ponytails cuddling, petting and cooing at the little canines thus erasing the…

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“Technology has a way of bridging language barriers”

“Technology has a way of bridging language barriers”

No matter what type of library you work in or what your role, we all have something in common.  We care about the people we serve, we care about providing excellent resources and we care about connecting those two things.  Library Development is the branch of the state library which administers federal (LSTA) funds.  We create programs to support the libraries of the state which we hope in turn will benefit the residents of Washington state.  We love what we…

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