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Category: Technology and Resources

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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In the time of COVID-19, AskWA

In the time of COVID-19, AskWA

AskWA is the Statewide Virtual Reference Cooperative — a team of over 50 academic and public libraries across our state who band together to help provide email and 24/7 chat reference services with the help of a global network of librarians. Never has there been a more relevant time for virtual reference services for library users across our state and our globe, as in person reference services have become impossible due to health and safety concerns. Though many AskWA librarians…

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Wherefore telephone books?

Wherefore telephone books?

It wasn’t that long ago that telephone books played a fairly significant role in our daily lives. Whether you used one as a booster seat at dinner, or you were looking up the number of a neighbor or local business, telephone books were an incredibly handy tool. One could argue that they were the single most important resource about a local community before the internet. To preserve the wealth of information contained in old telephone books and the precise “moment…

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Girl wearing VR headset
Reality Check

Reality Check

From the Desk of Joe Olayvar If you haven’t noticed, there’s a device craze going on.  Nearly everywhere you look in any town or city across the globe, someone is absorbed in conversation, web searching, or game play.  Yes, we’ve come a long way since the Atari or the early phone and its five pound battery pack.  But like every technology, there’s always something new that will eventually overshadow it, or at least add a new facet; in this case,…

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Learning through play

Learning through play

With Microsoft, Amazon, Google and many other companies based in Washington we are a technology state. Washington State is endlessly hungry for skilled technology workers and STEM learning is an important component of educating our future workforce.  The State Library, seeing this need, has invested in many STEM kits which we circulate to interested libraries around Washington. Coding and robotics are work skills that are highly prized, and one of our original, and very popular kits, Lego Mindstorms teaches these…

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WSL Updates for December 14, 2017

WSL Updates for December 14, 2017

Volume 13, December 14, 2017 for the WSL Updates mailing list Topics include: 1) TEEN VIDEO CHALLENGE 2) GOING DEEPER WITH SOCIAL MEDIA 3) MLA TECH CAMP 4) PRECISION MEDICINE FOR ALL OF US 5) MUSEUMS EMPOWERED 6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK ————————————————————————————————————— 1) TEEN VIDEO CHALLENGE Budding teenage videographers across Washington are invited to participate in the 2018 Teen Video Challenge, a Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) sponsored competition, hosted by the Washington State Library. Teenagers ages 13…

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WSL Holds eBook / Audiobook Conference

WSL Holds eBook / Audiobook Conference

From the Desk of Will Stuivenga. The Washington State Library recently hosted the first ever face-to-face User Group Meeting for members of the Washington Digital Library Consortium, a group of 44 (soon to be 45) of the state’s mid-sized and smaller public libraries that provide the OverDrive-powered Washington Anytime Library to their patrons. 61 people (including Cindy Aden, State Librarian, and 4 additional staff from the State Library) attended the event, with all but a handful of member libraries represented….

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WSL Updates for October 5, 2017

WSL Updates for October 5, 2017

Volume 13, October 5, 2017 for the WSL Updates mailing list Topics include: 1) DISASTER RECOVERY RESOURCES 2) MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING VIDEOS 3) STAND UP FOR HEALTH 4) IMLS MUSEUM GRANT PROGRAMS 5) THE ARTS STRONG CONNECTION 6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK ————————————————————————————————————— 1) DISASTER RECOVERY RESOURCES You may wish to save this information for a rainy day, a water leak, or even a flood. These resources were prepared by federal agencies and private non-profit organizations with experience in…

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WSL Updates for September 14, 2017

WSL Updates for September 14, 2017

Volume 13, September 14, 2017 for the WSL Updates mailing list Topics include resources: 1) RESILIENCE RESOURCES 2) FREE BOOKS 3) THINK, DO, SHOW – SAVE THE DATE 4) THE FORGOTTEN WAR REMEMBERED 5) LATINO CULTURES RESOURCES 6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK ————————————————————————————————————— 1) RESILIENCE RESOURCES Many people around the country are facing difficult, trying times right now. Evacuees displaced by the recent hurricanes in Texas and along the southeastern seaboard states, immigrants, refugees, and others who have had…

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