Dear Dewey has a New Name
Dear Dewey from Western State Hospital has a new name…Dewey Digest and a new format. Check out the latest issue, “Dog Days of Summer.”
March Issue of Western State Hospital Library Newsletter Salutes Kim Wyman
American Libraries celebrate Women’s History Month! We salute the new Secretary of State Kim Wyman—the second woman to hold that position in Washington State. Kim served as Thurston County Auditor for 12 years prior to her election. Dear Dewey-WSH Newsletter March 2013
Dear Dewey from WSH February 2013
Latest isssue now available, check it out here. Dear Dewey February 2013
Dear Dewey from Western State Hospital
Dear Dewey January 2013 from Western State Hospital has arrived.
Dear Dewey Newsletter October 2012
Check out the latest issue of Dear Dewey from Kathleen Benoun at Western State Hospital!!!
Western State Hospital Library takes a look at history
Kathleen Benoun at Western State Hospital Library has done it again. Not only does she keep the patients and staff happy in the library— her love of history has drawn her to help create the historical museum on the grounds of Washington State Hospital. Now that love of history and the library has combined to bring a great program to the hospital treatment centers. This program is a great addition to the library services at Western State Hospital. Check out the attached flyer to…
The theme for 2011 at the Western State Hospital Library was Re-New and Re-Use!
To re-new interest in the WSH Library, we began the year by participating in ILS Snapshot Day 1-11-11 and all branches shared stories and pictures on the State Library website. A month later, a WSH Library newsletter was introduced on campus to highlight the collection’s offerings. Starting mid-year, classes at the hospital treatment centers were entertained with a weekly show-n-tell—poetry—storytelling format library programming. District #28 Rep. Troy Kelley accepted an invitation to visit the library and WSH history museum. The…
Western State Hospital Museum Open-House
At that first meeting in 2000, hospital staff, patients and citizens organized themselves into a group they called the Grave Concerns Association. They discussed plans about how to restore the hospital cemetery and bring honor and dignity to the forgotten. Patient advocates, genealogical societies, gardening groups, and cemetery restoration experts offered advice and counsel. Work parties were organized. Memorials were held to honor the dead and reveal the names of those loved ones lost to history. In 2001, the Earth shook the…
Small Hunch Pays Big Results!
Some months ago, two ILS staff decided to write to some publishers of mental health resources and ask them about the possibility of receiving donated materials. National Recovery Month is every September and their collections were sadly depleted from the demand for such materials. They hoped that one or two of the companies might respond with an offer of a few donations. Much to their amazement and profound appreciation three companies responded within weeks of the letters being sent. Hazelden and New Harbinger…
Western State Hospital Museum Open-House
Ten years ago, I had a library visit from a hospital staffer who excitedly asked me to provide him information about the “dead people in the park.” Although I’ve received some odd questions during my years in the library of a state psychiatric hospital, this request was something unusual even for me. I suppressed a grin and asked him to give me more details. He told me he had stumbled upon a numbered stone during his lunch break walk in…