Did you know tomorrow, February 1, 2012, is the first National Digital Learning Day? This day of observance was launched by the Alliance for Excellent Education, one of two education advocacy groups behind the Digital Learning Now Initiative.

The American Library Association’s (ALA) Digital Literacy Taskforce is calling on all libraries to put a social media megaphone to their activities planned for this special day. Raise awareness of your library’s work in this arena by tweeting (hashtag #DLDay), blogging, and sharing Flickr photos and YouTube videos of digital literacy activities and testimonials throughout the day. You can also share examples on the showcase page of the Digital Learning Day Website at www.digitallearningday.org. A toolkit is available at www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/teachers/ from the Alliance for Excellent Education.

Jeannie Remillard has this to share about the new puppy at SCCC: Her name is Athena…and she is the cutest little Beagle puppy you have ever laid your eyes on.  When she first visited the library and came behind the desk to meet me, she was shaking with fright. By the time we filled her tummy with doggy treats and gave her much love we were sure she would remember her first visit to the library.  Talk about cute…she jumped up on my lap and tried to get her puppy treats off the desk.  Everybody in the whole room fell in love with her immediately.  

 Yesterday she came, sopping wet from the rain, and she immediately tried to jump up in my lap for her puppy treats. Jason and Curt, my workers, grabbed towels and dried her off.  She is a real joy and brings smiles to everyone…even those guys who usually don’t smile.  What a terrific wonderful program this is!!! North Beach Paws!!!

 From Wikipedia, Athena means “goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.”

 A perfect name for a prison library dog!

 Courtesy of the Legislative Planning Committee, Washington Library Association Library Related Legislation. The Washington Library Association (WLA) tracks state legislative activity that will potentially affect Washington Libraries. Their tracker is posted to the WLA web site and we will also post it weekly on this blog.

For information on the legislative process or becoming involved, see the WLA site referenced above.

Joyce Hanna

It is always nice to hear that you are doing a good job.  Joyce Hanna recently received this Kite telling her how much she is appreciated at Airway Heights Corrections Center.

Image courtesy North Pend Oreille Heritage collection

Washington State Library News
Are you a teen who aspires to be the next Steven Spielberg or Spike Lee? Here is your chance to put that cinematic creativity to good use and help promote reading and libraries at the same time. The “2012 Teen Video Challenge” is a national video competition now underway. The Washington State Library is partnering with the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) to promote the video contest. (Northern Kittitas County Tribune [Cle Elum], 12.22.11)

To give the Roslyn Library’s new grant-funded scanner a trial run on photos Frank Badda passed on to his grandson Frank Schuchman, Evan Robb and Ross Fuqua, Digital Project Librarians attached to the Washington State Library, joined Erin Krake and Scott Templin on December 20th at the Roslyn Library. The project is funded by a $5,000 grant awarded by the Washington State Library. (Photo) (Northern Kittitas County Tribune [Cle Elum], 12.29.11)

Among several bills introduced by Democratic Reps. Sam Hunt of Olympia, Zack Hudgins of Tukwila and others to realign state government services is House Bill 2222, which is sponsored by Democratic Rep. Mary Helen Roberts of Lynnwood and Republican Rep. Maureen Walsh of Walla Walla, raises the fees for out-of-state users of the state Library. HB 2222 got a hearing Monday, and acting state librarian Rand Simmons testified in favor of helping the state recoup its research costs – by an estimated $44,535 in the biennium. (The Olympian [Olympia], 1.16.12) http://www.theolympian.com/2012/01/16/1951479/state-agency-shuffles-in-offing.html

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Volume 8, January 26, 2012 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) FIRST TUESDAYS – MINING GEMS FROM CENSUS DATA

2) EBOOK PILOT UPDATES

3) REWARDS FOR INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS

4) DISCOVER NEW REVENUE OPPORTUNITIES FOR TOUGH TIMES

5) GOT BOOKS? SHARE THE LOVE

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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Breach of Duty: A J.P. Beaumont Mystery. By J.A. Jance. (New York: Avon Books, 1999. 384 p.)

Recommendation submitted by:
Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA.

This is mystery writer J.A. Jance’s 14th Seattle-based J.P. Beaumont police procedural. In it, Beaumont is investigating the arson murder of a woman whose death would not have been particularly noteworthy, if $300,000 had not been found hidden in an old refrigerator in her garage.

Meanwhile, a Native American woman, who happens to be a professor of physics at the University of Washington, shows up and warns Beaumont and his partner of a powerful curse. It seems that someone has stolen the bones of an important shaman and bad things start happening to those who handle them, as predicted.

Meantime the chief of police retires, and his replacement is a co-worker of Beaumont whose dislike for him is heartily reciprocated. Oh, and did I mention that Beaumont’s current partner, Sue Danielson by name, divorced mother of two, is worried because her deadbeat ex is coming to town?

Talk about a plot with lots of complications and disparate story lines! Jance weaves all of these lines together throughout various seedy locations of the greater Seattle area. For those who enjoy well-written – if slightly superficial – police-procedural style mysteries set in Seattle, J.A. Jance and J.P. Beaumont could easily become a habit!

ISBN: 0-380-97406-1

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 813.6 JANCE 1999.
Available in eReader, Braille, Large Type and Audiobook (Cassette, Digital Book) editions

If Only We Had Space for This

Even if you don’t have time to read this brief, informative review on the history of rural libraries in the Midwest, open the link up to see the marvellous photo of a circulating cake pan collection!

http://www.dailyyonder.com/main-street-public-library/2012/01/11/3678

2012 Caldecott Medal Winner

The ALA Midwinter conference has concluded and the winners for all of ALA’s major awards  have been released!

The Caldecott Medal is given to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for  children.  This year’s medal goes to A Ball for Daisy, written and illustrated by Chris Raschka

The Newbery Medal is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children This year’s award goes to Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

The Belpre Medal is awarded annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth  This year’s medal goes to the author of Under the Mesquite,  Guadalupe Garcia McCall, and the illustrator of Diego Rivera: His World and Ours, Duncan Tonatiuh

The Odyssey Award is given annually to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults.  This year’s award goes to The True Meaning of Smekday, produced by Listening Library, an imprint of Random House Audio Publishing Group, written by Adam Rex, narrated by Bahni Turpin.

The Batchelder Award is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children’s book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.   This year’s award goes to Soldier Bear written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman and translated by Laura Watkinson.

The Carnegie Medal honors the most outstanding video productions for children released during the previous year. This year’s award goes to Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods Studios, Inc., producers of “Children Make Terrible Pets.”

The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. This year’s Printz Award goes to Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.

The Morris Award honors a debut book by a first-time author writing young adult literature.  This year’s Morris Award goes to Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award honors  an author, as well as a specific body of hisor her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.  This year’s Edwards Award goes to Susan Cooper, author of The Dark Is Rising Sequence: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark Is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King;and Silver on the Tree.

The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year. This year’s award goes to The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery written by Steve Sheinkin.

 Courtesy of the Legislative Planning Committee, Washington Library Association Library Related Legislation. The Washington Library Association (WLA) tracks state legislative activity that will potentially affect Washington Libraries. Their tracker is posted to the WLA web site and we will also post it weekly on this blog.

For information on the legislative process or becoming involved, see the WLA site referenced above.