From the desk of Rand Simmons Washington State Librarian

Based on an OSOS Press Release, 6/9/2014.

In-person service hours at the main Washington State Library in Tumwater will be reduced by four hours a day, effective June 16, as the service-and-research institution grapples with continuing significant budget challenges.

The Library at 6880 Capitol Blvd. in Tumwater traditionally has been open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  But like other states facing budget difficulties, the State Library faces an immediate shortfall that must be addressed through layoffs and fewer direct service hours.

The dedicated fund that finances Library operations now projects a potential shortfall of more than $1 million, due primarily to an unexpected slump in the number of recording fees collected by county auditors. This is on top of a $664,000 budget cut that was required at the beginning of the biennium, following a decade budget and staff reductions.

Beginning June 16, the central Library will be open daily from noon to 5 p.m. for walk-in patrons.  Chat and email help will still be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

“The State Library staff have become more efficient in their operations over the past 10 years, providing the same general level of services while reducing employee count by 42 percent. Secretary of State Kim Wyman, whose office hosts the Library said, “We have reached the point where we must reduce our in-person hours at the central library, at least temporarily, because of additional staff cuts.”

The shorter hours in Tumwater do not affect the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library in Seattle or the institutional libraries at state hospitals and corrections centers. Grants to local libraries, a central role of the Washington State Library, will be maintained, and the State Library-Microsoft IT Academy will not be affected.

“The decision to reduce service hours is something that pains us very much – librarians are absolutely passionate about serving patrons directly, either in person or online or over the phone,” Wyman said. “That service ethic will not diminish one bit, but the hours we’re open will be fewer, sadly.”

Instead of 45 hours of in-person service each week, it will be 25 hours.

Wyman said the action reflects continuing challenges of sustaining the Library, which is the oldest cultural institution in Washington, dating to 1853, when the first territorial governor, Isaac Stevens, and Congress created it with books shipped around the Horn. The Library was assigned to the Secretary of State by the Legislature about a decade ago, and was formerly a separate agency.

“The State Library has been a core service of government for 160 years, but for some years now, it has been a struggle to survive. In the past decade, state support has dropped by 42 percent and staff levels have shrunk from 158 to 63 today.”

Wyman acknowledged that recent library usage around the country is turning to online access, rather than solely relying on a brick-and-mortar library building.  The State Library is committed to service excellence to all customers, whether online or in-person, and is working to make more of its collections available online, she said.

“We are busy transforming the State Library information services, meeting people where they live,” Wyman said. “As the old saying goes, crisis meets opportunity. We intend to be the model Library of the 21^st Century.”

State Librarian Rand Simmons is at 360-570-5585.

From the desk of Brian Frisina

Washingtonians know the importance of preserving the history and culture of our great state.

One way to preserve our history is by supporting the Washington State Library. Established as a territorial library, the Washington Territorial Library was created by the Organic Act of 1853, which also created the Washington Territory. The Washington State Library is the oldest cultural institution in Washington State and its original collections were chosen by Governor Isaac Stevens, the first Territorial Governor, before he headed West from the East Coast.

Libraries play a very vital role in society. They provide access to both printed and online information, their collections preserve historical moments, and above all they are the stewards of the history and culture of society.

Libraries also provide people with free opportunities to learn through books, magazines, newspapers, and documents. These opportunities uplift our society and helps us to be the best human beings we can be.

I would like to take a moment and share my experience with the Washington State Library. I was working on a project that required digging deep into the history of the State, the history of the First People. I am interested in telling the story of Washington State through the eyes of the First People.

In my research I was looking for some rare images. One image I was looking for was of a person name Dick Jackson, from the Sqauxin Island Nation. Mr. Jackson played an important role in keeping his people from starving during the 1900s. The image on the right was preserved at the Washington State Library.

Through the collections of the Washington State and help from the staff I was able to locate the research material I needed. I share my story with you to highlight the Washington State Library and its role in preserving the history and culture of our great state.

Thank you Washington State Library.

Brian Frisina works at the Washington State Library branch in the Department of Labor and Industries, He is active in American Indian issues.

From the desk of State Librarian Rand Simmons

Graphic from the National Weather Service

It isn’t unusual to have rain, even constant rain, in Western Washington this time of year. But the current predictions are a bit more extreme. We are expecting one to three inches of rain in South Puget Sound area and Mason County may have flooding. So, I pondered this morning as I drove in to work, what I would do if I had the time off on a rainy day. I posed the same question to my staff and here are some of their answers in the order received:

1. Read the entire “F” volume of the World Book Encyclopedia cover to cover. [Me: seriously?]
2. Re-read some historical fiction, such as My Antonia, by Willa Cather or Scott Odell’s Sara Bishop, from my early teen reading classes.
3. Read Birds of Prey by Wilbur Smith. It will get you through any rainy day.
4. Curl up with a good book or someone who has read one!

Did I mention all these people work in a library?

5. Read your favorite books from childhood! Matilda by Roald Dahl and a cup of hot chocolate makes any rainy day cozy.
6. The adventures of Sherlock Holmes. They never get old.
7. I always snuggle up with a Nancy Drew Mystery.
8. One of my rainy day favorites: Ella Fitzgerald and The Inkspots – “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall”.

Now we’re groovin’.

9. Light a fire in the fireplace, bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies and have a family read aloud.
10. Heat milk, add Nestlé’s syrup, find your miniature marshmallows; have yourself a cup of hot chocolate while curled up in your most comfy chair reading a favorite quick read and escapist adventure, The Chronicles of Narnia.

Food and reading, always a good choice, but remember to wash your hands before you turn pages.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some other staff ideas. In the meantime, tell me, what would you do on a rainy day?

We begin our celebration of Black History month with this reminiscence of an unforgettable person. John Hughes is the Chief Oral Historian for the Legacy Project, Office of the Secretary of State. 

From the desk of John Hughes, Historian.

In my half century as a journalist and historian, I’ve interviewed three U.S. presidents, governors and senators galore, movie stars and members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But the most unforgettable person I’ve ever met was a tiny, self-effacing 95-year-old African American lady from Bremerton. When Martin Luther King Jr. was still in junior high, Lillian Walker was staging sit-ins and protest marches in Kitsap County and lobbying legislators in Olympia for fair housing laws, yet few outside Kitsap County knew her story.

Lillian Walker and her husband James arrived in Washington State from Illinois in the spring of 1941. They quickly landed jobs at the booming Bremerton naval shipyard. With Europe in Fascist flames, FDR had vowed that America would be “the great arsenal of democracy.”

Before the war, only about 100 blacks lived in Bremerton. By 1944, there were 4,600. The newcomers had come from all over America, especially the South and the industrial cities of the North, happy to have jobs and expecting to leave Jim Crow behind. Many racists made the same trip, however, joining earlier transplants and home-grown bigots. Bremerton-area cafes, taverns, drug stores and barber shops displayed signs saying, “We Cater to White Trade Only.”

Mrs. Walker became the recording secretary for the Puget Sound Civic Society, a civil rights coalition, and helped found the Bremerton branch of the NAACP. She was 31 years old and flabbergasted that prejudice was so prevalent in a place where the air was clean and “everything was green.” She always said, “Well, you’re either with me or against me. And if you’re against me, that means we’re going to have to fight!” She went on to become state secretary of the NAACP. The Walkers were active in the push for a Fair Employment Practices Act, which was enacted by the Legislature in 1949. The Walkers, the NAACP and Church Women United scored a major legal victory in 1954 after a Bremerton drug store owner refused to let James Walker buy a cup of coffee at his soda fountain.

Helping to found the YWCA of Kitsap County was one of Mrs. Walker’s proudest achievements. She also became chairman of the Regional Library Board. In 1997, Kitsap County’s Martin Luther King Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee named the Walkers “MLK Citizens of the Century” for producing a total of 100 years of service to the community and the nation. James Walker said he was surprised because he didn’t think the work they’d been doing “was such a big deal.” Lillian added, “We knew we had a lot of friends, but getting this award for doing what we thought was right … well, I feel really honored.”

James Walker died at 89 in 2000. They were married for 59 years. Lillian carried on. She was “deeply humbled” by all the awards she received as she marched toward 100, quipping that she had just “out-lived” most everyone else in the running. The PTA gave her its Golden Acorn. The YWCA gave her its Founder’s Award and the Democrats presented her their Lifetime Achievement award. The NAACP called her “a living treasure.” She was particularly proud of the 2009 Liberty Bell Award from the Kitsap County Bar Association. Her friend Robin Hunt, a judge on the Washington Court of Appeals, nominated her, saying that Mrs. Walker had “contributed in countless ways to the effective functioning of our government and promoted better understanding of our Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the rule of law. Her courageous persistence to insist on equal rights has brought about change in our community. … She is the living embodiment of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King’s dream. And she has accomplished these goals without rancor, but rather with an attitude that others simply needed to be ‘educated.’ ”

Mrs. Walker died at 98 in January 2012. She had seen her life story become one of the most-read books produced by the Secretary of State’s Legacy Project.

Here’s the link:

http://sos.wa.gov/legacyproject/oralhistories/lillianwalker/default.aspx.

 

Upon recommendation of Washington State Librarian Rand Simmons, the Office of the Secretary of State supported Senate Bill No. (SB) 6105 at a recent hearing. The bill addresses teacher-librarians and the provision of resources and materials for the operation of school library information and technology programs. It changes the name of “school-library media programs” to the “school library information and technology programs” thus updating the criteria for school library programs bringing them into the 21st Century!

Katie Blinn, Deputy Policy Director for the Office of the Secretary of State, said, “The bill reinforces the idea of libraries providing technology, not just books.” Certainly school libraries have been battered by the budget woes of the past few years. “Too often, it seems, cutting the school library is an easy budget reduction,” said State Librarian Rand Simmons. “But, I believe that teacher-librarians are integral to the education of students and this bill clarifies their role.”

The bill is a request of the Washington Library Media Association (WLMA). Sharyn Merrigan, the teacher-librarian at Marshall Middle School in Olympia and President-Elect of WLMA noted in her testimony before Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education

“Teacher-librarians play a central role in their schools and in the education of students. At WLMA, we have identified the three main responsibilities of the 21st century teacher-librarian. Those responsibilities are:
• Support for information and technology literacy instruction
• Reading advocacy for lifelong learning and enrichment
• Equitable access to information resources and services
As an organization, we have adopted a framework for these three responsibilities, which can be summed up as Library, Information, and Technology, or LIT . . .”

WLMA’s legislative liaison, Sara Glass, teacher-librarian at Tumwater’s Peter G. Schmidt Elementary School supported the new language in SB 6105, by stating, “teacher-librarian in the school library information and technology program … describes how we provide both the vision and the leadership for emerging technologies that can transform student learning and the classroom curriculum.”

By the way, have you noticed the term “school librarian” hasn’t been mentioned? For at least a decade school librarians have adopted the term teacher-librarian because it both clarifies they are certified professional teachers and points to their focus on teaching.

The bill is supported by the Washington Education Association (WEA). Chief Lobbyist Lucinda Young says WEA will introduce a bill that “. . . would provide the funding for school districts to hire enough teacher-librarians for all our schools and return para-educators to full employment.”

SB 6105 was heard in committee of January 22, voted out of committee on January 24, and passed to Rules Committee on January 27. The next step will be a vote of the Senate. WLMA leaders are optimistic that the bill will receive favorable treatment in the House.

Public librarians and teacher-librarians met with legislators on Friday, January 24. The buzz over the reception of legislators to SB 6105 was both electrifying and gratifying.

From the desk of Rand Simmons

Today is Millard Fillmore’s birthday. Millard who, you say? According to Wikipedia (dare I say that name?) Fillmore, born January 7, 1800 was the last of the Whig Presidents, serving as the 13th President of the United States. Wikipedia notes that Fillmore is consistently at the bottom of ranking of Presidents of the United States. (See Fillmore article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Fillmore).

The Washington State Library stands among the few who salute Millard Fillmore today. Resident State Library Fillmore scholar, Steve Willis, wrote “The name of President Millard Fillmore usually evokes a snicker, but he was actually an important figure in our history since it was his signature that created Washington Territory. And yet, from what I can find, not one single political or geographic area is named in his honor here in Washington.” (Washington Territorial Library: celebrating the state’s oldest cultural institution : 1853-2013 160th anniversary, p. 2.)

A side note, The Aurora [NY] Historical Society will celebrate Millard Fillmore’s 214th birthday on Thursday, January 9th, as a fundraiser for the Millard Fillmore Presidential Site. The Millard Mallard Award will be presented to the politician who made the biggest political blunder in 2013. (http://www.aurorahistoricalsociety.com/Millard_Fillmore_Registration_2014.pdf.) We will be there in spirit!

Thanks, Millard, we owe a lot to you, as few others do!

Although she describes herself as a “blue jeans kind of girl,” few people know that Pam Bell is also a royal personage.

Tucked away in WSL Technical Services, Pam has a long history with the Washington State Library. In the 1980s she did the first inputting for that late great bibliographic utility, WLN. WLN was a “bibliographic utility” — think service organization to libraries in the Pacific Northwest — conceived by and born from the Washington State Library. 

Pam made her way to ILL, Acquisitions, Processing, and now Cataloging. Her specialty is government publications, where her duties include close copy cataloging. Pam has excelled at rolling with the changes in the ever-changing world of Technical Services in the wake of staff turnover and budget cuts.

A native of Lewis County, Pam loves outdoor life and organizing social events. She also enjoys collecting Popeye memorabilia and lives by his credo, “I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam,” and terrifying the State Librarian with wacky ideas.

 Oh, back to the royalty thing. Pam was the Prairie Days Princess in Yelm AND the Rodeo Princess in Rainier.

Thanks, Pammer. You are vital to helping us make federal publications available to the people of this state.

From the desk of Rand Simmons

Washington State is listed as one of 10 success stories by the Institute of Museum and Library Services in their 2013 report on early learning, Growing Young Minds: How Museums and Libraries Create Lifelong Learners.

“By proactively responding to new initiatives and policy actions, libraries across Washington have secured their position as key players in statewide early learning efforts,” the report states. It cites several activities in which the Washington State Library has been instrumental: the Washington Early Learning Initiative (2000-2003), the establishment of the Early Learning Public Library Partnership (ELPLP), and a partnership between the University of Washington Information School, the ELPLP, the Foundation for Early Learning and the State Library focusing on research-based evidence of the effectiveness of public library programming on early learning and early literacy.

The report is available online in PDF format.

Limited print copies of the report and the executive summary are available from Leanna Hammond, Washington State Library, [email protected], 360-704-7133.

To learn more about the State Library’s involvement in early learning contact Martha Shinners, [email protected], 360-570-5567.

From the desk of Kim Wyman, Secretary of State.

From its beginnings as the Washington Territorial Library in 1853, the Washington State Library has played a major role preserving and providing public access to books, maps, collections, documents and other vital information about Washington’s history and government.

For the past 160 years, the State Library has lived up to its mission and purpose, which is to “collect, preserve and make accessible to Washingtonians materials on the government, history, culture, and natural resources of the state.” In addition, the State Library has led the way in coordinating services and helping secure federal or private funding to benefit other libraries throughout Washington. Literally, the benefits of your Washington State Library are felt throughout the state, and on the Internet!

Back in the 1850s, Congress understood the importance of having a library for the Washington Territory. In fact, when Congress in 1853 passed the Organic Act, creating the Washington Territory, it included a section specifically creating a territorial library:

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended, by and under the direction of the Governor of Washington, in the purchase of a library, to be kept at the seat of government for the use of the Governor, legislative assembly, Judges of the Supreme Court, secretary, marshal, and Attorney of said Territory, and such other persons, and under such regulations, as shall be prescribed by law.

Congress had the wisdom to provide ample funding for the new library. And Isaac Stevens, Washington’s first Territorial Governor, used that money well, buying books, maps, globes and other items. The $5,000 appropriation back then would amount to more than $135,000 today! That appropriation was a key component in making the Territorial Library a worthy and valuable institution to serve Washingtonians for generations to come.

After Stevens made the initial purchases, he had the 1,850 books placed on the Invincible that left New York and sailed around the tip of South America before stopping in San Francisco. When the Tarquina, the vessel carrying the books and other items from California, finally reached Olympia, it meant more than the arrival of some books. It marked the arrival of Washington’s oldest cultural institution, one that still plays an important role today.

As Washington’s Secretary of State, I’m proud that our State Library is a central part of our office. I applaud State Librarian Rand Simmons and all of the State Library staff and volunteers for their tremendous work on behalf of the people of Washington.

Congratulations to the Washington State Library on this special anniversary. Here’s to many more years of service!

Kim Wyman

September 18, 2013

Today we recognize the many volunteers in the Olympia area who work in the Washington State Library and Washington State Archives. There will be a celebration this afternoon in the Governor’s Mansion to simply say, “thanks.”

Washington State Library volunteers are not a luxury. They are a necessity. State Librarian Rand Simmons noted, “They help us to better meet our customers’ needs by providing services we wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.”

Without volunteers we would not be able to offer such robust services in our Central Library, located in Tumwater, or in our Seattle Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL).

Steve Willis, Manager of the Central Library says, “We treat them in the same way we hire staff. We talk with them about their interests and skills and look for a good fit with the opportunities available.”

We have an amazing crew of volunteers at the Talking Book & Braille Library — more than 400 who donate over 30,000 hours each year. The WTBBL volunteers work in areas such as book recording, braille transcription, and other library services. Our WTBBL customers are located throughout the state and materials are sent and returned through the US Mail system by our shipping and circulation volunteers.

In our Digital and Historical Collections program we have three projects involving volunteers. The main project is the indexing of historical newspapers. Volunteers view each page of the newspaper and enter keywords into a database so that researchers can find the articles they need. This labor intensive work makes our online newspapers more searchable.

The newest project is the conversion of some of the historical digital collection to braille. Volunteers are converting selected titles to text files and correcting the text misread by the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. Once this is done, the files will be sent to the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library to be converted to braille. This project is bringing our online material to a wider audience.

Judy Pitchford comments that “Both projects require a lot of reading of historical material, which is what these volunteers appear to love the most.”

Our National Digital Newspaper Program has a goal to upload 300,000 pages of historic Washington newspapers to the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America website by mid-year 2014. Our volunteers are often history and newspaper enthusiasts willing to help correct key terms misread by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software and improve the search results.

Project manager Shawn Schollmeyer says, “The editing they do helps us meet and improve on standards set by the Library of Congress and contributes to online resources used by genealogists and historians everywhere.” We are currently seeking volunteers for this project. Volunteer Rhonda Fabert encourages others to volunteer for the project, “If you are someone who enjoys incredibly interesting work that will benefit generations to come, I highly recommend that you call Shawn Schollmeyer to arrange your own volunteer opportunity with this very prestigious project.”

Gordon Russ is helping to create a database of the library’s historic ephemera files. In doing so, Gordon is improving future subject and keyword access to this extremely useful collection for researchers of Washington State history.

The State Library receives many requests from family genealogists for newspaper obituaries. While we have lost our capacity to fill requests from out-of-state individuals because of staff reductions, the contribution of volunteers enables us to continue to fill in-state requests.

The historic Northwest card file, housed in 180 card catalog drawers, is being converted to an online format by volunteer David Lane. The resulting online database will be available to genealogists, researchers, and historians. The work is slow because each card, an estimated 172,000 of them, must be entered into an Access database which is then made available online.

Rhonda Fabert also created a database of microfilm vendors which allows library staff to more efficiently identify sources of given microfilm titles.

“It is a win-win situation when the library benefits from the volunteers’ work and the volunteers’ experience enriches their lives,” notes Volunteer Coordinator, Marilyn Lindholm.

Rhonda wrote about her volunteer experience, “I’ve experienced an incredible amount of personal and professional growth through interactions with the dedicated staff of WSL over the past year. The project entrusted to me was to design a database which will make access to serials microfilm vendor information quicker and easier. I am delighted to have had the experience of working with Technical Services Supervisor, Shirley Lewis, and look forward to the project’s completion.”

A retired State Library employee and former federal depository specialist, Carol Estep, assists our staff who work with federal publications by doing a wide variety of duties. Her faithfulness helps us bridge the gap left by staff reductions.

Motivation to volunteer varies with each individual. Michele Weaver wrote, “I want to thank the Washington State Library for giving me the opportunity to ‘give back’ as a genealogy research volunteer finding obituaries for patrons. Having done genealogy research for many years on my own family, I know how frustrating it is to hit the proverbial ‘brick wall’, and get stalled with your research. Through the years I have had some kind people do research for me, and I love the thought that I am ‘paying it forward’ by finding obituaries for State Library patrons, and filling in holes in some family trees.”

How do people come to volunteer? The paths are many. Gordon Russ has volunteered for the State Library for about 10 years. He got his start by sending an email to the State Librarian after reading a newsletter article that featured the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, a subject of particular interest to him as he collects railroad-themed books. The article mentioned that some of the documents would be digitized so he thought he might help with that process.

One thing led to another and he began volunteering for what is now the Digital and Historical Collections Program. Then, one night while reading in bed, he dropped a book he was reading and the spine broke.

Knowing that the State Library had a preservation program, he asked its program manager, Diane Hutchins, how he might repair the book. She pointed him to the “Conservation Kitchen,” a YouTube tutorial developed by State Library staff. That led him to a stint helping the State Library preserve rare materials including some of Governor Isaac Stevens’ books along with maps, photographs, and other rare items dating as far back as the 15^th century.

Gordon loves history and that love is evident as he tells colorful stories about Washington. We appreciate his dedication to helping the State Library preserve the history of the state of Washington.

Want to explore volunteer opportunities at the Washington State Library? Please contact Marilyn Lindholm at [email protected] or 360.704.5249.

How do volunteers benefit those of us who work in the State Library? Marilyn Lindholm said it best, “Our volunteers bring creative ideas and a fresh perspective to how we do business.”

Thank you, Kendall Brookhart, Kathie Dexter, Carol Estep, Rhonda Fabert, Karen Fieldman, David Lane, Barb Monti, Brynn Pitchford, Anissa Rajala, Gordon Russ, Kelly Sjoblom, Amelia Turnbull, Michele Weaver, and Mary Webster. Your skills, expertise and service are invaluable in helping us meet the needs of our customers.