Photo of Martin Luther King Jr. as found on the Corporation for National and Community Service web site http://www.nationalservice.gov/mlkda

A great place to start learning more about Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is at the Corporation for National & Community Service website. This organization oversees AmeriCorp and SeniorCorp.

You will find many resources at their MLK Day site including videos, lesson plans and photos.

Did you know that in addition to the focus on Dr. King there is also a focus on a day of service? For resources for kids and teens see kids.gov, a safe place for kids to learn and play.

Also visit:
King Institute Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle. Includes a chronology, links to documents, quotes and most popular entries (some with audio), featured documents, speeches and sermons.

Federal Publications

Investigation of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr

United States. (2000). United States Department of Justice investigation of recent allegations regarding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Washington, D.C.?: The Department. Available at WSL! J 1.2:K 58/2. Online

United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Assassinations. (1978).Compilation of the statements of James Earl Ray: Staff report of the Select Committee on Assassinations, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress, second session. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off. Available at WSL! (Call ahead) Y 4.As 7:R 21

Recognition

Blythe, Robert W. (1994). Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site: Historic resource study. Atlanta, Ga.?: Cultural Resources Planning Division, Southeast Regional Office, National Park Service, Dept. of the Interior. Available at WSL! I 29.58/3:M 36

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. (1979). Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday, S.25: Joint Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate and the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, House of Representatives, 96th Congress, 1st. Session on S.25, March 27 and June 21, 1979. Washington, DC: G.P.O.
Available at WSL! Call ahead) Y 4.J 89/2:96-14

State publication

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Observed Monday, January 18, 2016
No legislative mandate

In January 2004, the Washington State House of Representatives passed House Resolution 4676 to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, honoring the importance of the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The resolution calls on the people of the state of Washington to study, reflect on, and celebrate Dr. King’s life and ideals in order to fulfill his dream of civil and human rights for all people and urges “all the citizens of our state to make Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a day of service—a day on, not a day off.” There is no state law or specific regulation that requires school districts to observe this day in any particular way. Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Washington State Civic Observances.

Washington (State). Superintendent of Public Instruction. (1988). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: Washington State resource guide. Olympia, WA (Old Capitol Bldg.: Supt. of Public Instruction.
Available at WSL! WA 370 Ed8dr m 1988

Other Resources

Search the hashtag #mlkday2016 or #MLKDay on Twitter and Instagram.
WSL Online catalog: set search by box to Subject. In the Words box enter Martin Luther King

Vol 2 No 2

This publication was prepared by Rand Simmons, Federal Collection Executive Manager, with the assistance of Staci Phillips. For more information contact Rand, [email protected].

Image courtesy North Pend Oreille Heritage collection

Library Clippings for the week of January 8, 2016

Library News

Growing literacy and community (Camas-Washougal Post-Record, Camas, 12/8/15)

Library board trustee position open
The Denny Ashby Library Board of Trustees has an opening for a Garfield County resident who cares about libraries and is interested in actively promoting the library in the community. Applications were due on December 28, 2015. The library board will review the applications and make recommendations to the Garfield County Commissioners for appointment. (East Washingtonian, Pomeroy, 12/9/15)
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Did you know the average publication year of STEM books in many Washington school libraries is 1997?  While it’s true that “Trees haven’t changed much in the last 20 years.” formatting and the visual appeal of books have.  If we want to attract children to our collections it’s important that the material we provide is current and appealing.

With this thought in mind, last summer Youth Services Coordinator Carolyn Petersen solicited ideas from her Teacher Librarians advisory group. Out of this meeting of the minds came “The Future STEMS from Reading” grant cycle.  The Follett Book Publisher won the contract to supply three different collections of award winning books, Elementary, Middle and High School levels.

When the grant opened in the fall of 2015, the applications came pouring in.  Boy did this show how great the need truly was!  249 applications later we read about collections that were over 20 years old, books that were kept even though they were falling apart because there were no funds to replace them, and kids doing science projects with only the web as a resource because the school library had one or no up to date books on a topic.

In the end 230 collections are being sent out in January: 120 to elementary school libraries, 59 to middle school libraries and 51 to high school libraries. We can’t wait to see the pictures of the kids as they open the boxes and check out their new books.

Steens Mountain, Oregon. Stueby’s Outdoor Journal: http://stuebysoutdoorjournal.blogspot.com/

From the desk of Rand Simmons

The conflict between the Bureau of Land Management and protesters and ranchers has received widespread attention from the media. The site of the protest is the Malheur Nation Wildlife Reserve located in rural Oregon near the small town of Burns.

What do you know about this beautiful but remote area of Oregon? Want to know more? That’s where a library comes in handy. The Washington State Library is a great place to begin.

Because we are a Regional Library for the Federal Depository Library program we have a comprehensive collection of publications issued by government agencies and distributed by the Government Publishing Office. We also have the responsibility to collect and maintain publications of Washington state agencies. With the exception of older publications ours are listed in our catalog and many lead to digital copies online.

Many maps and other federal publication are published electronically. The State Library catalog points to the online version as well as a print version if one exists.

Federal Publications

Entrance to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon.

Burnside, C. D., & U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (2008). Malheur’s legacy: Celebrating a century of conservation, 1908-2008 : Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Southeast Oregon. Princeton, Or.: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Available at WSL! WSL Federal Documents I 49.2:M 29/3

Many Federal Documents are available online:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (1995). Birds, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon.
Available at WSL! Call No. I 49.44/2:M 29/2/995-2. This publication can also be found online where it can be downloaded as a .pdf file.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (2008). Malheur National Wildlife Refuge: Blitzen Valley auto tour. Online and in print at WSL: I 49.44/2:M 29/11

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (Agency : U.S.). (2012). Refuge waters in peril. Available online and in print at WSL: Sudoc No. I 49.44/2:W 31

Fish and Wildlife Service. (2008). Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Available online and in print at WSL: Map Sudoc No. I 49.44/2:M 29/8

Northwest Collection

Word Cloud describing key words for Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

From the State Library’s Northwest Collection, two commercially published titles:

Langston, N. (2003). Where land & water meet: A Western landscape transformed. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Available at WSL!: NW 333.918 LANGSTO 2003.

Littlefield, C. D. (1990). Birds of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon. Corvallis, Or: Oregon State University Press. Available at WSL!: NW 598.2979 LITTLEF 1990.

Search the State Library’s online catalog and you will find online resources on hunting, wildlife, hiking, biking, and fishing. Set search to subject and key in: Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Need help locating information? Try our Ask a Librarian service. You can chat live with an information specialist.

Vol 2 No 1

This publication was prepared by Rand Simmons, Federal Collection Executive Manager, with the assistance of Staci Phillips. For more information contact Rand, [email protected].

What are you Reading in 2016?

Consider adding federal publications to your reading pallet. According to GPO Book Talk here are the  most popular topics of people seeking to purchase GPO publications.

May we help you find a state or federal publication?

Contact Us by phone, email, chat or visit us. Details at http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/ask.aspx 
Washington State Library/Washington Secretary of State

Washington State Library — Your Source for State and Federal Publications

Image courtesy North Pend Oreille Heritage collection

Library Clippings for the week of December 31, 2015

Library News

Land bought for new library (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, 11/29/15)

SCLD takes community-first approach to planning
The Spokane County Library District (SCLD) is nearing the completion of its three-year Community Engagement Plan. “The Community Engagement Plan is essentially our strategic plan for 2016-2018,” SCLD Deputy Director Patrick Roewe said. Based on the plan, areas of strategic focus will include early learning, business and career readiness, education and enrichment, and digital information and sharing. More information on the plan will be available later this year on the District’s website, www.scld.org, or at any of the library locations. (The Current, Liberty Lake, 12/–/15)
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From the desk of Evan Robb

The Washington Rural Heritage Program is pleased to announce a new digital collection from the Deming Library (Whatcom County Library System). The Nesset Family Farm Collection tells the story of a Norwegian immigrant homesteaders who settled on the South Fork Nooksack River in 1902, and for decades worked tirelessly to coax a living from the land, raise five children, and run a small dairy. In the meantime, they documented the many pleasures of settler life in the South Fork, including hiking and skiing on Mount Baker, and fishing on the Nooksack River.

The collection, along with an interactive timeline, can be viewed at: http://www.washingtonruralheritage.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/mtbaker

The Nesset homestead is no longer a working farm, but the land and many of its historical buildings have been preserved by successive generations of Nessets as well as the Nesset Farm Trust. Today, the farm is considered one of the best remaining examples of an intact agricultural homestead in Western Washington. Many of the original buildings, including the farmhouse and barn, are being renovated as of this writing (2015) and will be open to the public when Whatcom County’s newly established South Fork Park is completed.

The Nesset Family Farm Collection is just one part of the Deming Library’s Mount Baker Foothills Collection—a locally-managed digital initiative which promises to bring together a wealth of unique historical materials and make them freely available online.

Digitization in 2014-2015 was accomplished with a grant award from the Washington State Library, funded by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Washington public and tribal libraries will be eligible for our next round of digitization grants to be announced in early 2016. Questions about the grant opportunity should be directed to Evan Robb, Digital Repository Librarian, [email protected], (360) 704-5228.

If you are like many of us here at the State Library, you are waiting in breathless anticipation for the debut of Season 6 of Downton Abbey.   While the wait is almost over (January 3^rd) it got me thinking about why we love it so much.  I’m not sure about the rest of you but for me the costumes are a large part of the enjoyment.  As the show has taken place over several decades we’ve seen those fashions change from season to season.  Have you ever wondered about how closely Washington fashions paralleled those of England?  Well wonder no more.  We thought it would be fun to have a timeline of fashion featuring images from Washington newspapers hosted on the Chronicling America Website.

Chronicling America newspapers are a great way to learn about early America history from a primary source.  For example, fellow Downton Abbey fans are familiar with the character of Cora, the American heiress Lord Grantham married to bolster the family fortunes.  Did you know that this was such a “thing” that these privileged young brides were given a name, “Dollar Princesses?”  “These Gilded Age heiresses married more than a third of the titles represented in the House of Lords, and announcements of these transatlantic marriages were pervasive in the newspapers of the day”

Meanwhile to help you countdown the final days leading up to Season 6 we hope you’ll have fun clicking your way through three decades of fashion in Washington.

Image courtesy North Pend Oreille Heritage collection

Library Clippings for the week of December 24, 2015

Library News

Local libraries feel crunch of lower property values (The Sequim Gazette, Sequim, 11/25/15)

Local residents become naturalized citizens
Twenty-nine people from 17 nations became U.S. citizens recently in a special naturalization ceremony at the Renton Library. Gary Wasdin, King County Library System director, was the keynote speaker. (Tukwila Reporter, Kent, 12/–/15)

Sedro-Woolley votes to continue moratorium (Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon, 12/11/15)

Letters & Editorials

Library vital during outage (Spokesman Review, Spokane, 11/28/15)
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This is the time of year where our thoughts turn to family and celebration.  As we ask our neighbor to feed the cat, stop the mail for a week, pack our cars for a trip over the mountains, or head towards the airport it’s easy to forget the challenges of travel in the early days of our state’s history.

With winter travel in mind we’ve compiled photographs from the collection; pictures of snowy travel by sleigh, train and automobile.  So if you get caught up in traffic snarls or flight delays on your travels remember how comparatively easy you have it.

Washington Rural Heritage  is a collection of historic photographs from around the state.  The Washington Rural Heritage Program helps small libraries and museums digitize their historic photo and archival collections. It is also a digital archive for Washingtonians, with more than 300 family photo collections included in the website/database.  Each picture in the collection tells a unique story.  Think about taking time over the holidays to explore and lose yourself in these images of early Washington.

Pictures in this slide show are from: Ellensburg Heritage, Roslyn Heritage, Skamania County Heritage, Orcas Island Heritage and Whitman County Heritage.