As a further recognition of National Library Week, we offer this overview of several cooperative projects that benefit libraries statewide.

The WSL Library Development staff coordinates several cooperative statewide projects which leverage the combined purchasing power of libraries throughout the state to save significant amounts of money for Washington libraries. In addition, LSTA (Library Services & Technology Act) funds provided through IMLS (The Institute for Museum & Library Services) are used to subsidize or kick start cooperative purchasing arrangements, helping libraries break into new areas such as virtual reference, eBooks, or downloadable audiobooks.

The oldest example of these kinds of projects is Statewide Database Licensing (SDL), which since 1997 has been providing a suite of research databases to public, academic, K-12, medical, and research libraries statewide. Library Development staff also coordinate library funded group purchases for other products; past examples include the online version of Consumer Reports, and an automotive repair database; a current example is Zinio, a very popular new platform for reading magazines online. It has been conservatively estimated that SDL saves Washington libraries over $20 million annually.

A more recent example is Off the Page: Downloadable Audiobooks and eBooks for Washington, which has helped libraries provide these new formats to their patrons. 31 public library systems in Washington are now able to offer both e-books and audiobooks via the Washington Anytime Library, and several more libraries are in process to join this consortium. More than 40 public and academic libraries, as well as over 300 K-12 school libraries are offering downloadable audiobooks via a statewide contract with another vendor.

Another area in which Washington libraries are successfully working together is in providing access to 24×7  virtual reference services to their patrons. Via Ask-WA, more than 60 Washington libraries, both public and academic, are providing online reference services through chat, e-mail, and instant messaging (IM) technologies.

Just being rolled out as we write, is a brand new project, Connect with Your Library: A Mobile App for Washington, which in partnership with the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, is providing the opportunity for public and academic libraries to offer their services via a user-friendly mobile application (app). The app will let users locate libraries, place holds, renew materials, download eBooks, or check to see if the library has an item, and more, all from the mobile device they carry in their hand.

These programs and others like them are great examples of how under the leadership provided by the WSL Library Development Program, LSTA funds are used to assist in providing a level playing field, such that smaller libraries can provide their patrons with the same kinds of services and resources that otherwise might be restricted to the larger library systems, while simultaneously providing assistance to all Washington libraries, both large and small.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

What do these people have in common?

John Anderson – the Swedish immigrant who served as a consulting engineer in the construction of the USS Monitor and after the Civil War settled in King County, where he continued to tinker and invent.

Grover Andrews – “The Destroying Angel” who was a leader the Morrisite Colony in the Waitsburg region in the 1880s.

Donald Archer – The daredevil student from The Evergreen State College who in 1980 donned a costume with wings and big bug eyes, then climbed the side of the Federal Building in Seattle.

Dr. Nettie Asberry – The first African American woman in the United States to receive a doctorate degree, Nettie was an early civil rights activist in Tacoma who lived to the age of 103 in 1968.

Yes, all of them have surnames starting with the letter “A.” And, they are a part of Washington State history as indexed in the Northwest Card File.

This searching tool is comprised of 180 card catalog drawers divided into two groups: personal names, and, topical subjects. The file serves as a finding aid for Washington State newspaper articles, obituaries, book chapters, pamphlets– indexing the collection in much more detail than a traditional card catalog.

It appears the Northwest Card File was started in the early 1950s, although it indexes material much older than that. In the early 1990s the File was basically retired, and the indexing was performed on computer. Stored on Bernoulli drives, the indexes were printed into hardcopy form. By the mid-1990s a more updated online index was introduced and continues to this day.

Throughout 2012 WSL staff from Central Library Services (Glenn Parsons, Marlys Rudeen, Sean Lanksbury, Shirley Lewis) working with Evelyn Lindberg of Library Development, designed a database to provide online access to the Northwest Card File. We are hoping to provide public access to the index in increments as we go. Inputting started on a trial basis in late October, but really began at the start of 2013 when WSL volunteer David Lane joined the project.

Two and half drawers later David has completed the “A” surname file! As he dives into the letter “B” I can either figure out how to clone him, or, make a pitch to our faithful readers out there with strong data entry experience to join the project as a volunteer. If you are interested in helping us build this unique finding aid please contact Steven Willis, Program Manager for Central Library Services, ph: (360) 704-5276, email: [email protected] for details.

Volume 9, April 11, 2013 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) 2013 OFF THE PAGE RENEWAL

2) MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

3) TARGET EARLY CHILDHOOD READING GRANTS

4) BANNED BOOKS WEEK EVENT GRANTS

5) HAVE A PROBLEM? GET ADVICE FROM DEAR DONIA

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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Volume 9, April 4, 2013 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE WINNERS ANNOUNCED

2) CONNECT WITH YOUR LIBRARY – A MOBILE APP FOR WASHINGTON

3) GRANT CYCLE FOR EARLY LEARNING EXTENDED

4) FREE WESTPAS WORKSHOP COMES TO OLYMPIA

5) SNEAK PREVIEW OF WASHINGTON LIBRARY TRUSTEE WIKI

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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Volume 9, March 28, 2013 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) EVERYONEON IS HERE – HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOUR TOOLKIT?

2) FIRST TUESDAYS – TAKE THIS JOB AND SHELVE IT!

3) GET YOUR CAMERAS READY FOR SNAPSHOT DAY

4) CELEBRATE PRESERVATION WEEK WITH FREE WEBINARS

5) PAID PRESERVATION INTERNSHIP FOR GRADUATE STUDENT

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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We are proud to announce Lincoln County Heritage — a small, yet very cool new digital collection from Washington Rural Heritage — as well as a brand new website for the Davenport Public Library!

The Davenport Library’s new web presence, built on a Drupal content management platform by our own Evelyn Lindberg, was developed as part of the Washington ReadyWeb Project (WaRP). Davenport joins the Reardan Memorial Library, the Ritzville Public Library, and the Denny Ashby Library in Pomeroy who all have a new and powerful, yet easy to use website from the WaRP initiative.

Irrigation ditch at Peach

Lincoln County Heritage, a collaboration between the Lincoln County Historical Museum (LCHM) and the Davenport Public Library, is our latest digital collection which came together through the help of Davenport librarian Katy Pike and LCHM staffer Tannis Jeschke, with imaging assistance from Washington Rural Heritage staff.

Highlights from the collection include:

• Late 19th century images of the U.S. Army at Fort Spokane.

• Early 20th century images of the community of Peach, Washington, along the lower Spokane River — one of many towns in northern Lincoln County submerged by the rising waters of Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, following the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam in the early 1940s.

Foot bridge over the Spokane River narrows

For more information about Washington Rural Heritage, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager: (360)704-5228, [email protected]; or Ross Fuqua, Digital Projects Librarian: (360)570-5587, [email protected].

For more information about Washington WebReady Project (WaRP), please contact Evelyn Lindberg, Project Manager: (360)704-5228, [email protected].

Volume 9, March 14, 2013 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) DIGITAL LITERACY IN WASHINGTON LIBRARIES

2) GRANTS FOR EARLY LEARNING

3) OCLC ANNOUNCES ILL TRAINING

4) BOOK REPAIR CLASS AT HIGHLINE

5) CALL TO ACTION – EVERYONEON DIGITAL LITERACY CAMPAIGN

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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Volume 9, March 7, 2013 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Remember to spring forward this weekend – Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday!

Topics include:

1) WOLVES AT THE STATE LIBRARY

2) HELP CELEBRATE TWO GREAT BIRTHDAYS

3) SNAPDRAGON GRANTS FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES

4) PRESERVATION GRANTS FOR SMALLER INSTITUTIONS

5) PEW WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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3.21 EveryoneOn and Connect2Compete

http://www.everyoneon.org/ and http://www.connect2compete.org/

Someone asked the other day what all the fuss is about. Do libraries really need to pay attention to this national campaign? At this point we don’t know if the campaign will create a ripple or a splash, or if it will gain a huge amount of momentum over the three years of the campaign.

What we do know is that it allows another layer of society to have access to technology and Internet services at modest prices. For those most poverty stricken, the available technology and access to Internet will still be out of their reach. In this sense, and in either case, libraries will still be a critical piece of bridging the digital divide.

What we also know is that the campaign directs people to their local library, Goodwill, and other digital literacy training providers. From the EveryoneOn website, people will be able to access a search box which will return a list of libraries and other providers within a certain distance from the city and state, or zip code that is entered. For public libraries, at a minimum, their location and contact information will be provided. Libraries also have the opportunity, at the branch level, to enter information about the services they provide at each location.

My guess is that with the number of national organizations behind this effort, awareness of the campaign will not be an issue. Some four billion dollars of direct contributions and in-kind funding are being directed to this effort. Intel, Best Buy, Citi Group, Morgan Stanley, Four H, Boys and Girls Club, IMLS, United Way, TechSoup, National Urban League, Microsoft, ALA, Goodwill, Cox, Time Warner, Cablevision, Brainfuse, CareerBuilder, Learning Express, Sesame Street, and a host of others have signed on.

I would suspect libraries will be contacted whether or not they post more information to the EveryoneOn site. March 21, 2013 is the national kickoff to this three year campaign. Library staff should be prepared to be contacted by the ones and twos, the tens, the hundreds, and for the largest library locations perhaps the thousands, all of whom will want to know more about the services and the trainings their local library provides.

Jeff Martin, Library Development Program Manager, Washington State Library

Volume 9, February 28, 2013 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) FIRST TUESDAYS – LIBRARY AS INSTRUCTIONAL LEADER

2) LOOKING FOR EXAMPLES OF PUBLIC LIBRARY POLICIES?

3) OLA/WLA 2013 – EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION STILL AVAILABLE

4) CIVIL WAR READ-IN

5) EARLY LEARNING GRANTS FROM BOEING

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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