From Our Corner

The voters speak ... and keep speaking

After an "Election Day" that spanned nearly three weeks, the process of tallying the final vote will take still more time. As of this morning, ballots of 28.5 percent of the state's 3.58 million registered voters have been counted. That's over a million ballots.… Read more

Ask-WA Goes Primetime

Ask-WA had its television debut last Friday night on Komo News! All the video they took was from the UW, but they covered the service well, and in a very good light, and mentioned all the key points. Check it out!

If you're not in the know, Ask-WA is a statewide cooperative of libraries - academics, publics, and specials - offering 24/7… Read more

Goodwill hunting

'Tis the season to give ... and get some good ideas about how to serve your community. Secretary Reed had a great time volunteering recently at the local Goodwill in Kitsap County with high school students from the Washington Youth Academy, who spent time hunting through donations and sorting clothing.… Read more

Voter turnout is tops at First Creek Middle School

Way to go First Creek Middle School in Tacoma!

Students at this school will be recognized by Secretary Reed at their Veterans' Day assembly on Nov. 10 for the most student ballots cast of any school participating in our Mock Election.

Image… Read more

Clippings, November 2, 2009

Library News Voters are to decide whether to increase their property taxes so the Whatcom County Library System can buy more books, better serve Sudden Valley readers, and keep its branches open for the same number of hours. “It’s up to the voters; they’re going to tell us what kind of library services they want us to provide,” said Joan Airoldi, director for the library system that is comprised of nine branches in unincorporated parts of the county and its cities, as well as the Bookmobile… Read more

'Looming over gay-rights vote': Disclosure debate

Washington's hot ballot measure dealing with domestic partnerships, Referendum 71, is getting national media attention, along with Maine, which is voting on actual gay marriage. But in Washington, the debate is sometimes eclipsed by a legal and public relations war over… Read more

Keep your enthusiasm alive: vote!

Image OK, it's like asking you eat your vegetables (and not just that Halloween candy!), but From Our Corner adds this Election Eve plea – please vote. As of Monday morning, the returns were described as light in King, Snohomish, Clark, Yakima, Spokane, Pierce and… Read more

Oregon gay-marriage advocates eye ballot

Image As Washingtonians wrap up their balloting on expansion of domestic partnerships, south of the border in Oregon, advocates of same-sex marriage are launching a multi-year effort to overturn a state constitutional ban… Read more

Clippings, October 30, 2009

Library News Whitman County Library Director Kristie Kirkpatrick reported to the Palouse City council on the Palouse Library and praised the community’s dedication, support, and patronage of the branch as the reason the library excels in performance measures. (The Eagle & Boomerang [Moscow ID/Palouse WA], 10.15.09) Use of public libraries in local cities has increased dramatically since last fall and, in response, librarians are now asking for more funding from Kittitas County government… Read more

Bringing the State Symbols alive

Move over spooks and goons. The Secretary of State’s executive team has mixed civics with Halloween … and the result is a total scream!

Today the crew is decked out as Washington’s State Symbols – we have the State Seal, a Western Hemlock … and Dave is dressed up as a rhododendron bush.… Read more

Internet Librarian, Day 4 – Wednesday, Oct 28 2009 – #IL2009

Day 4 of the conference started with another great keynote: a panel of two high school students and one college student talking about how they view technology, education, and their own research habits. Some of my favorite sessions happened on the last day. I loved some of the comments that the teen panel made, particularly when the guy from high school said that in the future technology will make our leaves easier… Read more

Internet Librarian, Day 3 – Tuesday, Oct 27 2009 – #IL2009

Day three started off with a funny and interesting keynote with Paul Holdengraber (who had interviewed Vint Cerf the previous day), and continued in good form with some great sessions. Paul talked a lot about the Live from the NYPL series they do and as opposed to doing straight author readings. They record these sessions and they are available… Read more

Internet Librarian, Day 2 – Monday, Oct 26 2009 – #IL2009

Vint Cerf started the day, and the beginning of the actual conference, with an amazing keynote. The interchange between Vint and Paul Holdengraber, his interview, was oftentimes hilarious as well as poignant. Vint talks some about the history of the internet, and taking off from there, where the internet may be heading. He touches on important topics like bit rot, privacy and user rights with e-materials, mobile… Read more

Internet Librarian, Day 1 – Sunday, Oct 25 2009 – #IL2009

Technically a pre-conference, Sunday was well-spent attending the Searcher's Academy. A number of speakers covered a number of topics, all relating to searching, and many of them very useful. Tons of useful resources are mentioned (and noted below), so read carefully! Speakers and topics covered include:

• Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, SearchEngineLand.com
• Mary Ellen Bates, Owner, Bates… Read more

Notes from Internet Librarian 2009 – #IL2009

I just returned from the Internet Librarian Conference (and sunny Monterey, CA) yesterday, and my brain is definitely still trying to absorb new ideas, concepts, and nifty web tools. All the same, it's safe to say that it was the best conference I've attended so far in my young library career. Luckily for those who couldn't attend this year, there are numerous options for viewing content online (and my own… Read more

Stalking the wily young voter

Image … Read more

Japanese Internment Papers

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="216"] Quarters at Manzanar, a War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry (NARA)[/caption] From the desk of Judy Pitchford The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a civilian agency in charge of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The WRA staff documented the internment with reports by community analysts assigned to the relocation centers.… Read more

Get ballots in by Election Day

With the November 3 General Election just days away, Secretary of State Sam Reed is reminding voters to mail in or drop off their ballots by Election Day. As Secretary Reed has noted, each election features races and issues that affect all of us, so he encourages all registered voters to exercise their right… Read more

WSL Updates for October 29, 2009

Volume 5, October 29, 2009 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE 2009-2010

2) FIRST TUESDAYS PRESENTS THE CHARITABLE TRUST DIRECTORY

3) ADVOCATE FOR WASHINGTON LIBRARIES AT ALA

4) NEW ADDRESS FOR WSL BLOG

5) WESTPAS RECOVERY TEAM HEADS FOR AMERICAN SAMOA

6) FREE WEBINAR – HELPING JOB SEEKERS IN THE LIBRARY

… Read more

Congratulations KCLS!

The King County Library System (KCLS) was recently awarded a $998,556 National Leadership Grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to fund a project that will develop the Evergreen open source library system, making it a more useful system for large public libraries. KCLS will… Read more