Well today I had the pleasure of giving a small orientation to a class from the education department. I also have another one this afternoon. I have found that these have gotten easier over time, but I still wonder what to say and I have to remember what they need to know. Checkout periods, how many books or CDs, mention ILLs and that they can only come in during their scheduled time, the re-entry notebook, and other things that are considered vital for them to know.
One of the benefits of volunteering for the Historic Newspapers Online Project at the Washington State Library is the opportunity to read fascinating articles written in the 1800's. Recently, Deb Ross, a dedicated volunteer of several years, discovered an article titled, A Cannon For Every Boy, from the 4/30/1891 issue of the Yakima Herald, which included detailed instructions on building a homemade cannon using common household ingredients.
Would you like to bend time and travel to pioneer days in Washington territory? Volunteers at the Washington State Library find themselves re-living the lives of settlers through the pages of historical newspapers published from 1852 to 1889. If you enjoy Washington State history, you may want to work a few hours a week reading articles electronically and entering keywords, titles, and subjects into a searchable database. Library users can then access the newspapers online.
Today's Diane Rehm guest [no, I do not plan to share this with you daily] was Daniel Barenboim, pianist and conductor, and author of the new book Music Quickens Time. I would not have deliberately turned to this book or this subject, but it reminded me of the experience of satisfaction that is one of the nicest parts of being a librarian, of introducing someone to a book and having it click for them. It appears that Barenboim is a very thoughtful man.
On Diane Rehm's NPR show this morning, Emma Walton Hamilton, the author Raising Bookworms, was being interviewed. Seemed to have lots of good ideas and stats--which were a little hard to take notes on while I was driving. But here are some that stuck in mind--People who are readers have been shown to have many other socially redeemable features, such as being voters, funding Good Causes, going to plays and museums, etc.
The Washington State Library (WSL) recently awarded Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) the contract to digitize 100,000 newspaper images from microfilm.San Juan Island Heritage has become the second Washington Rural Heritage collection to be cataloged at the item level in WorldCat.
Attention Washington students! Have you entered this year's Letters About Literature contest yet? The deadline is fast approaching! All entries must be postmarked by this Saturday, December 6, 2008 in order to be considered.
