For the Public

There's been a lot of buzz the past week about a new book that was just published.

Washington State Library News Whitman Library director Kristie Kirkpatrick visited with legislators from the 9^th District in Olympia last Friday to discuss Governor Gregoire’s proposed budget for 2010. The budget proposal contains deep cuts to the Washington State Library that would impact many of the programs and services now offered by Whitman County Library. Kirkpatrick asked the legislators to support restoring $987,000 to Washington State Library’s budget in order to preserve federal funds that last year amounted to $3,328,627.

Washington State Library News Governor Christine Gregoire proposed cuts of $2 million in the next two-year budget cycle for the Washington State Library. While it may seem like a local story for Olympia, it really is local for the entire state. The cuts mean a loss of 31 jobs and elimination of work to preserve many of the state’s oldest historic documents, according to Washington State Librarian Jan Walsh.

Elections Simple economics mean that Valley libraries keep seeing increased business in a recession. After all, patrons can check out a book, free of charge. But libraries themselves don’t operate for nothing. The King County Library System goes before voters February 9 with Proposition 1, a requested levy lid lift, boosting the tax revenues that libraries receive.

Washington State Library News A big round of spending cuts is coming to the Washington State Library, and agency leaders said it means 31 lost jobs and elimination of work to preserve many of the state’s oldest historic documents. “It’s over a third of our staff, if the governor’s budget goes through, which is what makes this so devastating,” State Librarian Jan Walsh says.

Library News As little as seven years ago, borrowers at the North Central Regional Library had to list, in long hand, all the books and videos they were checking out. Today library users are downloading digital books and the software to use them on a variety of devices, from iPhones and BlackBerrys to the Sony Reader. Downloadable audio books, which have been available in the system for about three years, have become extremely popular.

Library News The Everett Public Library’s staff association usually does something nice for the community around the holidays. This time, they decided to make diaper collection their focus after reading a story in The Herald in November about the bare shelves at the Everett Gospel Women’s Shelter. By the end of the year, they had gathered a mountain of diapers – about 75 packages with a total of more than 750 diapers.

The Washington State Library made the front page of the Olympian this morning.

Library News Seattle Public Library representatives recently attended the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, after which they acquired more than one thousand new Spanish-language titles that will be appearing on the library’s shelves throughout 2010. Rachel Martin, selection librarian, offers her picks for Spanish readers young and mature. Visit spl.org to browse the full catalog.