Institutional Library Services

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Inaguration Day

Like any institution, the psychiatric hospital at Western State Hospital functions on routine. Meals are served, patients are given medications, and everyone participates in educational classes.
But Inaguration Day was different. On this day, staff and patients came together as a community of Americans. All classroom TVs were fixed upon this historic moment in the U.S.

Coyote Ridge Library—coming soon

I can proudly say that I have visited all of our Institutional libraries here in Washington, or at least I used to be able to. Now I have one new one that I need to visit and from the pictures I would have to say this will be one of the more impressive ones that we have. The pictures show the work in progress as the library is being set up by the dedicated staff at Coyote Ridge. They have their work cut out for them as they unpack thousands of books and CDs. Then comes the fun part, organizing everything in the most efficient and effective manner for such a large space.

Patrons: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Really, they are not all bad. Yes they have done bad things and they have gotten caught. They are now incarcerated, but occassionaly one of them might surprise you. Working in a prison library I see it all when it comes to patron types. We all have them, the quiet one that comes in every week or couple of weeks. Wouldn't really notice him or her, except that they are just like clockwork. Then there are those that when they walk in the door you cringe, you may even look for a place to hide, because you really just can't deal with them today.

Language challenge

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="ALA Welcome Poster"]ALA Welcome Poster[/caption] Walking into the Seattle Public Library you will find several floors of books, DVDs, CDs, magazines, and newspapers with many of them in different languages. This is because the library serves a diverse population and many languages are spoken by its patrons.

Rastafarian books

One of the difficulties of working in a prison library is the diveristy of the patrons. No matter how much I love to work with all the different cultures, religions, and backgrounds of my patrons, I find providing them with material can be a challenge. As we have such a diverse population I do my best to provide material that will meet everyones needs, including religious material.

Storm Wages ON

[caption id="attachment_247" align="alignleft" width="364" caption="Flooded backyard of 1 staff member"]

claire-flooding-2
[/caption] As the storm continues to pound Western Washington library services are effected.
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