Sign Up For Summer Reading at Seattle Public Library! May 31, 2010

It is time to sign up for the Summer Reading Program at Seattle Public Library!  Summer Reading runs from June 1 to August 29 and is available for all ages!  Sign up at your local branch or online at www.spl.org.  This year, the goal is for the city to read 148,000 books!  Keep track of the books you read and help to meet the goal!   

Summer reading is a great way to keep kids engaged with reading and learning all summer.  In addition, kids that complete their Summer Reading goal will win a free paperback book and a pass for their family to the Burke Museum. 

Summer Reading also involves lots of fun activities at all the library branches.  There will be over 700 free programs!  Check event calendars at www.spl.org to find a fun program for your family.

For complete information on the Summer Reading Program visit the Library’s website.

June’s Featured FriendShop Artist: Diane Macrae May 25, 2010

Local artist and Ballard shop owner, Diane Macrae, designs individually made handbags and accessories. Her lovable gnome roams from Belltown to Ballard on everything from postcards to tee-shirts.  Diane’s bags range from bold patterns to the whimisical sock monkey and are sized from pop-up wallets to messenger bags.  Choose from her latest collection or place a special order.  Come meet the delightful Diane on Thursday, June 3, 2010 from 12:00-3:00pm.

For more details visit the FriendShop web page or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Tell the Library What’s Important to You! May 4, 2010

As noted in our February 4 post, the Seattle Public Library is undergoing a strategic planning process to explore the future of the Library and how to prioritize existing resources.   In March, community members provided input at 5 open house meetings about possible new models, services and roles for the Library.   Click here if you want to find out more about the strategic planning process or to read the summary of  comments received at the open houses.

Now it’s your turn to tell the Library what’s important to you by completing the patron survey, which is available Monday, May 3 through Sunday, May 16.   I completed the survey, and found out a number of things I didn’t know that the Library offers — for example, did you know that you can make an appointment to get help from a geneology librarian if you’re trying to put together your geneology chart?  How about librarian assistance available 24 hours a day via online chat?

I also realized that I haven’t been taking advantage of some of the on-line resources offered by the Library, like e-books, e-audio, and video that can be downloaded, streaming content (music and video), and access to thousands of magazines, newspapers, journals, encyclopedias, indexes and other reference resources. 

The toughest question for me to answer was something like “if you had only $10 to invest in Library resources, how much (using whole dollars like $5 instead of $5.25) would you spend for each of the following”: 

• Books and other print resources
• Audio-visual resources (audio books, DVDs, CDs)
• Online resources

So how would you spend that $10?  Fill out the survey and let your voice be heard!