Our Amazing Washington State Library
I’m writing this column from Kennewick where I, along with four of our
library trustees, am getting ready to attend the Workshop in Library
Leadership (WILL) conference. Held every two years and organized by the
Washington State Library, "the WILL conference is designed to provide
trustees with both basic orientation and in-depth information on current
library issues that are critical to understanding and governing public
libraries in the state." Given that we have three trustees that have been
on the board two years or less and that this is always a great conference,
we are all eagerly anticipating the next three days.
Not surprisingly as I was driving over I found myself thinking about the
upcoming sessions and discussions. But from there my thoughts went to our
state library and the truly exceptional services they have provided to our
library this year alone.
They have tirelessly worked to meet their vision statement "to ensure that
Washingtonians have access to the information they need today and to the
history of Washington for tomorrow."
Stated more specifically their mission and purpose is to:
- Collect, preserve, and make accessible to Washingtonians materials on
the government, history, culture, and natural resources of the state.
- Provide leadership and coordination of services to all libraries in the
state of Washington.
- Support the information needs of residents in state institutions and of
the visually impaired.
- Serve as the primary source in the region for published information from
the federal government.
State Library services provided directly to us this year alone include:
- An equipment upgrade grant funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation purchasing us two new public access computers
- A grant funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and WebJunction
sending me to the American Library Association annual conference in
Washington, D.C.
- Providing our library continued discounted prices for online databases
through leveraging Washington library resources to secure cost effective
group rates
- Creation of a Statewide Catalog which will provide increased visibility
for library collections and secure pricing for OCLC cataloging,
interlibrary loan, and WorldCat services
- Continued facilitation of Washington state’s collaborative Summer
Reading Program
- Facilitating the Rural Library Sustainability Project in collaboration
with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and WebJunction
- Awarding us multiple Continuing Education Grants which allowed us to
send Heidi to advanced cataloging classes, Diana and Emily to the
Washington Library Associations annual Library Employees conference,
Shannan to the Washington Library Associations annual media specialist
conference with our local school librarians (who also benefited from the
grant), our trustees to WILL, and to bring nationally renowned Satia
Orange to our library for staff training
- Organizing WILL
- Providing ongoing support through responding to a range of direct
questions from me
- Providing various free online classes in technology and related issues
in which our staff and other local organizations have participated
- Creating the Washington Rural Heritage Initiative "to establish a
statewide digital repository and provide the infrastructure and training
to both digitize and serve historically unique collections from small and
rural communities to a widespread audience"
- Securing the future of our rotating large print collection
Oh, and let’s not forget the daily work they that impacts us a little less
directly but just as significantly by serving as the official library for
our state legislators.
What else can I say but, thank you Washington State Library!
Laura Tretter, Director
San Juan Island Library
360.378.2798
ltretter@sjlib.org
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