Programs & Services

  • Creative Composting: What to do with those food scraps!

    Now that the growing season is in full swing and new city rules require us to keep food scraps out of the garbage can, do you find yourself with an overflowing yard waste bin each week? If so, perhaps you’ve wondered how hard it would be to convert some of that vegetable matter into lovely… Continue reading

  • A poem by one of Seattle’s many poets

    For several years, the Northeast branch has offered a Poetry Contest during April for National Poetry Month. 288 kids, teens and adults participated this year and the Awards Ceremony was held on Tuesday, May 19.  The youngest poet was four years old and the oldest was 84 – it’s quite a multigenerational program! Please visit… Continue reading

  • Family Name

    Full of a child’s curiosity, Macky Alston looked around and wondered why how it could be that he and some of his African American schoolmates shared the same last name.  That he, his father and grandfather would have the same name was, certainly, understandable.  And, maybe, following them into the ministry was perhaps, something the… Continue reading

  • June Question of the Month – an irregular series

    The reference librarians at Seattle Public Library are pretty darned amazing! They don’t know everything: instead they know where to find everything. As part of an irregular series of posts we salute the talented and dedicated reference staff at your local library. Names and other identifying information have been removed from the questions we showcase.… Continue reading

  • Is it summer? Are you reading? Guess what that means…

    Oh, those summer evenings in Seattle. Plenty of time to sink into a good book. Sure, we know it isn’t technically summer yet, but mother nature doesn’t seem to have figured that out this June – knock wood – and the nights have been just perfect, with ample light to read by late into the evening, and enough warmth… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s Coming Out Party

    According to Paul Dorpat, Seattle’s iconic historian, in the introduction of the wonderful new book by Alan Stein and Paula Becker, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific-Exposition A Timeline History (published by Historylink),  Seattle caught a lucky break back in 1907 when Jamestown, Virginia claimed that year for their tercentenary celebration. The event Seattle had planned to celebrate the 10 year… Continue reading

  • If you like Lee Child and his ‘Jack Reacher’ novels …

    Jack Reacher, a consummate loner and star of Lee Child’s novels, is a thinking person’s action hero. Intelligent, witty and unencumbered by possessions, Reacher drifts into a new town and meets injustice head on. He’s equal measure Dirty Harry and James Bond, always outwitting his opponents.  Child’s swift, cinematic thrillers continue to be among the… Continue reading

  • Crawlspace returns to the Library!

    What is Crawlspace? It is a collaboratively written book-length poem originally commissioned by Doug Nufer for presentation at the “Leg to Stand On” Reading Series in 2005. “The first time C.E. Putnam and Daniel Comiskey performed their collaborative work Crawlspace, it may have been the best reading I’d been to in Seattle,” wrote a reviewer… Continue reading

  • A Digital Bookmobile? Its on the road!

    I remember when audiobooks were on vinyl! Really! (Shorter books and plays, mostly). Imagine listening to a book on a turntable, and having to flip it every 20 minutes. Imagine a part of the story skipping on a scratch …on a scratch …on a scratch. Sure, vinyl’s cool and all, and I won’t argue that… Continue reading

  • Farmers Markets

    With the sun beginning to peek out of the sky a bit more lately, it’s now the time for the seasonal farmer’s markets to be opening. The Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance’s calendar lists Magnolia opening this Saturday, May 23, followed by Phinney on Friday, May 29, and Lake City on Thursday, June 4. The Columbia City Farmers Market… Continue reading

  • May Question of the Month – an irregular series

    The reference librarians at Seattle Public Library are pretty darn amazing. They don’t know everything, instead they know where to find everything. As part of an irregular series of posts we salute the talented and dedicated reference staff at your local library. Names and other identifying information have been removed from the questions we showcase.… Continue reading

  • Yarn Anyone?

    Maybe you have a relative who is a fanatical knitter or a friend who always has a ball of yarn in his or her knapsack? Or, am I describing you?! For more on this passion, let me share some info with you. Just like so many other crafts, there are web sites and blogs all… Continue reading

  • Su casa es nuestra casa

    You can never have too much sky Where has the time gone? It has been 25 years since the original publication of Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, a book that time and time again has found its way from our hands to those of readers at our library. They might be a reader interested in Latino Fiction,… Continue reading

  • Finding a Good Book, with NoveList Plus

    Have you ever had a new toy that was so exciting that you had to tell everyone you knew about it? This is how I feel about the Novelist Plus database that is among the many fantastic and free databases available for all Seattle Public Library cardholders. I find myself effusing enthusiastically about Novelist Plus… Continue reading

  • Olmsted’s Landscape Architecture

    Just as soon as the weather warms up a bit, we will all be out in our wonderful parks jogging, taking our four-legged friend for a stroll, visiting with a friend from out East, or rowing happily in some much loved boat.  The backbone design for Seattle Parks was done by one of the premier… Continue reading

  • April Question of the Month – an irregular series

    The reference librarians at Seattle Public Library are pretty darn amazing. They don’t know everything, instead they know where to findeverything. As part of an irregular series of posts we salute the talented and dedicated reference staff at your local library. Names and other identifying information have been removed from the questions we showcase. Got… Continue reading

  • A Conversation with Mark Morris and Peter Boal

    An extraordinary conversation will take place on Tuesday, April 28, 7-8 p.m. in the Microsoft Auditorium, Central Library, when Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal engages in a lively discussion with director and choreographer, Mark Morris. Co-sponsored by Seattle Theatre Group, this event requires no tickets or reservations, but seating is limited and available on… Continue reading

  • Frost/Nixon at the Library.

    For many of us who grew up in the early 1970s, Richard Nixon was almost a storybook figure, his iconic visage glowering from hundreds of political cartoons, his resignation speech one of our “where were you when” moments. (At Summer camp, eating supper in silence while listening to the radio, since you asked). As years go by, his administration… Continue reading