Programs & Services

  • Scooters scream into mainstream

    There’s a meteoric rise in scooter use since gasoline jumped the $4 mark.  I’ve been scooter commuting since 2002 and I’ve got a lot more company these days. Scooter registration is up 33% over the period June 2007 to June 2008 in King County. Fuel costs for your car range between $1200 -$4200 per year. (That’s the difference between a 1984… Continue reading

  • A book leads to redemption: Bringing honor to Fort Lawton soldiers from World War II

    The tale begins in WWII era Seattle. Our city was host to 200 Italian prisoners of war and a number of African-American servicemen in transit, at Fort Lawton on Magnolia Bluff. The Italians were treated more hospitably than the African-Americans — and tension rose. In one dramatic night of violence, one of the POWs was… Continue reading

  • Genealogy Classes coming up at SPL

    ARE YOU INTERESTED IN RESEARCHING YOUR FAMILY’S HISTORY? The Genealogy Staff of The Seattle Public Library are presenting classes and tours this fall designed to assist you with getting started on your family history project. The following genealogy classes, plus tours of the Genealogy Section have been scheduled. BEGINNING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH Are you… Continue reading

  • New Database: Value Line Research Center Online

    The Seattle Public Library is now offering the Value Line Research Center Online!  It is available on all library computers and remotely through our website.  The database features the online version of the popular Value Line Investment Survey that analyzes approximately 1,700 stocks in 98 industries, the stock market, and the economy.  In addition, our subscription includes access to the 1,800… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Matt Ruff reads the gamut, from War to Pie.

    Editor’s Note: Matt Ruff will be reading from his 2008 PNBA Book Award-winning book Bad Monkeys, freshly released in paperback, at the Ballard Branch Library this Thursday, August 21at 6:30 p.m, in conjunction with Secret Garden Books.  (Matt will also be reading at Queen Anne books on Tuesday, and coming up in October he will be reading from a new work at the Richard Hugo House). If… Continue reading

  • Finding that elusive poem – Part Two

    In the first part of this tutorial, we asked the question “How do you find a poem, when you know only the title or first line?” The reference tool we used was the Columbia Granger’s Index to Poetry.  Now let’s ask the same question using one of the Seattle Public Library’s popular subscription databases.  After the video,… Continue reading

  • La Semaine de la Bande Dessinée/The Week of the French Graphic Novel

    Do you thrill to the adventures of Tintin, intrepid boy reporter, and his fearless dog Snowy? Have you laughed out loud at the antics of Astérix and his merry band of Gauls? Or found yourself absorbed by Marjane Satrapi’s recollections of her girlhood in revolutionary Iran in her graphic memoir Persepolis? Whether you knew it… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s Oldest House

    The honor of being Seattle’s oldest house officially belongs to The Ward House at 1423 Boren. But there have been and are other contenders. In May 1985, The Weekly concluded that the Ward House at 1423 Boren built in 1882 by pioneer entrepreneur George W. Ward was Seattle’s oldest surviving residential structure. The structure had stood vacant… Continue reading

  • August 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

  • Summer Reads: Southwest, Northgate and Northeast readers offer suggestions

    Book recommendations are rolling in from all over Seattle as part of the Library’s Adult Summer Reading Program. Readers at the Southwest Branch recommend: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris I did not want to put this book down. It was so hard to stop reading it and get on with a… Continue reading

  • Seafair means Pirates

    Ahoy mates! Shiver me timbers and all that pirate talk.  It’s Seafair in Seattle and for many folks that means the Pirates are in town.  With their booming cannon and boisterous pranks the Seafair Pirates give the kids of Seattle a delicious shiver and scary dreams.  Watching the Pirates kidnap shrieking kids and drag their swords… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Author Garth Stein and a special guest

    When we asked Garth Stein to share his nightstand reading, the Seattle author of The Art of Racing in the Rain sent us a photo of a rather intriguing tower of books in his to-read pile. Here are his comments on the next four books he’ll be reading: Bonk by Mary Roach It’s got a great… Continue reading

  • Easier searching at www.spl.org

    Did you notice a change on our website on Wednesday?  We’ve made it possible to search the library’s catalog and a wide variety of magazines, encyclopedias and other databases all with one search box.  With one search box you can get results from Time, National Geographic, Business Week, Psychology Today,  the Wall Street Journal, The… Continue reading

  • Beyond the Killing Fields

    Curious about my parents’ arrival in the United States, I started exploring and reading information surrounding the horrific genocide that took place between 1975 and 1979, when the Khmer Rouge regime took power in Cambodia. Who was Pol Pot? Who were the Khmer Rouge? And why did they kill their own people? All I knew was that many… Continue reading

  • What’s your treasure?

    My family, like some of yours, has a number of old leather-bound books among our treasures from the past. None of them is in particularly good condition and most of them are too boring to actually read. My Grandfather collected them, so they mostly deal with legal matters. But one small volume of poetry caught my… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s vibrant early music scene

    In recent years, Seattle has become a mecca for early music, the world of music created from its earliest beginnings to about the year 1750. World-class performers such as Stephen Stubbs have moved here to join long-time Seattleites Margriet Tindemans and Nancy Zylstra. It means that there are some thrilling opportunities for exploration of the world… Continue reading

  • July 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

  • Celebrate Seattle’s Farmers Markets!

    Seattle has long been famous for the Pike Place Market, which will be 101 years old this August. The Seattle Public Library has some fantastic books to help the average shopper explore both the Pike Place and neighborhood farmers markets, such as The Farm to Table Cookbook: The Art of Eating Locally by Ivy Manning… Continue reading