library staff

  • 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

  • Summer Reads: Readers from Lake City, Magnolia and Montlake share their suggestions

    There is much inspiration to be found, together with a few journeys down the rabbit hole, in the latest installment of our ongong series that highlights what Seattlites are reading this Summer. We’d love to hear what you’re reading, too! Sign up for the Adult Summer Reading Program and share your recommendations with other book lovers around town.… Continue reading

  • Los santos de Agua Mansa, California de Alex Espinoza

    Our library serves people speaking many different languages. Here is one of them. La Botanica Oshún es el lugar al que acude la gente de Agua Mansa en busca de amuletos, hierbas y velas para calmar sus dolores, para combatir maleficios y embrujos. Este es el hogar de Perla Portillo, el lugar donde ella aprendió… Continue reading

  • Tour d’Amsterdam, part 2

    In my previous blog entry, Tour de Amsterdam, I mentioned rules learned the hard way while riding a bike in downtown Amsterdam. Recall that biking is a mode of transportation and not the competitive leisure sport as viewed by most Seattlites. The topography of Amsterdam is wonderfully flat! Riding for hours is possible with perhaps… 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

  • You Must Learn: A Hip-Hop Education with Black Star

    Among hip-hop fans, the group Black Star is known for its lyrical muscle and strong literary-bent. Members Mos Def and Talib Kweli pack their tightly crafted rhymes with intelligence and wit that seems lacking in much of contemporary hip-hop. Their 1998 album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star  was a welcome return to… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: High Point, Capitol Hill and Montlake readers offer their suggestions.

    This week we find journeys through space, time and the inner mind, in our ongong series that highlights what Seattlites are reading this Summer. We’d love to hear what you’re reading, too! Sign up for the Adult Summer Reading Program and share your recommendations with other book lovers around town. Readers on Capitol Hill recommend: After Dark… Continue reading

  • More Librarians in Fact & Fiction

    Sensible shoes.  Hair in a bun.  Glasses perched on the tip of a nose.  Tweed suits.  Do you recognize the occupation?  Shhhhh!  Whisper the answer!  You’re in the library!  Yes, librarians have been battling this stereotype for years.  Thankfully, books are helping us change our image. While some books work subtly to show librarians in… 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

  • Summer Reads: Delridge, Madrona and South Park readers share a few suggestions

    Espionage, werewolves, Ivy League and the Ivory Coast — aaah, summer reading! Take a look at the varied reading happening around town, with a sampling of titles recommended by Seattle readers. We’d love to hear what you’re reading, too! Sign up for the Adult Summer Reading Program and share your recommendations with other book lovers around… 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

  • Summer Reads: Green Lake and International District reader suggestions

    Want to share what you’re reading? Enter the Adult Summer Reading Program at any branch (or downtown at the Central Library), write one or two sentences about three books you’ve read. You’ll be entered in a weekly drawing to win a book bag (one winner per week at each location; lots of chances to win!).… Continue reading

  • Housekeeping

    Have you ever lost yourself in the library? Have you ever felt curious about something, looked up a book on that topic, which led to another and another, and then you went to the shelves and found not only the books you were looking for, but something else fascinating and unexpected? Part of the fun of… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: West Seattle and Southwest reader suggestions

    In Seattle, the term “beach reads” is generally used figuratively (if not a little wistfully) for books more generally read on decks, in parks, on busses, but not on our pebbled shores. In West Seattle, however, beach reading actually happens on a beach! Here is some of what readers at our West Seattle and Southwest branches… Continue reading

  • Staff Favorites: May we recommend…

    Dishwasher: One Man’s Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States by Pete Jordan  If you have ever worked in a restaurant, you will relate to this book. Jordan retells stories of working all over the United States washing dishes. He works everywhere from a fish cannery in Alaska to an oil rig off the… Continue reading

  • Tour de Amsterdam: Biking as a Tourist

    Biking in Amsterdam is an experience that can be enjoyed by even novice cyclists. On almost all streets and roads, cyclists enjoy an exclusive wide path separated from motor vehicle traffic by a strip of ground, a ditch or high curb. Riders have the right of way over pedestrians (a practice that takes time getting used… 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