library staff

  • Your Next 5 Books: Adventure Writing

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • The ultimate Hunger Games read-alike list

    This is a short public service announcement: There is life after The Hunger Games. There are more books out there for you! Start with our Ultimate Hunger Games read-alike list, with 24 suggestions for those of us looking for unlikely heroes starring in fast-paced dystopian adventures.  You’ll find titles in e-book version on this list. And we… Continue reading

  • Animals are only human, too—

    What in the world are they thinking? Have you ever come home to find your pet waiting for you behind the door? Ever looked into their eyes and wondered what’s going on in there, or felt the connection of thought and emotion? Have you observed animals’ interactions amongst themselves that remind you of ourselves? If… Continue reading

  • Audio Described Movies

    What is an audio described movie? An audio described movie is a movie with a separate sound track that includes a narrator who verbal describes important visual elements of the film. The narration is interspaced between the movie’s regular dialogue, to create as little disruption to the movie’s main sound track as possible. The audio… Continue reading

  • Gauguin & Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise

    “It was the princess who entered my room. I was on my bed dressed only in a simple pareo [wraparound skirt]. No way to receive a woman of class…Vaitua was a true princess if indeed any still exist, since the Europeans have reduced everything in this country to their own level. In fact, she arrived there… Continue reading

  • Question of the Month: A January Jingle

    Following on the heels of my recent post about non-Christmas winter songs, here’s a related post regarding Jingle Bells, one of those great songs that we can sing right on through to the vernal equinox! A patron had one of his great-grandfather’s letters dated Oct. 22, 1863. In it, the great-grandfather says, “Mother wrote that… Continue reading

  • Into the Unknown: Pacific Northwest Maritime and Overland Exploration

    While the story of Juan de Fuca’s tale of an inland route, later known as the elusive Northwest Passage is of doubtful reliability, the later major sea explorations of the Northwest Coast during the late eighteenth century are well documented. Noteworthy coastal explorers include Vitus Bering, Dionisio Alcala-Galiano, George Vancouver, Robert Gray. Lewis and Clark,… Continue reading

  • Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure

    Imagine you are a highway patrolman in 1953, somewhere back east. You see a slow moving Chrysler ahead, older people at the helm, blocking traffic in the left lane of the highway. You pull the car over and inside—why, there’s former President Harry Truman and his wife, Bess. No security. No motorcade. No Press. Just… Continue reading

  • A Different Beauty: Sharing Film with Children

    I vividly remember the first time I saw The Red Balloon as a child. I’ve never forgotten the haunting, stark beauty of 1950s Paris, the unapologetic taking of the child’s perspective, and the power of images with minimal dialogue. As much as I loved, and love, the work of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Mel Blanc,… Continue reading

  • Downloading for Dinner – Part II

    Yesterday’s post took a look at the library’s growing collection of electronic cookbooks. After browsing the collection, a curious librarian might wonder how using a print copy differs from using an ebook? With the help of a willing participant and a few pieces of technology, an experiment was conducted comparing use of the same title in… Continue reading

  • Downloading for Dinner – Part I

    When looking for a good cookbook, many people do not realize the library has a growing and diverse ebook collection. Using the term “cookery” as a subject keyword and limiting to ebooks reveals the library’s current holdings of 399 titles about food preparation, as well as food culture and history. A quick perusal shows the… Continue reading

  • Occupy Yourself!

    Last month, on a trip to New York City, I found myself marching from Washington Square to Times Square with thousands of other people chanting “we are the 99 percent…you are the percent.” The themes varied, but all called for social justice. I listened to the General Assemblies, talked as we walked, and came away… Continue reading

  • Winter Wonderland in March? You bet!

    Okay, I admit it. I’m a bit of a holiday music freak. I just love it! I often lament the fact that there’s such a small window of time each year where I can wholeheartedly indulge in my passion. But, I’ve come to the realization that many songs get undeservedly stuck with the dreaded “Christmas… Continue reading

  • 10 American classics to add to your to-read list

    You think you’ve read all of the American classics? Or perhaps you hide from them because they seem a little too close to required reading? Take a look at the 10 listed here, and then at our complete 30-novel Seattle Picks: American Classics list hand-picked by our librarians. Sure, you’ll find Fitzgerald and Faulkner on… Continue reading

  • Question of the Month: Baroque music notations

    I have two music questions, both having to do with 18th century music notation: 1. Quantz used two slash marks, or something like quotation marks, over some notes. It looks like some kind of accent. What is the name of this mark and what does it mean? 2. in Telemann’s engravings he used a mark like… Continue reading

  • A Cat-alog of mysteries

    Mysteries that feature cats are pure catnip to cat lovers. Here are some favorite authors. Marian Babson always includes a cat that is central to the plot. Sally, the little stray cat in The Company of Cats, was rescued by Arthur Arbuthnot, but after Arthur is murdered, Sally finds herself in grave danger from his greedy relatives as she has inherited… Continue reading

  • Make Learning Fun and Keep the Mind Young

    “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” ~Henry Ford With school in full swing, maybe your child is having difficulty with a subject, or perhaps you want to explore an interesting topic together. The… Continue reading

  • Library Book Leads to “Antiques Roadshow” Moment!

    About 15 years ago I bought a motorcycle jacket from a local thrift shop. I was intrigued by its padded elbows and shoulders, which sported a marvelous scuffed-and-buffed patina. I figured the jacket had seen better days, but I never gave a second thought to its age—or value. Until recently, that is, when I chanced… Continue reading