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  • May Question of the Month – an irregular series

    How can I get a copy of the Seattle newspaper birth announcements for babies born Sept 1st 1967? With your Seattle Public Library card you have unlimited free remote access to our subscription database the Seattle Times Historical Archives. (the link will take you to a page where you will need to input your library… Continue reading

  • The Gospel of Anarchy

    I heard Justin Taylor read from The Gospel of Anarchy last month at the University Bookstore with Blake Butler. Usually, readings are similar to reverse radio talk show host sightings: kind of awkward, not what you expected, the voice all wrong. Instead, Justin’s voice was like (another simile?) seeing a band live for the first time… Continue reading

  • Books that are One with the Bike

    I’ve been reading some interesting books about bikes and bike riding, racing and commuting. Here are a few books that have an interesting angle or two. Sometimes the angle is from the ground looking up. Come and Gone: A true Story of Blue-Collar Bike Racing in America by Joe Parkin This is Parkin’s follow up to… Continue reading

  • BiblioBagels: My Adventures in Bagel Chemistry (Part 2)

    In yesterday’s post, I was on a quest to make Montreal bagels with the help of the library’s resources. A friend had just told me about the process of retarding the dough (placing it in the fridge overnight before boiling and baking the bagels). I was curious about this mysterious-sounding process and decided to investigate… Continue reading

  • BiblioBagels: My Adventures in Bagel Chemistry (Part 1)

    Seattle is not a bagel town. It’s nearly impossible to get a genuine bagel here. Sure, lots of places claim to sell the real thing, but they’re only a pale imitation. And don’t even get me started on bagels from a grocery store—those are just lifeless circles of bread masquerading as bagels. What is a… Continue reading

  • Washington nonfiction: Hauntings, history, dirty money and cheeseburgers

    It’s all about Washington in these choice nonfiction titles: Washington’s Haunted Hotspots by Linda Moffitt (133.10979 M724W 2009) Spirit sightings at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, the Bush Hotel in Index and the Pickering Barn in Issaquah? Find the stories behind these and other local spooky encounters right here. Sonic Boom: The History of Northwest… Continue reading

  • April Question of the month – an irregular feature

    I am interested in a rather obscure topic. Do you have any information about the history of the whalebone corset and the industry of whaling and whale oil?  Thank you for your questions regarding whales and whalebone corsets.  There are a number of library resources that might be interesting.  We have a reference book on… Continue reading

  • Seattle in Black and White

    Seattle has a reputation as a progressive, tolerant city, but as recently as the 1960s, racist laws and practices made Seattle a very unequal place to live. The University of Washington’s Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project has uncovered restrictive covenants—prohibiting the sale or rental of property to members of specified racial or ethnic… Continue reading

  • Library patrons steal the show

    True story. In a Starbucks this morning, I overheard this exchange: Man wearing a hat: “Hey, man! Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve already put it on hold at the library.” Bare headed man: “No problem. The library has it? How do you know?” MWH: “I went to the catalog on the library’s web site, and… Continue reading

  • The Secret Garden comes to The Seattle Public Library

    For generations, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett has charmed readers with its magical setting—a hidden garden on an old English estate. The moment when young orphan Mary Lennox stumbles upon her secret place ranks high—alongside the Pevensie children’s first trip through the wardrobe into Narnia—for the spark it ignites in the imagination of… Continue reading

  • This reading series has roots!

    This Thursday night, Ballard Branch Library co-sponsors one of the longest running reading series in our city: It’s About Time Writers Reading Series #258 Esther Helfgott will emcee this 2nd Thursday reading, #258 in a monthly series that stretches back a few decades.  Esther, one of Seattle’s literary treasures and a writer herself, has nurtured… Continue reading

  • Decoding Hip and Rap

    I listen to a lot of hip hop. As a former English major, I always appreciate the alliteration, assonance and hyperbole that rappers use. But as much as I love the sound of hip hop, I don’t always relate to the lyrics. Luckily there are some insightful books out there to remind me why this… Continue reading

  • Everybody has a favorite poem — or two!

    Maybe it is that e.e. cummings poem that starts Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)… Or it could be an Emily Dickinson poem that begins The brain — is wider than the sky… Was it a Yeats poem you remember? I went out to the hazel wood/ Because a… Continue reading

  • You’re a Poet, and You Know It!

    April is National Poetry Month, and there are lots of local venues to encourage you to read, write and listen to poetry. First up is the Northeast Library’s all-ages poetry contest. All throughout April, everyone is invited to submit an original one page poem written in the last year, for the chance to win prizes in three age… Continue reading

  • Poetry in Fremont

    In April our minds turn to poetry. This coming Saturday, April 2, the Washington Poets Association and The Seattle Public Library will bring three wonderful poets to read at the Fremont Branch Library: Joan Swift, Dennis Caswell, and Peter Pereira… Here are their thoughts as April approaches. Joan Swift says of poetry: At night, while trying… Continue reading

  • Planning for Fundraising – a class at the Central Library

    Whether you are researching grants for a nonprofit organization to fund a new program or scholarships for undergraduate or graduate studies, The Seattle Public Library’s Foundation Research Center can be of assistance.  The center, located at the Central Library in the Business, Science, and Technology Department on Level 7, is a partnership between the library… Continue reading

  • Seattle readers chime in with nonfiction book suggestions

    “If you could suggest one book to someone who thinks nonfiction is boring, what would it be?” we asked readers last Wednesday on our Library’s Facebook page. And – wow, what an incredible response. Within minutes we had dozens of suggestions; by the end of the day we had 136 comments. And even though we did say… Continue reading

  • Alvin Ailey’s Revelations

    From Revelations to Cry, a Kinetic Mopal of Been Here and Gone, Come and Get the Beauty of It under a Hot Blood Burning Moon, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is heading towards Seattle on a Caverna Magica of Days Past, Not Forgotten.* The company will grace the stage of the 5th Avenue Theatre on… Continue reading